David Tennant joined a host of stars in the steamy Hulu/Disney+ series Rivals, which became a huge hit last year and is set to return for more rowdy 80s mayhem early in 2026. Although there are still several months until the new episodes are expected to roll out, Tennant has been teasing that his character is going be doing more “terrible things” in the expected second season.
Rivals is based on the novel of the same name by British author Jilly Cooper, and is an unapologetically racy tale of greed, lust and stiff…upper lips. The series takes viewers back to the 1980s, in Cooper’s Rutshire, a generally quaint countryside area of England, where media mogul Tony Baddingham (Tennant) and “rival” Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell) bring their power-hungry feud to a head amid copious amounts of bedroom farce.
While appearing at FanX Salt Lake City Comic Convention (via Collider) Tennant was mostly tight-lipped about the second season of Rivals, but he did offer one tease about how his character is going to be even more diabolical next time around. He said:
“All I can tell you about Season 2 of Rivals is that I do some terrible things. Terrible things! Much worse than last time!”
‘Rivals’ Is Adding to Its Cast for Saucy Seconds
If there is one thing that was never part of the original plan for Disney+ – at least for those who believe Disney to produce nothing but jolly, child-safe animated movies and the like – it was a raunchy bonk-busting adaptation of a Jilly Cooper novel. However, times change, and while the series airs on Hulu in the U.S. several other territories can flick between the raunchy antics at Rutshire and the latest kiddie-friendly animated offering from the House of Mouse.
As well as the likes of Tennant, Danny Dyer, Aiden Turner, and Nafessa Williams, Season 2 of Rivals will not only be extending to 12 episodes – up from eight episodes in the first season – but also expanding its cast. It was announced earlier in the year that MCU favorite Hayley Atwell will be joining the show as Helen Gordon, the former wife of Campbell-Black, and Rupert Everett will play Helen’s husband, Malise. The pair join several newly announced guest stars, including Maxim Ays, Holly Cattle, Oliver Dench, Amanda Lawrence, Bobby Lockwood, Eliot Salt and Jonny Weldon.
Rivals was a surprising hit in 2024, mainly because, unlike many adaptations of older novels, the series did not attempt to modernize its setting, and instead embraced the 80s-era of the original story. Season 1 scored an impressive 95% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer, and 90% on the Popcornmeter. With Tennant’s comments, it looks like Season 2 will be offering up more of the same, and going off recent viewership-winning shows like The Hunting Wives, it seems like saucy stories with bonkers plotlines is exactly what the streaming public want.
