A Discovery of Witches Season 2

Season 2 of A Discovery of Witches premiered on Friday January 8, 2021 in the UK on Sky One. It aired one day later on Saturday January 9, 2021 in the USA through Sundance Now and Shudder and ended on March 13, 2021.

Synopsis
''Matthew and Diana are hiding in time in the fascinating and treacherous world of Elizabethan London. Here they must find a powerful witch teacher to help Diana control her magic and search for the elusive Book of Life. Matthew and Diana's romance faces a barrage of new threats; Diana’s unleashed magic takes a dark and frightening turn, while Matthew struggles to re-inhabit the dangerous life he led over four centuries ago. They must overcome deep personal fears and jealousies, baring their darkest secrets to one another if they are to stay alive, stay together and find a way back to present day. While Matthew and Diana hide out in Elizabethan London, back in present day, Diana’s beloved aunts, Sarah and Em must take shelter with notorious witch hunter Ysabeau de Clermont at her ancestral home, Sept-Tours. Meanwhile, in Oxford, Marcus and Miriam take on Matthew’s mantle to protect Daemons Nathaniel and Sophie, whose pregnancy is advancing. And Gerbert, Knox, Satu and Domenico are determined to hunt down every clue they can to Diana’s and Matthew’s disappearance, and the secrets their allies are keeping from them.''

Starring

 * Teresa Palmer as Diana Bishop
 * Matthew Goode as Matthew Clairmont
 * Tom Hughes as Kit Marlowe
 * Michael Lindall as Sir Walter Raleigh
 * Sheila Hancock as Goody Alsop
 * Aisling Loftus as Sophie Wilson/Susanna Norman
 * Holly Aird as Francoise
 * Trevor Eve as Gerbert D'Aurillac
 * Owen Teale as Peter Knox
 * Malin Buska as Satu Järvinen
 * Edward Bluemel as Marcus Whitmore
 * Alex Kingston as Sarah Bishop
 * Valarie Pettiford as Emily Mather
 * Lindsay Duncan as Ysabeau de Clermont
 * Aiysha Hart as Miriam Shephard
 * Tanya Moodie as Agatha Wilson
 * Daniel Ezra as Nathaniel Wilson
 * Gregg Chillin as Domenico Michele
 * James Purefoy as Philippe de Clermont
 * Steven Cree as Gallowglass
 * Elaine Cassidy as Louisa de Clermont
 * Paul Rhys as Andrew Hubbard
 * Adelle Leonce as Phoebe Taylor

Guest Starring

 * Milo Twomey as Pierre
 * Adam Sklar as Henry Percy
 * Adrian Rawlins as William Cecil
 * Amanda Hale as Mary Sidney
 * Joshua Pickering as Jack
 * Victoria Yeates as Elizabeth Jackson
 * Lois Chimimba as Catherine Streeter
 * Amy McAllister as Marjorie Cooper
 * Barbara Marten as Queen Elizabeth
 * Michael Jibson as Rudolf II
 * Jacob Ifan as Benjamin Fuchs
 * Trystan Gravelle as Baldwin Montclair

