EXCLUSIVE: Apple TV‘s The Buccaneers will welcome Paul Wesley into the fold for Season 3.
The Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Vampire Diaries star joins the Apple TV’s period drama, based on Edith Wharton’s final, unfinished novel, as Frank, who is a mysterious but charming stranger who arrives into Nan and Mrs. St. George’s world, turning it upside down.
Photos of the Vampire Diaries actor accompanying Christina Hendricks’ character Patty St. George on set circled the Internet earlier this week, which signaled that production on the third installment of the show is underway.
Season 3’s logline reads, “Our Buccaneers are fighting back. And they’re doing it together. When they arrived in England they were all navigating their first loves. Now, they’re looking for the loves of their live, and with a new and enigmatic Duke at the helm, Tintagel is also facing an uncertain future. If polite English society thought our American girls rocked the boat, this new bad-boy Duke is about to sink the ship.”
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Viewers will have to wait and see who will plays the new “bad boy Duke.” An important character introduced at the end of Season 2 as Theo’s (Guy Remmers) long-lost half-brother, Kit, who could become the new Duke of Tintagel because Theo abdicated his position. Summoned by The Dowager Duchess of Tintagel (Amelia Bullmore), viewers only saw Kit riding to the sweeping property on horseback from the back, and it was not revealed who would be playing him at that time.
The Buccaneers was renewed for a third season in October, two months after the Season 2 finale. Hailing from The Forge, the show is known for harnessing the turn-of-the-century climate in America and England that was the Gilded Age and mixing the culture of the time period with modern needle drops. Season 1 specifically contained all songs by women artists.
In the first season of the show watched a group of fun-loving young American girls explode onto the scene of 1870s London, England of the 1870s, kicking off an Anglo-American culture clash. Season 2 saw these American whirlwinds battling love, heartbreak, motherhood, jealousy and the full force of the English legal system.
Theo renounced his title because he wanted to divorce Nan (Kristine Frøseth) and marry Lizzy (Aubri Ibrag) after he and Lizzy kindled a flame while Nan was away seeing Guy (Matthew Broome) in Italy where he went to hide Jinny (Imogen Waterhouse) from her abusive husband Lord Seadown (Barney Fishwick). To complicate matters, Nan is pregnant with Theo’s child, who could qualify for inheriting Tintagel title and property.
The Buccaneers also stars Alisha Boe as Conchita Closson and Josie Totah as Mabel Elmsworth, who round out the titular quintet of girl best friends. Mia Threapleton (The Phoenician Scheme) plays Honoria Marable, and Josh Dylan portrayed Richard Marable, husband of Conchita and brother to Honoria and Lord Seadown. Richard, unfortunately, died at the hands of his brother in Season 2.
Leighton Meester joined in Season 2 as Aunt Nell, who viewers learned is Nan’s real mother. Nan herself is illegitimate, which made for a big storyline in Season 1 when she was choosing between being with Guy Thwarte or marrying Theo.
Season 2 also featured Grace Ambrose, Maria Almeida, Amelia Bullmore, Fenella Woolgar, Greg Wise and Jacob Ifan.
Written by series creator Katherine Jakeways, season three is directed by DGA Award winner Rachel Leiterman and BAFTA Award nominee Amy Neil. Jakeways and Emmy Award winner Beth Willis serve as executive producers, with Joe Innes promoted to executive producer on Season 3. Season 2 was directed by William McGregor, Rachel Leiterman, John Hardwick and Charlie Manton. The Buccaneers is produced for Apple TV by The Forge Entertainment, a Banijay UK company.