- Hulu and Disney+ have confirmed that episodes 7-12 of Rivals season 2 will be released from November 2026
- Internet rumors initially suggested episodes would resume in October 2026
- Creators have claimed season split is happening for various reasons, including the 2026 FIFA World Cup
Spoilers for Rivals season 2 episode 6 ahead.
Annoying news just in: Hulu and Disney+ have confirmed that the second set of six episodes in Rivals season 2 won’t be on screens until November 2026. Episodes were originally rumored to be dropping a month earlier in October.
Alongside the teaser trailer for season 2 part 2 (which you can catch up with below), a press statement confirmed ” Following a shocking turn of events in the sixth episode, the residents of Rutshire are rocked by tragedy, scandal and betrayal as the battle between Venturer and Corinium reaches breaking point.
“The Hulu Original series returns with six more drama-filled episodes this November on Disney+ in the UK and internationally, and Hulu in the US.”
On top of this, episodes will also feature some fresh faces, with Rachael Stirling joining the cast as Araminta Pemberton, Monica’s (Claire Rushbrook) “vampish” younger sister. Rupert Evans joins as headmaster David Hawkley and Santiago Cabrera as Argentinian Polo legend Alejandro Mendoza.
This confirms that both Polo and fellow Jilly Cooper novel The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous are actively being folded into the Rivals storyline, but does any of this matter when we’ve left season 2 episode 6 on such an unnecessarily sour note?
Opinion: Rivals season 2 part 2 has a lot of work to do after killing Monica off for no good reason
To tell you the truth, I fully believed that Monica would turn up in season 2 episode 7 after a “misunderstanding,” but the trailer above proves that the worst has happened with its opening funeral scene.
I’ve already waxed lyrical about why killing Monica off was such poor decision-making from the creative team, so I really should be pleased that I’ve got another month of distance between me and the Rivals story continuing.
But with on-off couples Lizzie (Katherine Parkinson) and Freddie (Danny Dyer) and Taggie (Bella Maclean) and Rupert (Alex Hassell) seemingly finding their way back to each other, I’m afraid that I want to have my metaphorical cake and eat it.
As one YouTube comment perfectly puts it, “Making us wait until November is so vile and criminal.” But with the TV adaption making such vast deviations from the original novel, are we really prepared for what’s coming next?
“12 episodes is a lot for people to enjoy,” writer Laura Wade told me earlier in the season. “I think that we partly wanted to drag out that enjoyment a little bit. But also from a practical point of view, it takes a long time to deliver 12 very complicated period pieces of drama.
“Do we just release the first six and crack on with finishing the second six, which is what we’re doing right now? Or do we wait, an extra six months of release for 12? We didn’t want to wait. Also, we’ve got the FIFA World Cup coming up, so we’re releasing the first half before the football. Get that out of the way, and then release the second half.”
Both Hulu and Disney+ will be streaming matches thanks to ESPN+ getting the rights, so be prepared for a smorgasbord of sports content overtaking your accounts across the summer months.
“There’s something lovely about the first half of the series having spring-like stuff, then the second half having autumnal vibes,” Wade continues. “On screen, it runs into Christmas, which allows us to sort of parcel it out for everybody to savour the story.
“We’ve got some really huge story moments coming up later in the series and it’d be lovely for those bits of story to just have a moment to sink in with viewers, building up some anticipation. There’s a massive plot twist at the end of episode six. I think that’s when we break off for four or five months. But I think that will keep people thinking, talking, and arguing about what’s going to happen next… in a very good way.”
Now we know what that is, I’m most certainly heading up the biggest argument possible between me and the writer’s room.
There are clearly raucous parties still to come, but I don’t even think that Christmas can smooth over the damage that the first half of season 2 has caused.
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jasmine.valentine@futurenet.com (Jasmine Valentine)
