‘It Feels So Nice To Come Back To It’

Josie Totah, Mia Threapleton, Guy Remmers, Kristine Frøseth, Matthew Broome, Imogen Waterhouse, Aubri Ibrag, Barney Fishwick, Alisha Boe and Josh Dylan at a photo call for “The Buccaneers” held at Park Lane Hotel on December 6, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty Images)

Variety via Getty Images

The second season of The Buccaneers ended with many plot twists the audience probably didn’t see coming. One of them is the death of Josh Dylan’s character, Richard, killed by his own brother, James, played by Barney Fishwick.

James spent months searching for his wife, Jinny St-George, portrayed by Imogen Waterhouse. Jinny and Guy, portrayed by Matthew Broome, both fled to Italy, away from her violent husband in order to keep herself and her baby safe. Guy, who has been taking care of her newborn baby, finds out that James has been in contact with Jinny, and he urges her to leave immediately. Jinny, still under James’ influence, believed that her husband had changed. It really took Guy to help her realize that James would always represent a danger for her and her baby.

Waterhouse said, “That scene, she was coerced back into this idea that he’s changed, and that he’s really a good father and good with the baby. It took Guy to snap out of it, like out of hypnosis.”

Fishwick added: “It is horrible to see. In those coercive relationships, what you’re seeing is what the coercer is doing, by chaining them into a landscape, encouraging them to see that it’s impossible for Virginia to exist without him. So, even though she has escaped away from him, mentally there’s still a part of that brain, because it’s been coerced, and he has gaslighted her, that create this dependency. You separate them from the people in their lives, their whole happiness, their whole ability to survive is dependent on one person.”

On Richard’s death, Fishwick added: “It shows the extant to which he’s willing to go to cease any kind of control and power, to insert himself.”

Matthew Broome, who portrays Guy, has been supporting Jinny while she was struggling to adapt to her new life, especially when it comes to motherhood. Broome said, “He ultimately finds that this is the life he wants for himself. Obvioulsy, he wants to be with Nan, but I also think he has so much more fun this season. He gets to let loose and have fun, ultimately this is what he wants, he wants to have a family and have a good time.”

In between the many cliffhangers and shocking revelations, The Buccaneers is also a show about friendship and sisterhood. If some of the girls, from their positions in society, or just by strength of character, have the abilty to change each other’s lives, I asked the cast in what way this show had changed their own lives.

Waterhouse said, “We’re so lucky that everyone gets along really well, and it just feels very easy and fun. We’ve all made friends we’ll take with us forever.”

Broome added: “This job is my first job, and a formative part of my life. [They] all have been a part of that, that will always be a thing, forever, in all the other jobs I do. This is where it all began. And it feels so nice to come back to it.”

Another character that finally gets to speak up and stand up for herself is Honoria, played by Mia Threapleton. In one final and decisive scene, she reveals to her mother that she is in love with Mabel, portrayed by Josie Totah. She also anounces that she is going to go to Paris to teach. Knowing that this was Threapleteon’s last day on set, it gives even more intensity to this powerful momentum.

I asked the creator of the show, Katherine Jakeways, and the executive producers, Beth Willis and Joe Innis, what it meant for them to be able to give the flowers to a character that has been so unhappy and disrespected by her own family.

Jakeways said, “That’s such a lovely thing to say, I’m so happy you said that. We love Honoria, and actually it’s so interesting because if you go back to where she starts, the first episode of season one, she hardly speaks at all, she’s got two or three lines in that episode. She’s expected to sit quietly as all English girls were. She’s observing it, and her eyes are watching all these Americans who’ve come in, and they’ve got this agency and energy.”

She added: “Mia is so brilliant, I also think Fenella [Woolgar] who plays Lady Brightlingsea is brilliant in that scene, actually, and just the relationship that they have, even when they’re grieving. And Lady Brightlingsea is just taking Honoria for granted. But Honoria have this strength from all the things that happened to her, and what she witnessed and admired in the girls.”

Willis added: “I like to believe there’s a slight twinkle in Lady Brightlingsea’s eyes as Honoria walks away after she’s kissed her, like ‘Actually you’ve shocked me and there’s a tiny bit of me that’s impressed.’”

This season, some of the sets and costumes looked more modern than the first one, so I asked Willis how they made the decision to add these modern elements and sets into the story.

She said, “We always try to keep one foot in the period, while obviously we gave the locations and the sets a glow-up this series. But I remember with the Midsommar’s night party, we looked into the fact that there was a form of glitter and confetti that existed then, although we weren’t obviously using that product on their faces or to throw in the air. We were always looking for this period thread that we could pull, to keep a grip on it being a period show, whilst also having the freedom to play. Also we wanted to make it feel more magical, because you want to have an experience every time you’re watching those sets and those parties.”