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Late in 2023, Apple TV+ announced that The Buccaneers would be renewed for a second season. The announcement came as a huge relief to fans who were desperate to see the aftermath of the massive cliffhanger at the end of the Season 1 finale.
The Buccaneers follows a close-knit group of American girls in the 1870s who travel to England to find rich husbands. Their families all have money of their own, but being nouveau richer, they are excluded from New York’s social scene. So they pack their many beautiful dresses and sail across the pond to find love. Well, they hope for love but need a suitable (i.e. rich) husband if they hope to make their way in the world.
The show is based on Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edith Wharton’s unfinished novel of the same name. Like most adaptations, the show balances pulling from Wharton’s writing while also crafting a unique world of its own.
With more of Wharton’s novel to adapt, here is everything we know so far about The Buccaneers Season 2.
The Buccaneers
HistorySent to secure husbands and titles, young American women explode into the tightly corseted London season of the 1870s, kicking off an Anglo-American culture clash.
Release Date November 8, 2023 Creator Katherine Jakeways Cast Guy Remmers , Matthew Broome , Simone Kirby , Kristine Froseth Main Genre Drama Seasons 1Does ‘The Buccaneers’ Season 2 Have a Release Date?
Considering the renewal announcement came on December 18, 2023, we can expect to wait a while before hearing any official release date for Season 2. However, now that the strikes are over and many films and series are back in production, we can guess it could be released in late 2024 or early 2025. Stay tuned for more details.
How to Watch ‘The Buccaneers’ Season 1?
If you can’t wait for Season 2 (or if you just want to watch the scene of Theo walking out of the ocean again), you can stream The Buccaneers on Apple TV+.
Who Will Star in ‘The Buccaneers’ Season 2?
CloseWith such an ensemble-heavy show, finding the perfect group of actors with the right chemistry is critical, and lucky for us, all the main cast are confirmed to be returning for Season 2.
This includes Kristine Frøseth (Looking for Alaska) as Nan St. George, Alisha Boe (13 Reasons Why) as Conchita Closson, Josie Totah (Saved By The Bell) as Mabel Elmsworth, Aubri Ibrag (Dive Club) as Lizzy Elmsworth, Imogen Waterhouse (Nocturnal Animals) as Jinny St. George, Christina Hendricks (Mad Men) as Mrs. St. George, Mia Threapleton (A Little Chaos) as Honoria Marable, Josh Dylan (Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again) as Lord Richard Marable, Guy Remmers as Theo, Duke of Tintagel, Matthew Broome as Guy Thwarte, and Barney Fishwick as Lord James Seadown.
One major question about the cast is who is playing Nan's real mom. Will there be a new character and a new actor or is it someone we already know?
Who Is Making ‘The Buccaneers’ Season 2?
We know that writer and series creator Katherine Jakeways will return to lead the show through its second season. Along with the renewal press release, Jakeways released this statement:
“We know season one left audiences desperate to know what’s next for our buccaneers, so I’m absolutely delighted to have the opportunity to explore the further adventures of this smart, joyful, messy sisterhood.”
Jakeways is an actress, writer, and executive producer who is best known for her work on the British sketch comedy show The Armstrong and Miller Show where she played various sketch characters and is credited as the writer of two episodes.
What Happened in ‘The Buccaneers’ Season 1?
The first season was full of twists and missteps for our leading ladies, but the finale dropped multiple bombshells, leaving every single character’s fate on a massive cliffhanger.
After a very complicated love triangle, Nan ultimately ends up marrying Theo and becoming the Duchess of Tintagel. Happily ever after, right? Wrong. Just the night before, she had confessed to Guy that she reciprocated his feelings, sleeping with him and making plans to run away together to Brazil. Definitely not the type of night before a wedding that signals a happy marriage.
What ultimately leads Nan to marry the duke was not her love for Theo but her love for her sister. Now that Jinny is pregnant and James’s abuse has become physical as well as emotional, she fears for her safety and that of her future child. Their first escape attempt is thwarted by James, who won’t let Jinny out of his sight. They realize that the only time the two will be separated is when Jinny is with the other bridesmaids preparing to walk with Nan down the aisle. Using the wedding as a distraction, Jinny escapes with Guy, possibly going to Brazil as he and Nan had originally planned. By the time James realizes Jinny is gone, it is too late, she has made her escape to freedom.
