Disney+ has published a new character guide for Rivals season 2, and Gary Lamont is among the faces introduced as the streamer says the show returns with its ensemble expanded in bold new ways. The page does not read like a plot summary. It is a roster of people, power struggles and private damage, laid out as the second season comes into view.
At the center is Rupert, a retired show-jumper, Conservative Member of Parliament and Tony Baddingham’s arch-nemesis as a founder of Venturer. The guide says his love life becomes even more complicated after the successful launch of his consortium, and that he begins to crack under the pressure. That matters because the page frames season 2 not as a reset but as a widening of the conflict already built into Rivals, set in Rutshire and fed by the rivalry between Rupert and Tony.
Tony Baddingham, meanwhile, is described as the sharp-suited TV executive at the centre of the franchise war with Rupert. He protects his power with blackmail and a fiery temper, drags his enemies’ secrets into the light of day and pressures his staff into submission. In other words, Corinium is still his battlefield, and the new season appears determined to keep the pressure on the man at its core.
The guide’s supporting cast broadens the fight around him. One character arrives at Corinium as a gifted journalist with a short fuse, expecting a golden opportunity before resigning once he sees the reality of working with Tony. Another is Declan’s middle child, usually the one holding the family together while keeping an eye on her younger sister. The page also introduces the American TV executive Tony brings into Corinium to produce Declan’s talk show, the deputy prime minister’s new wife, a self-made electronics millionaire who does not quite fit into Rutshire’s old-money crowd, and a romantic novelist who has been overlooked by her TV-presenter husband for far too long.
That is the tension baked into the guide. It is not simply adding names to a cast list; it is widening the circle of people caught in the same social and professional crossfire. Rupert’s rise now comes with strain. Tony’s grip on Corinium is still based on fear. And the newcomers are being brought in as allies, rivals or disruptions, depending on which side of the war they land on.
Disney+ has not used the page to spell out the full season’s arc, but the shape of it is plain enough. Rivals is returning by deepening the conflict, not softening it, and by making room for more people to be pulled into Rupert and Tony’s fight. Gary Lamont is one of the names now attached to that expansion, and the character guide suggests the second season will be less about adding background than about turning up the heat.
