TVLine.com - Craig Parker
TVLINE | I know we met Narcisse last week, but in your own words, can you introduce us to him?
He’s incredibly rich, richer than the royals. He runs France quietly behind the scenes. When Henry was king, Narcisse worked with him, funded him, kept the crown going. He’s used to real, quiet power. He enters a new Court with the old king dead, and I think he sees the need to teach this boy how to be a king, how to run things the way he wants them to be run.
TVLINE | And he’s no fan of Mary’s.
Oh, of course. His child has just been murdered by Mary, so there’s a very personal agenda going on as well. The new queen is in his sights.
TVLINE | Narcisse is being described as the “big bad” this season. Is that fair?
I wouldn’t say he’s a villain, exactly. The lovely thing about this show is that every script adds a new layer to this person. He definitely does monstrous things and has no guilt about doing what’s necessary, but there’s also a very human side to him. You never quite know how genuine he’s being. He’s a very good liar.
TVLINE | I’m told told Narcisse has a healthy sexual appetite. Can you confirm?
He definitely has a heart, and he’s looking for a woman that he can love and who can love him. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of scar tissue and monstrous behavior in his past, so the woman he’s going to find that with is going to have to be rather extraordinary. It’s fascinating what happens when his heart is revealed. Right now, he’s having an interesting time with one of the wonderful actresses on the show. It’s odd; it involves a lot of bathing, which is all I can say.
TVLINE | You sound like you’re describing Catherine to a T. What can we expect from those two?
Well, there is a relationship there between Narcisse and Catherine. They’ve known each other for years, they’ve seen each other do terrible things and they know the other is a shark — but there’s an attraction there, as well. (Megan Follows and I) had a number of scenes together when we were on location in Ireland, and we were holding looks and trying to throw as much as we could toward the writers for them to pick up on. I think that relationship will develop, but I’m not quite sure how. I’m not sure how twisted and awful and monstrous and wrong it may be, but it will definitely be fun. They’re like two velociraptors; it’s going to be glorious.
TVLine.com - Adelaide Kane & Laurie McCarthy
BABY BLUES:
Don’t be fooled by the cuteness of Francis and Lola’s baby; that thing is trouble. “As the season progresses, having the child around becomes more of an unspoken pressure for Mary as she fails to conceive,” Adelaide Kane says. “It’s a glaring reminder of her failing in what is essentially her only duty as a queen, which is to bear sons and continue the succession. The longer that takes, the more heavily it’s going to weigh on her and become a divisive factor in her relationship with Francis. … If they ever stop sharing a bed, there’s trouble on the horizon.”
MO KASH, MO ‘PROBLEMS’:
Expect big things — but not always good things — from Bash in Season 2. “He will eventually become the King’s Deputy, the strongman for the king, which is a great position if the king is doing really well,” Laurie McCarthy explains. “But if the king is making mistakes and you’re the muscle for those mistakes, it can be really dangerous.” As for what’ll happen between Bash and Kenna, McCarthy says the same qualities we love about Kenna — she’s “lovely, charming, warm (and) incredibly ambitious” — will also “cause some problems” for them down the line.
GHOST WORLD:
Speaking of Bash, are you wondering why he was the one to see that ghost in the premiere? McCarthy chalks it up to his exhaustion and the fact that his paganism leaves him more open to suggestion. That said, the ghost’s warning is not to be taken lightly. “The land is unstable, and people who have gotten away with murder might not get away with it for so long,” she says. (Heads up, Francis and Catherine!)
HEY DUDES:
The premiere’s two newcomers, Conde and Narcisse, will find themselves heavily involved in the Catholic-Protestant tension this season — but that’s not all! “You’ll see some surprising pairings this season,” McCarthy says in regards to the new additions. “Conde really doesn’t have a problem being with married women … and Narcisse has a surprising sexuality to him. … Catherine’s going to have a lover, too.” (Hmm…)
SCARY MARY:
Apparently tricking Catherine into thinking she has the plague was just the beginning of Mary’s evolution into, essentially, Catherine 2.0. “It’s nice to see her flip it on Catherine for once,” Kane says. “That was a very Catherine thing to do, and I like that Mary starts taking on more of those manipulative Catherine-esque elements; almost without realizing it, she’s becoming more and more like Catherine.” (Now that‘s scary!)