Trivia

 * On April 10, 2019, as part of a Q & A, Gareth Skelding, the Senior Location Manager for the series was asked if they will be building a set for M&D's house in Blackfriars or filming in London?. He responded by saying that create a whole new world for season 2.
 * Gareth was also asked if he was looking forward to the challenge of Season 2 being so steeped in incredible details of the Elizabeth area. To which he said they are looking forward to delivering a range of different looks, spread over different times and continents!
 * Gareth was then asked if the cast and crew will be popping over to Bristol again at all in Season or even S3. He answered the question by saying that he is sure they will be visiting their friends in Bristol VERY soon as it offers a range of architectural features not available this side of the bridge!
 * On May 1, 2019, Deborah Harkness revealed that she on set for Season 2.
 * On May 22, 2019, Deborah Harkness tweeted out that they were currently in the midst of prepping for Season 2, and released a behind the scenes image of safety vests and hard hats.
 * On June 6, 2019, Deborah Harkness revealed that Adelle Leonce was cast as Phoebe Taylor, the ambitious young art curator who steals Marcus's heart, in Season 2.
 * On June 11, 2019, it was revealed that filming for season 2 had started.
 * On June 13, 2019, Farren Blackburn confirmed he was back to direct for season 2, and was present for week 1 of filming.
 * By June 15, 2019, Farren Blackburn revealed that week 1 of filming for Season 2 was done.
 * On June 23, 2019,Deborah Harkness revealed that Teresa and Matthew listened to a fair bit of London Grammar while on set.
 * On July 5, 2019, a first look at Marcus & Phoebe together was released to the public via Sky TV.
 * On July 6, 2019, as a show of support to the LGBT+ community, the series tweeted about wishing everyone a happy pride, along with a collage of images from the show painted in rainbow.
 * On July 8, 2019, Trevor Eve who plays Gerbert D’Aurillac revelaled he was back, and that scenes for his character's Palazzo in Venice were being shot already.
 * On July 12, 2019, Farren Blackburn teased a scene being filmed for Season 2, but hid it by using the clapperboard to hide the actual scene.
 * On July 23, 2019 the series official Twitter account shared their love for Diana, and to promote the show, they released a poster of how Diana would present herself across the various social media sites.
 * On August 2, 2019, it was revealed that in attendance for All Souls Con were executive producer Lachlan Mackinnon, costume designer Sarah Arthur, locations manager Gareth Skelding, and production designer James North.
 * One of the questions asked at the panel was in regards to what surprised them about working on A Discovery of Witches. To which Lachlan simply said “Everything” and Gareth said “The scale”.
 * On August 11, 2019, some pictures from Day 1 of All Souls Con were released to the public.
 * On August 23, 2019, as a way of promoting the show while Season 2 is still being filmed, the official twitter account of the series put the characters from A Discovery of Witches into the Pure, Goode, Questionable and Evil tiers respectively.
 * On September 5, 2019, the castings of Steven Cree as Gallowglass and James Purefoy as Philippe de Clermont were revealed.
 * Also on this day, the castings of Sheila Hancock as Goody Alsop and Paul Rhys as Andrew Hubbard were announced.
 * In addition, Jacob Ifan was confirmed to have been casted as Benjamin Fuchs and Michael Lindall as Sir Walter Raleigh.
 * Moreover, Adrian Rawlins was confirmed to have joined the cast as William Cecil, alongside Elaine Cassidy as Louise de Clermont.
 * Then, Victoria Yeates was confirmed to be playing Elizabeth Jackson, the Water Witch and Amy McAllister will play Marjorie Cooper the Earth Witch. Both character becoming teachers for Diana in Season 2.
 * Furthermore, the role of Queen Elizabeth was confirmed to be portrayed by Barbara Marten and alongside her casting announcement Lois Chimimba of Doctor Who fame was confirmed to be playing a character by the name of Catherine Streeter.
 * Holly Aird and Adam Sklar were also confirmed to have been casted as Francaise and Henry Percy respectively also on September 5, 2019.
 * Lastly, to round up the casting announcements, Milo Twomey was confirmed to have joined the cast as Pierre, alongside Joshua Pickering portraying the character of Jack Blackfriars.
 * On September 17, 2019, the official Twitter account for A Discovery of Witches released a promotional image for Gallowglass.
 * On October 28, 2019, a sneak peek into some of the costumes that the actress playing Queen Elizabeth during the second season were shown.
 * On January 18, 2020, Season 2 officially wrapped filimg.
 * On February 26, 2020, it was revealed that the A Discovery fo Witches team was looking for an experienced Senior Post-Production Coordinator to join their London team.
 * On March 24, 2020, some behind the scenes images of Diana rowing on a lake were released by show's official Twitter account.
 * On June 18, 2020, as a way to promote the show Matthew Goode appeared on The Wine Show, where he was also asked his favorite wines.
 * On August 6, 2020, James Purefoy, a new addition to the cast revealed that he's personally been working on some post production stuff for the season, and teased that everything is looking absolutely gorgeous.
