Wolf Hall season 2: Release date and latest news for The Mirror and the Light

The series follows the career of the shrewd politician Thomas Cromwell, played by Academy Award-winner Mark Rylance, at the court of King Henry VIII of England (Damian Lewis).

Director Peter Kosminsky says: "The Mirror and the Light picks up exactly where Wolf Hall ended, with the execution of Henry VIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn.

"I'm overjoyed to be able to reunite the extraordinary cast we were lucky enough to assemble for Wolf Hall, led by the brilliant Mark Rylance and Damian Lewis, with the original creative team of Gavin Finney (DOP), Pat Campbell (Designer) and Joanna Eatwell (Costume Designer).

"We are all determined to complete what we started – and to honour the final novel written by one of the greatest literary figures of our age, Hilary Mantel."

Speaking about revisiting the show after such a lengthy hiatus, executive producer Colin Callender said: "Returning to Wolf Hall after ten years was like revisiting old friends. We'd lived with these characters who are so vibrant and jumped off the screen in the first season, so coming back to them ten years later was as though we were coming home. It was wonderful."

Callender also said that Wolf Hall "reminds us why we need the BBC".

"This is a production that no one else would make other than the BBC," he said. "No other British broadcaster would make it, none of the streamers would make it. Wolf Hall is the sort of drama that reminds us why we need the BBC because it's a uniquely British project, it's about our history, it's about our DNA, from one of Britain's most celebrated novelists.

"So we need to thank the BBC for being there and particularly thankful because it is funded by the licence fee it allows the BBC to make editorial decisions based on serving British audiences, not driven by the demands of advertisers, the quest for big ratings or a need to serve the global marketplace.

"And that in turn allows the BBC to take big creative leaps that others cannot take and their success as a broadcaster is not contingent on the success or failure of any one show. The BBC is a unique cultural institution at the heart of British life and without it shows like Wolf Hall would never get made."

For more information about Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, read on.

Wolf Hall season 2 release date: When can I watch it?

Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light has been confirmed to premiere on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Sunday 10th November 2024.

New episodes will be released weekly, rather than as a box set.

There are now first-look images for the second season of Wolf Hall.

Wolf Hall season 2 cast: Who stars in the BBC drama?

We now have a full cast for Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light.

The central cast members from the first season of Wolf Hall will be back, including Oscar winner Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell and Emmy winner Damian Lewis as King Henry VIII.

Despite his character's death in the first run, The Crown actor Sir Jonathan Pryce will reprise his role as Cromwell's mentor Cardinal Thomas Wolsey.

Peaky Blinders actress Kate Phillips will return as Jane Seymour, the third wife of the King and now Queen of England.

"She was believed to be one of the lowest born of all of the queens, but she's been a lady in waiting to Katherine of Aragon, and later to Anne Boleyn, so she's been at Court for some time," said Phillips.

"Jane's relationship with the King is I believe, at the beginning, something of real hope and happiness for him. It's with Jane that he sees this new future. She's seen as very chaste, very plain, and I think Henry finds that really attractive. And whether or not Jane herself has found a love match… I think that's definitely called into question over the course of the series."

Elsewhere, Lilit Lesser will reprise her role as the King's daughter Mary, now titled Lady Mary after she was proclaimed a bastard.

The rest of the key cast includes:

• Timothy Spall as Duke of Norfolk
• Harry Melling as Thomas Wriothesley
• Harriet Walter as Lady Margaret Pole
• Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Rafe Sadler
• Alex Jennings as Stephen Gardiner
• Charlie Rowe as Gregory Cromwell
• Tom Mothersdale as Richard Riche
• Karim Kadjar as Eustache Chapuys
• Maisie Richardson-Sellers as Bess Oughtred
• Ellie de Lange as Jenneke
• Hannah Khalique-Brown as Dorothea
• Lydia Leonard as Jane Rochford

Wolf Hall season 2 plot: What's it about?

The second season will adapt the third book in the late Dame Hilary Mantel's Cromwell trilogy, The Mirror and the Light.

The official plot synopsis from the BBC reads: "May 1536. Anne Boleyn, Henry’s second wife, is dead. As the axe drops, Thomas Cromwell emerges from the bloodbath to continue his climb to power and wealth, while his formidable master, Henry, settles to short-lived happiness with his third queen, Jane Seymour.

"Cromwell, a man with only his wits to rely on, has no great family to back him, and no private army. Navigating the moral complexities that accompany the exercise of power in this brutal and bloody time, Cromwell is caught between his desire to do what is right and his instinct to survive. But in the wake of Henry VIII having executed his queen, no one is safe."

It continues: "Despite rebellion at home, traitors plotting abroad and the threat of invasion testing Henry’s regime to breaking point, Cromwell’s robust imagination sees a new country in the mirror of the future. All of England lies at his feet, ripe for innovation and religious reform. But as fortune’s wheel turns, Cromwell’s enemies are gathering in the shadows.

"The inevitable question remains: how long can anyone survive under Henry’s cruel and capricious gaze?"

Spoiler alert, many with knowledge of Tudor history will be aware that Cromwell's fate is not too dissimilar to Anne Boleyn's so we'll have to wait and see how the series chooses to portray this.

"This series really explodes," said star Harry Melling. "You're playing with everything that's been built up already, really exploring all of these different avenues in a deeper way.

"Certainly, the rise and fall of people is on display in this series. That's a tremendously exciting thing to watch. In a weird way, coming to be in this cast I feel like I already knew the characters having watched the first series. It's just as thrilling and exciting, complicated and rich."

Wolf Hall season 2 trailer: When can I watch it?

You can watch the trailer for Wolf Hall: The Mirror and The Light right now.

Enjoy it below.

Wolf Hall: The Mirror and The Light comes to BBC One and iPlayer on Sunday 10th November.

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