WEDDING BELLS:
Two ladies in waiting — Lola and Greer — remain unmarried, and although McCarthy won’t reveal who will be heading down the aisle, she promises we “will see a wedding this season.” (Any guesses?)
A CLOSE SHAVE:
Nostradamus’ beard was, of course, the premiere’s most shocking casualty, and while it wasn’t directly addressed in the episode, McCarthy says she originally planned to give it a proper send-off. “We had a line in there, and we took it out, where he had wisely made himself clean shaven to show everybody, ‘I don’t have the plague. … No sores here!'” she explains. Apparently, the actor (Rossif Sutherland) had to ditch his face fur for another role.
DEADLY TRIANGLE:
With Yvette Castleroy now out of the way (RIP!), Leith has found himself a free man — but don’t expect Greer to break off her engagement to Lord Castleroy anytime soon. No matter how much she loves him, “the fear of being a ruined woman has ramifications,” McCarthy explains. And that fear is “going to loom large for her for some time.”
TVLine.com - Toby Regbo
And baby makes… four? Yes, Francis is facing a complicated — not to mention deadly — future when Reign returns Thursday and star Toby Regbo says we’ll be lucky if the young king doesn’t go “completely mental” in Season 2. (Like father, like son, right?)
“I’m on my way to meet my baby that’s just been given birth to by my wife’s best friend, so it’s a rather convoluted and complex relationship that I’ve been thrown into at the last minute,” Regbo admits. “Coupled with that, there’s the plague that’s ravaging the land, so it’s pretty messy.”
TVLINE: Will Francis be a hands-on dad? I’m trying to picture him changing diapers and it’s not working.
At first, he sort of just can’t understand why it’s crying and he doesn’t know what to do with it. There are nannies to handle that sort of thing. … But when he first comes into contact with the child, he immediately has a bond with it. Natural instincts take over.
TVLINE: Catherine seems worried that Lola could disrupt Francis’ marriage. Does he really still have feelings for her?
In the first episode, he does say, “I know you, Lola. We shared more than a bed in Paris.” So there is still a connection of sorts there.
TVLINE: Have you worked with a baby before?
(Laughs) No, never! On day one, they just bring you this baby — the mother of the child just hands it over to you — and I’d never even held one before. They change them a lot, though. It’s a pretty good environment to bring your child to; they’re very well looked after, and there are doctors around in case anything baby-ish happens to them. One of the babies we had in one of the scenes was less than 13 days old, which is insanely young to be around a camera crew. It looked like a tiny, old, red man. It wasn’t ready to be out in the world yet.
TVLINE: That baby’s mother must have had to sign a contract before it was even born!
I think they do that! (The producers) track the pregnancy towards the end and say, “We’ll be wanting a baby soon, so hurry up and get it out of you. Get rolling!”
TVLINE: Those interactions probably come off looking pretty authentic, though, since Francis is also totally new to the baby world.
Yeah, it’s really amazing. They want to use the actual babies as little as possible, because you have a very limited amount of time to shoot with them before they need a break. So anytime the baby is out of the shot, we use a doll, and it’s so strange how much of a difference it makes having an actual child there. So much of acting is reacting, having real moments between two people or whatever. But when you have a baby thrown into the mix, which is totally unpredictable because it doesn’t know where it is or what’s going on, it’s like a little bundle of joy. There’s a shot of me looking down at the child in the first episode and they asked me, “Do you mind if we used the doll?” and I was like, “Actually, yes, I do mind. I want this to be a moment where I’m not looking at a Satanic baby doll!”
TVLINE: Speaking of baby dolls, how’s Francis’ relationship with Bash in Season 2?
Well, now that I’m the king, I’m surrounded by people who want to stab me in the back, blackmail me, abuse me and all that. I thought that when I became king, I could just roam around the land kicking peasants’ heads off, but apparently I’m not allowed to do that. It’s not an all-powerful position; there are people with more money, resources and brains that I need. Having someone like Bash around, who I can trust, is great. I make him my right-hand man, someone who I can trust not to go behind my back — except for that one time he did that one thing behind my back, but he was trying to protect me.