 * Also on this day, SkyTV on Twitter confirmed that Season 2 will air on Sky One and NowTV in the UK, and one day later on Sundance Now and Shudder in the USA.
 * On September 3, 2020, Farren Blackburn, one of the directors for this season revealed he was back on set amidst the COVID-19 global pandemic, in order to make a couple of little additions to tweak the end of the season and make it even better before it's release in January 2021.
 * On September 7, 2020, Deborah Harkness relased a BTS image for Season 2 while also confirming that on this day, filming for Season 3 of the series began.
 * On September 21, 2020, the series' author thanked the people in charge of Cardiff Castle, where the cast and crew film their panel for New York Comic Con & MCM Comic Con. Which would be shown to fans between October 8-11, 2020 virtually via YouTube.
 * On November 16, 2020, Sundance Now, one of the channels in the U.S. where the series will air its second season, tweeted out that there was only two months until the Season 2 premiere.
 * On December 6, 2020, a teaser image for one of the sets in Season 2 was revealed.
 * On December 7, 2020, a a second teaser image of another one of the sets during season 2 was revealed through the show's official twitter account.
 * On December 8, 2020, SKy One released a poster for Season 2.
 * On December 9, 2020, AMC Plus promoted the new season of the show on their official Twitter Account.
 * On December 11, 2020, a promotional image Matthew Goode's look in Season 2 was released.
 * On this same day, Deborah Harkness also released another promotional image of Mathew Goode's wardrobe in Season 2.
 * Later that day, Deborah also released a second promotional image, this time one of Matthew and Teresa as their characters in Season 2.
 * On December 12, 2020, Tanya Moodie was confirmed to be back for Season 2.
 * On December 13, 2020, a BTS image of Matthew and Teresa filming some scenes in Elizabethan London was released.
 * On December 14, 2020, Deborah Harkness confirmed that the period interiors such as the Hart and Crown, Rudolf II's palace, and Sept-Tours were all built in the studio.
 * She also mentioned that designer James North and his team built the exteriors for The Blackfriars and a few interiors (like Kit's tavern) into and against the shells that remained from the old farm outbuildings. This gave Elizabethan London texture, substance, and epic scale.
 * On this day as well, the series official Twitter account revealed that filming in 1590 is quite tricky, because they have to take the roofs off to fit the crane in.
 * On December 15,2020, SkyTV released some behind the scene images of some of the props being used in Season 2.
 * In addition, it was revealed that the series will premiere on January 1, 2021 on MoviestarPlus in Spain.
 * On December 16, 2020, a BTS image of two characters in a boat was released.
 * On December 18, 2020, a BTS image of a mysterious cloaked figure on a boat was released.
 * On this same day, it was revealed that the UK’s £500M pounds($665 million dollars) coronavirus production insurance is in talks with the government to extend the initiative so that shoots are covered up until June 2021, rather than the current cut off of February 2021. Among the series and movies whose potential extension would help is A Discovery of Watches.
 * On December 22, 2020, Shudder began promotion for the series, by releasing a trailer for its U.S. debut.
 * Similarly, on December 23, 2020, AMC Plus also began promotion of the second season for its U.S. debut.
 * On December 24, 2020, new promotional images of Teresa Palmer, Matthew Goode and Tom Hughes in their Elizabethan Outfits were released to the public.
 * On December 28,2020, Matthew Goode and Teresa Palmer reveals some caveats of information for what's to come in Season 2 for their characters.
 * Matthew Goode and Teresa Palmer both admitted to having some trouble readjusting to their characters after a 16-month break from set. Goode going as far as to say that for him,“it was such a long gap, that actually I had a lot of trepidation stepping back...I was like, ‘I can’t f**king remember how I did it...And then also, certainly for my character, it’s a very different [Season], really, because he regresses into his past, and psychologically that really changes him. So I think that’s one of the reasons why I felt a little bit discombobulated.”
 * Palmer for her part said that, “I do like the familiarity of, you know, living and breathing a character for a while, then you take a break, and you get to come back in and get beneath who they are... It’s been really fun this season because I’m getting to do so much more magic stuff, and learning about weaving, and the history behind witches, and the idea of the threads of the universe, and weaving them together.”
 * Both leads mentioned that off-camera, they were feeling the pressure as well. After fans responded positively to the first season, the build-up for the long-delayed second season meant that expectations are sky-high, with both Goode and Palmer hoping that viewers would respond well to the big story shift in the new episodes. Goode further added, “I think going back in time, it suddenly becomes a period drama, so there’s many more things you have to think about.
 * On December 29, 2020 Steven Cree mentioned how the 2 season renewal of the series gave him a unique experience. Citing how it was first for him where he watch the first season, and see the actors he is going to be working with, and see the world before his character even debuts.
