Hayley Atwell has joined the cast of Rivals for season 2, with the new episodes set to arrive on Friday 15 May 2026 on Disney+. She will play Helen Gordon, the ex-wife of Rupert Everett’s character Malice, as the Rutshire drama heads into a sharper and more personal fight.
Rupert Everett also joins the series as Malice, described as Rupert’s former showjumping mentor and now Helen’s husband. Both Helen and Malice have strong, fairly negative feelings toward Rupert, but they also retain some protective instincts toward him, according to the show’s lead actor, Alex Hassell, who said Rupert has hurt them many times and that they are at the end of their tether.
That matters because Rivals has already built its appeal around the damage Rupert leaves behind. Season 1 ended with Rupert and Taggie confessing their feelings for each other and kissing, and season 2 picks up with those private emotions running alongside a much bigger public battle. Rupert’s children are also part of the new season, adding another layer to a character who is trying to manage the fallout of old choices while facing new ones.
The series is set in Rutshire, where Rupert is known as one of the most desirable men around and has been forging a political career after leaving showjumping behind. He and Declan helm the new TV franchise Venturer, while the official season 2 synopsis says the battle for the Central South West television franchise reaches a fever pitch as the war between Corinium and Venturer enters a dangerous new phase. It adds that Tony Baddingham is determined to dismantle his rivals piece by piece, weaponising scandal and manipulating those closest to him, as marriages fracture, illicit affairs threaten families and long-buried secrets explode into the open.
Hassell said Rupert is trying to confront past mistakes and reckon with them, and even potentially atone for them, but stressed that the path is not straight. That is the tension at the heart of the new season: the series is not just widening its cast, it is pulling Rupert back into the consequences of the life he built, with Helen, Malice and his children all now inside the frame when season 2 begins streaming on Disney+.