TVLINE: Francis also makes a new friend in Season 2 — Conde, I believe. What’s he all about?
He’s my cousin, funnily enough. His first line is that we are very far removed, and Sean Teale — the actor who plays him — is Venezuelan. So there’s a very tenuous link. In real life, I’ve known Sean for 11 years; we went to school together. It’s strange that this person I knew in school has popped up in this totally separate bit of my life. We meet him in Episode 1 when he protects me and Lola from the plague, and we take him back to the castle. I tell him, “You can rest here for a night,” and he ends up staying for ages. He turns out to be a loyal and useful asset, though there is a tenuous power thing going on; he has links with Protestantism, and I’m the king of a Catholic country. As the season progresses, I think that will become a problem between them.
TVLINE: Lastly, I know Francis doesn’t want to be anything like his father. How can he hope to make that happen?
That’s a big thing for him in Season 2. When he brings the child back to Mary, he doesn’t know what role it’ll take at Court, but he wants to be a part of his son’s life. He uses Bash as an example; Henry didn’t give him a title or standing and that really hurt him. Francis doesn’t want that to be the case for his son. And on a personal level, just not going insane (like Henry) — trying to keep his feet on the ground without going completely mental.
JustJaredJr.com - Torrance Coombs
The talented Torrance Coombs opens up to JJJ about tonight’s season two premiere of Reign in this brand new interview!
The 31-year-old Canadian actor talks to us about Bash’s mission to “maintain order among the chaos” in wake of The Plague that sweeps the castle.
Meanwhile Torrance also teases some brotherly moments ahead, as Francis (Toby Regbo) begins to lean on Bash even more amid pressures of being king. Check it out!
JustJaredJr.com: With the arrival of the plague, is it safe to say everyone is in danger?
Torrance Coombs: Yeah, certainly everyone is in danger. If not from the plague then from the devious people trying to take advantage of the plague/hide their crimes. With Francis being out of the castle, Bash is very directly responsible for all the stuff that’s going down in the castle. He’s just trying to maintain order among the chaos. We have these “plague rooms” and we have to put 10 people in these rooms, and maybe the wrong people are in the rooms. Or maybe you put un-sick people in the room and then they get sick. Sometimes you’re just going to come into contact with some sick people, and you have to hope for the best.
JJJ: Because he was warned about it and killed The Darkness anyway, is Bash feeling any guilt?
TC: Yeah, that’s an interesting thing because on the one hand, how stupid is it to think the guy doing a blood sacrifice could cause the plague. The idea that Bash killing The Darkness would cause the plague is ludicrous, but at the same time, it just happened. So we got a character who has always been a skeptic. The Darkness is just a guy spreading fear. And with Clarissa, for example, it turns out she’s not just haunting the castle, she’s Catherine’s daughter. She’s disfigured and we explained it all. But now, what’s happening is the skeptic is starting to become a bit of a believer. With all these dead souls around the castle, it starts to become haunted by various apparitions. Are these fever dreams? Are these all in people’s heads as they are affected with the plague. Or are the real? Are they restless spirits that came back to seek vengeance? So that transition from skeptic to believer is something that happens with Bash this season.
JJJ: With Francis gone and this hysteria going on, does Mary lose control of everything?
TC: Francis just learned that he has a baby, so that’s a lot for him to deal with. And yeah, Mary is obviously very worried about him, but at the moment, she doesn’t really have a lot of control over what’s going on. So it’s up to Bash to look after the castle for a bit.
JJJ: Does Mary lean on Bash at all? TC: You know what? Not particularly. But Francis starts to lean very heavily on Bash, to the point that he’s like his deputy, to help him with some of the dirty business he can’t carry out himself – and to be his eyes and ears on the ground, and watch his back.
JJJ: We saw a nice hug between Francis and Bash in the finale. Will we see more brotherly bonding moments ahead?
