Viewers of the second season of Maxton Hall are in for a wild ride in the second year of the German teen drama – if the opening images of a crashed car are any indication.
“I just had a terrible time on set,” says Damian Hardung, who plays tortured rich bad guy James Beaufort. “Now I laugh, then I cried.”
The second season officially released on Prime Video on November 7 with the first three episodes, each approximately one hour long. Like the first season, it will have six episodes, with one new episode released every week until November 28th.
The second season picks up where the previous season left off. Ruby Bell (Harriet Herbig-Matten) is confident that she and James have reconciled their relationship after he ended it due to a threat from his father. Meanwhile, James deals with the death of his mother Cordelia.
In the final moments of the first season, a destitute James stumbled upon Ruby's house. Looking through her kitchen window, he saw Ruby smiling, surrounded by her parents and sister. But when Ruby looked up, he was gone.
“I love that shot where I look at her and just decide I don't want to ruin her life because I know what my family entails,” Hardung says.
The first episode of season two alone sets the stage for a lot of heartbreak—so much so that star Herbig-Matten says she had to learn to separate herself from her character after filming.
“I was 18 when we filmed the first season… I think in the second season I was able to separate her emotions from mine, and that was really cool for me,” Herbig-Matten says. “I know I'm safe and when we had really intense and emotional scenes, at the end of the day, it's not my life and it doesn't hurt me.”
Below, Hardung and Herbig-Matten recap the first few episodes of season two, including a shocking betrayal, and set the stage for what's to come.
🚨🚨🚨Warning: Spoilers ahead for the first three episodes of Maxton Hall Season 2.
Why is James cheating on Ruby?
People who have read Mona Kasten's Maxton Hall series, the first of which was published in English July 1st – I wouldn’t be surprised at this turn of events in the first episode.
“Anyone who has read the book knows that the kiss with Elaine was originally at the end of the first book,” Hardung says.
After his mother's death and after he decides not to trust Ruby, James temporarily goes missing. His twin sister Lydia (Sonja Weisser) also begins looking for James. They eventually find him drunk, in the middle of a wild pool party. Ruby watches in horror as his party gets out of control. After telling Ruby that she doesn't belong here, he kisses his ex-flame Elaine in the pool right in front of her.
Ruby returns home from the party alone, inconsolable.
The next morning, James wakes up dazed, confused and horrified by what has happened.
Hardung describes the kiss as part of a “brutally honest” portrayal of James' grief. According to Hardung, his character tries to push Ruby away because he knows what a public spectacle his family is making, especially after his mother's death.
In addition to self-isolation and drinking, James also resorts to drugs. When his father announces Cordelia's death at a press conference outside their home, James is inside using cocaine.
“We took the time to really acknowledge his grieving period and deal with his loss, and I think we were very honest about that,” Hardung says.
“I just hope fans want to go on this harrowing journey with him,” he adds. “I feel like that was my main goal – to make them root for him or sympathize with him, even though he's inherently flawed and even though he's such a terrible fuck – to still make people understand that this is the best he can do at the moment.”
Why does Ruby return to James?
So, to recap: Less than 15 minutes into Season 2, Ruby and James' relationship is once again in jeopardy. But this is Maxton Hall after all.
When Ruby witnesses James cheating on her, she doesn't yet know about his mother's death. The next morning, still reeling from the kiss and the mounting pressure of the scholarship opportunity, her best friend tells her that Cordelia Beaufort has died.
Without hesitation, she goes to the Beaufort mansion to try to console James.
“I think Ruby has a really good heart, and I think that when she loves someone, she loves them deeply and gives them everything,” Herbig-Matten says of her character's decision to side with James. “I think it wasn't a question because she just wanted to show him that she thought about him and show her presence and also be there for Lydia. I think that was very important to her too.”
Ruby finds James on the bathroom floor. His eyes are good the way she holds him. Through tears, he says he regrets being cruel to Cordelia the last time he saw her. He ends up falling asleep in Ruby's lap.
But after Ruby checks her phone and sees a video message from Elaine the night before, Ruby begins to pull away. James tries to apologize and says that Elaine means nothing to him. He begs her to stay, but when Ruby tells him he needs help, he yells at her to leave.
Hardung says he and Herbig-Matten were “really afraid” of this particular scene.
“When we looked at the filming schedule, we thought, 'Oh my gosh, they're starting in two weeks,'” he says.
In this scene, Hardung says that his character is lying to himself.
“The purpose of the scene is very clear – it's almost written in my head: 'I need you to stay. I need you to love me.” And then it breaks: “I need you to leave.” Out of fear that I won't achieve my goal and I can't fail again because I fail so often. So I’d rather change my goal and lie to myself than fail again,” he says of James.
After James' mom's funeral at the end of the first episode, he steals a car and goes on a rampage. He tries to call Ruby, but when she doesn't answer, his driving gets more and more out of control until he spins out and flips the car.
In the second episode, once he is released from the hospital, James apologizes to Ruby again and says he wants to fight for her.
“I can’t save you, James, only you can,” she finally says, referencing the title of the second book in the series.
That line sets the stage for season two's overall theme of “healing,” Herbig-Matten says.
“For me, season two is about growth and healing. And healing means sometimes falling apart and putting yourself back together and letting people go,” she says. “I think that's what we've learned and what people can learn, and we see that she has to let him go and heal herself.”
