Disney+’s Rivals Adds Hayley Atwell, Rupert Everett to Season 2 Cast

Disney+ has announced that Hayley Atwell and Rupert Everett will join the cast of the highly popular British drama "Rivals" for its second season, currently in production with a projected release in late 2025 or early 2026. Atwell will play Helen Gordon, the ex-wife of protagonist Rupert Campbell-Black and mother of their two children, while Everett will portray her new husband Malise Gordon, who is also Campbell-Black’s former show-jumping mentor. The upcoming season will expand to twelve episodes, promising intensified power struggles, rivalries, and dramatic twists set against the glamorous backdrop of 1980s British television and the Cotswolds countryside. The showrunner and Disney+ executives praised Atwell and Everett as perfect fits for the series, which has quickly become one of Disney+’s most beloved British original dramas. Additional new cast members include Maxim Ays, Holly Cattle, Oliver Dench, Amanda Lawrence, Bobby Lockwood, Eliot Salt, and Jonny Weldon, joining the returning ensemble from season one. The series is produced by Happy Prince, part of ITV Studios, and continues to explore the complex personal and professional lives of its characters amid fierce competition and ambition.