TC: Yeah, I’ll go ahead and spoil that, yeah. Francis needs to trust Bash with his life. He doesn’t have a lot of friends to turn to that he can really, truly trust. And especially if these powerful nobles start to rise up and take advantage of the situation. Francis is trying to be a good king. He has strong ideas of how he wants to be different than his father, but he quickly realizes that once you’re in power, there are deals that have to be brokered with various underhanded people So Bash is there to help him deal with those a–holes.
JJJ: Does Henry’s death still weight heavily on him?
TC: Yes, and that is a huge secret that carries. Because regicide is the worst crime that he can possibly commit. He can’t tell Mary because she would be implicated and he has to be very, very careful with that secret. He has to decide whether to carry that burden himself or whether to reveal it to someone. And that’s a big part of Francis’ journey.
JJJ: We saw Bash and Kenna share “I love you’s” in the finale. Where to we find them in the premiere?
TC: They get separated when the plague breaks out. It’s scary business. They don’t feel particularly safe, but they are still very much in love. Things are going well with their relationship. Going forward, it’s hard to say. But they’re still somewhat incompatible personalities. Bash’s business with Francis means he has to secretly run off into the woods for weeks at a time. He’s not really allowed to tell Kenna his affairs at stake and what he’s up to. Meanwhile, Kenna still has ambitions for fancier things. That could be cause to reconcile.
JJJ: What is Catherine up to during all of this?
TC: She is still exercising her influence. She doesn’t like not having any real power, so she just has to be sneakier about it. She’s still a very powerful woman. And she’s a master manipulator, so we still get to see a lot of scheming Catherine. She just can’t command guards to behead somebody anymore. But it’s that thing where she likes to offer a lot of motherly advice to Mary. It’s that thing where somebody takes your old job. “That’s how you’re going to do that? That’s not how I would have done it.” So we see that dynamic well.
JJJ: If you could give Bash any piece of advice going into season two, what would it be?
TC: I would tell him that things aren’t morally as black and white as he wants them to be. That sometimes there are gray areas that maybe he should anticipate a little better. It’s not always good versus evil, or right and wrong. I think he just needs to understand shades of gray a little better.
TheWrap's “Drinking With the Stars - Adelaide Kane
- "I really want her to just pitch a fit"
- —Adelaide Kane's advice to Mary Stuart
CW's “Reign” has Mary ruling France without husband Francis and her portrayer Adelaide Kane is pretty upset about it.
During interview for a new episode of TheWrap‘s Drinking With the Stars, Adelaide Kane revealed that Mary will always try to do the right thing, but the fact that Francis (Toby Regbo) now has an illegitimate child with her lady-in-waiting Lola (Anna Popplewell) will be a source of tension for the newly-crowned rulers of France.
“It's pretty much her only job, to get pregnant and have babies,” Kane said of Mary's royal duties. “Having the baby around is almost rubbing her nose in the fact that she hasn't had a child yet, and that's going to be very painful for her.”
Meanwhile, Mary hasn't forgotten about what led to this whole mess in the first place — Francis and Lola sleeping together. “She's trying to make the best of it with Lola, Lola's still her friend,” said Kane. “It's been brought up with Francis once or twice, but I think there's still a conversation that needs to happen. Maybe a few glasses should be thrown and a casual slap across the face is required. She hasn't blown up about it yet and I really want her to!”
Mary's unrelenting nobleness in the face of all adversity has Kane wanting the queen of France and Scotland to blow off some steam. “I want to break something,” Kane joked. “Everyone else gets to break things and I never get to break anything … I want to have an episode where she's channeling Queen Catherine (Megan Follows) and is all sassy.”
Kane also discussed what she calls the show's “stealth feminism,” by referring to the checklist which highlights gender bias in media.
“We pass the Bechdel test almost every week!” she cheered. “Not many shows can do that, not many movies can do that, full stop. We get a lot of flack for being, essentially, a costume melodrama — we're a little soapy and campy, which is okay, I love it — but I have to say we're like a stealth feminist show. We also have really healthy, normalized versions of female sexuality.”
The show is also known for scenes of Mary taking charge and Francis taking a back seat, which Kane revealed she's discovered fans are really into. “There are a couple of great gifsets on Tumblr of those scenes,” she laughed. “Where Francis is like ‘So turned on right now.’ Every time Mary exercises her power, Francis is so into it! He's like, ‘Yeah, that's my woman!'”