 * On December 30, 2020,Teresa mentioned how because she gave birth to Poet, her daughter, in between filming season one and two. The logistics of wearing the costumes for the new season were a challenge after Poet was born, proving a series of unforeseen ‘complications’ when it came to preparing costumes. Palmer went onto describe the costumes as ‘gorgeous’, but that unfortunately because Poet had taken a shine to some of the outfits, her daughter ripped a few.
 * Because she is also currently breastfeeding, Teresa explained that had to have front opening corsets while filming the show.
 * On January 1, 2021, Mathew Goode, Teresa Palmer and Steven Cree, who joins the cast for Season 2 teased what's to come for some of the characters in the series' second season.
 * According to Goode, who plays Mathew Clairmont, it's a much darker season than its predecessor. In regards to the journey his own character goes through, Goode admited that, "Matthew regresses into his past – and psychologically that changes him,' he says.
 * There is however plenty of supernatural warfare on show, alongside some nascent 'blood rage' (a vampire's insatiable urge to hunt). The burgeoning romance between our hero and heroine continues to flourish though, albeit with bumps in the road on the way. Thus, they will have some things that come between the two and some obstacles for them to overcome,' says Matthew.
 * Terresa Palmer teased that, "Diana's getting to know him again in this era. When [they] go back in time, the Matthew Clairmont she knows seems really different. He shifts into this darker version. It feels like he's a totally different Matthew at times and this really throws her."
 * Season 2 will also see Diana start to embrace her witch side, which for so long she wanted to ignore. Palemer admits that Diana still has a very long way to go and she's certainly not in control of her magic, but she has to embrace who she is and delve further into it. Which means that viewers can expects lots of captivating magic sequences. One of her favorites being sequences like one where she's looking at someone's shoe with a snake embroidered on it and she brings the snake out of the shoe, a live snake. All because slowly Diana comes to the realization that part of one of her gifts is she can bring life into things.
 * Since the majority of the action in Season 2 takes place in 1590 this has meant that the cast had to deal with the challenges of being in a full Tudor costume, a particular issue for Teresa who was breastfeeding her daughter Poet during filming. This meant that she had to have front-opening corsets.
 * The Tudor setting also enables the introduction of characters from history, including real-life Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe ( who is being portrayed by: Tom Hughes) alongside the then 57-year-old Queen Elizabeth (portrayed by: Barbara Marten), whose relatively advanced years do not preclude her from flirting with Clairmont. Goode jokes that, "I'm having it written into all [Matthew's] main scenes that women find him attractive."
 * But in regards to the Queen Elizabeth and Matthew Clairmont relationship, Goode mentioned that, "Their relationship is quite touching actually, even when she's being ghastly because there's something deeper at the centre of it all. He worked for her father, Henry VIII, and so he was a confidant who probably helped her while she was growing up. I would imagine there was a frisson while she was a teenager and then a young queen, but he does love her very much and respects her hugely".
 * Clairmont's nephew Gallowglass, is described as a towering warrior fierce in battle but unafraid of revealing his soft heart around family. Steven Cree teased that his character quickly accepts Diana as part of his extended family, becoming one of only a handful of people she trusts. When pressed for more information about Gallowglass, he added that, "He's incredibly loyal to Matthew and the Clairmonts despite perhaps not necessarily always agreeing with everyone, particularly Matthew's father Philippe [portrayed by: James Purefoy]."
 * Cree also said that Gallowglas is,"quite bombastic yet he can be quite sensitive as well – but when it comes to the crunch he's a fierce warrior who will destroy anyone or anything that gets in Matthew's way. Because of his loyalty to Matthew, he then becomes incredibly protective of Diana as well".
 * Knowing how popular Gallowglass is to the fans of the books, Cree admitted to knowing the high expectations for his characters and hopes to do it justice.
 * On January 4, 2021, it was revealed how two years ago (in 2018), AMC Networks executives were impressed with the performance of the first season of a low-profile genre series co-produced in the U.K. with Comcast’s Sky that premiered on AMC’s arthouse-y streaming service Sundance Now in January 2019. They went onto say that “A Discovery of Witches” has become the little engine that could for the streaming service that has been around in one form or another since 2014. Which in turn caused AMC to focus and invest more in SVOD, after how good the series did for them.
 * On January 7, 2021, James Purefoy discussed how his close friend Matthew Goode campaigned to get him cast as Phillipe. “Purefoy admits playing Goode's father was terrible for his vanity, but ultimately, their characters are both centuries old, so that softened the blow. Mostly, performing with Goode made him up his game.”