But Jinny isn’t the only woman in Nan’s life she has sacrificed herself to marriage for. Her mom, Mrs. St. George is determined to leave her absent, cheating husband now that Nan is married. With the power and money that her daughter being a duchess provides, she can make it on her own as a single woman. However, her determination is complicated by the fact that Nan’s birth mom (who was previously said to be dead) pulls up to the scene on her wedding day.
While the Nan/Theo/Guy drama was unfolding very publicly, Mabel’s very private love life reached a tentative happy ending. Her very short engagement is called off, refusing to enter a sham marriage, to instead fully devote herself to Honoria, despite their inability to be public with their relationship.
Finally, Conchita, whose marriage to Dick Seadown in the first episode kicked off this whole adventure, gets the disappointing news of a lifetime when she finds out that her family is dead broke. Under most circumstances, this would be fine, as the Seadowns have enough money to last them through several generations. But her and Dick’s plan to break ties with the Seadowns and start a new life free of societal constraints gets complicated now that there is no one to bankroll that new life.
While it seems like together these buccaneers overcome anything, Season 1 ends with the girls once again splitting up.
What Can We Expect in ‘The Buccaneers’ Season 2?
The beauty and the bane of adapting Edith Wharton’s novel is that it was unfinished. There was a complete version of the story published posthumously that was written based on Wharton’s outline, but there is no way to know for certain what endings she hoped for these characters. That means that in Season 2 anything can happen.
In an interview with Town and Country, Kristine Frøseth said,
“I think Nan and Theo have a really interesting relationship in the book and I'd actually really like to see that translate into screen. They have an awful marriage, and just the subtleties of that and how their dynamic is forced, and how she secretly wants Guy. But she also miscarries a lot, and there's a lot of pressure for her to have a baby, to have a baby boy. So that's interesting.”
Nan and Theo get married fairly early on in Edith Wharton’s novel, so there is a lot of source material to work with. If the show does remain loyal to the novel’s plot, the introduction of childbearing issues could completely change how Theo sees Nan. At the end of the finale, he still loves her and wants to marry her, despite her affection for Guy. There is a possibility that he thinks he can win her heart now that they are married, but if Nan fails to give the duke an heir, could Theo turn on her? Or would their shared difficulty bring them close?
Producing an heir is only one part of the job, as Nan will now take on the life and all the responsibilities of a duchess, which will be a big transition for a girl who at the beginning of the season was climbing down the side of a building and dropping her shoe on a cake. Nan always had a free spirit, but she might not be ready to grow up, as demonstrated by her crisis of identity following the news that Mrs. St George isn’t her real mother. These feelings will certainly have a resurgence now that her birth mother is not only not dead but also arrived at her wedding. In Season 2, we will find out Nan’s birth mother’s identity and, inevitably, have a meeting between the two. How this will further complicate the relationship between Nan and her parents will certainly be a large part of Season 2.
While Honoria and Mabel currently have their happy ending, it might be wistful thinking to believe that their happiness continues in Season 2. As Honoria has only recently come to terms with the fact that she loves Mabel, it will be interesting to see how their relationship can grow into the future, especially when the matter of finances comes into play. Though Honoria’s family has a lot of money, it is only the men who can control and access it. Will one of them be forced into a marriage to survive? Will they be able to keep their relationship a secret now that Lizzy knows?
Speaking of Lizzy, hopefully, she gets an epic storyline of her own. Whether it is a love story or not, she deserved a moment in the spotlight after she spent most of Season 1 serving a supporting role in the stories of other characters. With her newfound strength and defiance towards James Seadown, she is a true wild card. Will she move on and find a true love of her own? Will she craft a revenge plot for all that James has put her and Jinny through? Regardless, Lizzy went through so much character growth in Season 1 and we are excited to see where her character goes from here.
Guy and Jinny will be off somewhere, possibly Brazil, but with a newborn, she can’t stay away forever. Their inevitable return will be sure to stir up drama. All we ask is that James gets what he deserves.
That leaves us with the fate of poor Guy. Just when he finally revealed his love to Nan, gaining her affection in return, he had to watch her get married to his best friend. A best friend who is extremely rich, while Guy, recently failed to find the money to keep his family home. He selflessly gave up everything to help Jinny, and while he was happy to help, he might come back to England wanting something in return. Whether that something is Nan, well we will just have to wait and see.
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