Reign airs every Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET on M3 and Thursday at 9 p.m. ET on The CW.
‘Reign’ Star Adelaide Kane on Francis’ Indiscretion Casual Slap Across the Face Required Part 2
‘Reign’ Star Adelaide Kane on Francis’ Indiscretion Casual Slap Across the Face Required Part 2-1
Real Style - Jonathan Keltz
Jonathan Keltz does an interview with Real Style on October 1st, 2014
Real Style: Tell us about Season 2 of Reign.
Jonathan Keltz: It is definitely a darker season. The season picks up right off where we left off and the plague has come to France and is leaving no prisoners. It is definitely a chaotic and turbulent time and that’s where we begin and then things spiral out of control. Nobody is safe. It is an enemy that unites us all. It is a common enemy, but we still find ways to poke and prod at each other as well. [For Season 2] I’m more tied down to the show and there’s more of the character versus less, so it’s a good thing.
Real Style: How does Leith change this season?
Jonathan Keltz: I can’t get into too much detail, but the season ended with me gaining land and money and the beginnings of some wealth. I’m maintaining my friendship to the new King of France. This new relationship that’s budding with Yvette Castleroy, we’ll see what happens there. I’m still unaware that’s she the daughter of the man who’s the fiancee of the one I was formerly in love with. It’s a bit of a tricky moment and this new relationship will be put to the test. The old relationships and whether or not that’s true love will be put to the test as well.
Real Style: Greer could possibly be in your future?
Jonathan Keltz: Greer could possibly be in my future. How far Yvette Castleroy and I get could change things as well in terms of who gets married, when they get married, who gets married to whom.
Real Style: What was it like kissing Celina Sinden [who plays Greer]?
Jonathan Keltz: Ha! There’s never anything wrong with working with a wonderful actor or actress. Yeah, it was lovely getting to do all the romance stuff. We had some really lovely scenes. We were actually just talking about it last night. One of our favourite scenes that we’ve ever shot was the first date scene that we had. It was a really sweet and lovely candlelit date and it was the first day I was shooting on the show and it was a lot of fun. There was just something really charming about the way it all went by. We’re both in relationships and thankfully both of the people we’re in relationships with are actors so they understand and they have to do scenes like that as well.
Real Style: What’s your favourite part of working on Reign?
Jonathan Keltz: We have a really fun cast and a really great relationship between us all. Getting to escape into that world is the most fun. I love just hanging out at the studio. We have these unbelievable castle sets that the detailing is amazing. The crew and the art department and the wardrobe department; everyone in makeup and hair has all done a fantastic job. You’re walking down the halls and you look up and there’s all this detailed painting in the ceilings. In the days when we’re out of the studio I get to ride a horse through the woods and charge around on missions.
Real Style: You would never guess that it was shot in Toronto.
Jonathan Keltz: You would never guess. Now we do shoot in Ireland, but we have a studio that we shoot at and we built a courtyard and a village set in the back-lot of the studio, so there is some outdoor stuff [in Toronto]. We shoot in a lot of conservation areas or ruins and old churches on the outskirts of Toronto.
Real Style: What’s your favourite part about Toronto?
Jonathan Keltz: I love Toronto. It’s a really great city. It’s a really eclectic city where you can get whatever you ant out of it. I really loved being here for TIFF this year and being immersed in it. I’d say that right now my favourite thing would be the summer we’ve been having. It’ll get a little bit more brutal and unforgiving in a couple months but it’s the end of summer that’s really my favourite time.
Real Style: What are your plans when you’re done shooting Reign?
Jonathan Keltz: I’m hoping to do some feature stuff during the hiatus – fingers crossed we get picked up for a third season. We’ll be starting up again first week of July so it’s not a lot of time to squeeze something in and try to get some vacay as well. My girlfriend’s family is Brazilian and we’re hoping to sneak down to Brazil for my first time during the hiatus.
Real Style: That would be nice.
Jonathan Keltz: That would be nice indeed. Dream scenario: shoot an awesome movie with the newly married George Clooney and then go tromp around Brazil for a bit with the love of my life. Nothing wrong with that.
