Disney's steamy drama Rivals has been officially ordered for a third series, set to film next year, after the second run proved even more successful than the first. The show, which was Disney's biggest UK drama launch of 2024, will continue with its star-studded cast including David Tennant, Aidan Turner, Danny Dyer, Katherine Parkinson, Alex Hassell, and Emily Atack.
Jilly Cooper's Legacy
This third outing will be the first that the late author Dame Jilly Cooper has no part in. Cooper, who died from a fall in October, had been heavily involved in series two, which fans are currently halfway through. The second set of six episodes is due in November. Showrunner Dominic Treadwell-Collins expressed sadness that Cooper could not witness the response to the series.
“We’ve been delighted and overwhelmed by the audience’s response to season two of Rivals – testament to the hard work from everyone working on Rivals both on and off screen,” Treadwell-Collins said. “Our one sadness is that Jilly didn’t get to witness the love for season two. But she’s still very much with us in spirit and would be so delighted that season three has been green lit. We’re so thrilled to continue to work with Disney as we dive deeper into the Rutshire Chronicles and expand the Cooperverse even further.”
Future Plans
Treadwell-Collins told the Mirror that he hopes the show can run for many years. While it will keep the title Rivals, the TV version will select stories and characters from other books in the Rutshire Chronicles, including Polo, The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous, Score!, and Pandora.
“We've planned season three and what we're doing is looking at the books as a universe, as the Cooper-verse,” he said. “So we can pick and choose and play and yeah, we're going to be doing that in this series – and we want to keep on doing that.”
Pointing out that Jilly’s Rutshire Chronicles run to 11 books, Dominic added: “We've got two series out of Rivals and I mean, Polo is ginormous. We've got many, many books to play with.”
Character Developments
This is good news for Alex Hassell, as his character Rupert Campbell-Black is the main character in four of the books and a background character in six others. However, it may not be good news for David Tennant, as his character Lord Tony Baddingham only appeared in Rivals, disappearing after his company Corinium loses the TV franchise to upstart rivals Venturer at the end of the book. This storyline is set to play out in the already filmed episodes due this autumn.
The first half of the series ended dramatically with Monica Baddingham, played by Claire Rushbrook, being killed off – a departure from the books, where she eventually left her husband Tony for a woman.
Official Announcement
Announcing the new commission today, Disney said the series had “continued to captivate audiences with its sharp wit, high-stakes drama and richly drawn characters” and had become the channel's biggest original premiere in the UK and Ireland. Describing what is to come next, they gave little away: “We see the stakes become higher and the alliances more fragile, with nothing staying buried for long. New romances blossom, old flames rekindle and shocking secrets will be spilled in this third series which takes everyone’s favourite rivalries to the next level. In a world of power, passion and betrayal, everyone has something to lose.”
Disney executive Lee Mason, who commissioned the drama, said: “The phenomenal response to Rivals is a credit to the bold, irreverent and endlessly entertaining world created by Dame Jilly Cooper, our cast, creative team and production partners at Happy Prince. We’re delighted to be bringing audiences a third season. Expect more ambition, more romance, more rivalries and, of course, more scandal as we return to Rutshire for another irresistible chapter.”
