{"id":113526,"date":"2025-09-02T16:05:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T16:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/113526\/"},"modified":"2025-09-02T16:05:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T16:05:09","slug":"maxton-hall-season-2-photos-reveal-james-spiraling-exclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/113526\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Maxton Hall’ season 2 photos reveal James spiraling (exclusive)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sure, William Shakespeare<\/a> wrote the words \u201cthe course of true love never did run smooth\u201d more than 400 years ago, but he may as well have been talking about the unlikely soulmates at the center of Maxton Hall\u2014The World Between Us.\n<\/p>\n

After a tumultuous and tearful enemies-to-lovers journey, brilliant scholarship student Ruby Hall (Harriet Herbig-Matten) and troubled but sensitive rich kid James Beaufort (Damian Hardung) finally gave in to their emotions (and passion) in the season 1 finale. But just when it seemed that these two gorgeous, opposites-attract lovebirds were headed for a bright future together at Oxford University, tragedy struck: James and his twin sister, Lydia (Sonja Wei\u00dfer), learned that their beloved mother, Cordelia, died from a stroke while they were out of town \u2014 and their father, Mortimer (Fredja van Hu\u00eat), a cold and aloof businessman, didn\u2019t even bother to call them.\n<\/p>\n

Season 2 of the hit Prime Video<\/a> drama picks up with James still reeling from his devastating loss, which sends him into a self-destructive spiral of drinking and partying. (See photo above.) \u201cHe’s losing himself and he’s kind of acting like the old James,\u201d Herbig-Matten tells Entertainment Weekly. \u201cIn the beginning of season 2, something has happened that I can\u2019t [reveal], but that\u2019s why they\u2019ve broken up. Ruby is going through her first heartbreak, and James is losing himself and who he is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ruby (Harriet Herbig-Matten) and James (Damian Hardung) build a decoration for the gala in ‘Maxton Hall’ season 2.<\/p>\n

Prime Video \/ Stephan RaboldPrime Video \/ Gordon Muehle\u00a0<\/p>\n

Though Ruby feels \u201cout of control\u201d for the first time in her life \u2014 which is her \u201cbiggest fear,\u201d says Herbig-Matten \u2014 she falls back on her own tried-and-true coping mechanism: Throwing herself into work. When Headmaster Lexington (Thomas Douglas) tasks Ruby with organizing a charity gala for famous human rights activist and philanthropist Alice Campbell (Proschat Madani), Ruby sees the challenge as way to distract herself. James, meanwhile, sees it as an opportunity. \u201cThey need money [to throw the event], and they\u2019re trying to collect money,\u201d says Herbig-Matten. \u201cThe first step for James trying to fix the problems [with Ruby] is to help her collect the money.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Of course, before James and Ruby can find their way back to each other, they must confront their issues as individuals \u2014 like setting boundaries and putting their own needs first. \u201cBoth characters act out of very different motivations,\u201d says Maxton Hall producer and head writer Ceylan Yildirim. \u201cWhile Ruby, as a scholarship recipient, believes she must perform at the highest level and stand out from the crowd in order to achieve her goals, James grew up in a toxic family where he was forced to conform. Their relationship challenges them to question their learned behavior patterns for the first time.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Even as Ruby and James have their relationship \u201cput to the test,\u201d Yildirim says James\u2019 twin sister will grow closer to Ruby in season 2. With her pregnancy progressing, Lydia finds herself turning to Ruby \u2014 the only other person who knows her secret \u2014 for support. \u201cUnlike the first season, in which the two young women were adversaries, this season sees a trusting bond develop between them,\u201d explains Yildirim. \u201cWe will see how their two worlds and the emotional challenges Ruby faces with James influence their friendship.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Herbig-Matten adds that Lydia will also get some much-needed girl time with Ruby\u2019s sister, Ember (Runa Greiner), and Ruby’s best friend, Lin (Andrea Guo). \u201cWe have really, really beautiful scenes together which I enjoy,\u201d says the actress, who shares a tight bond with her on-screen sister. \u201cRuna, she\u2019s my best friend. It\u2019s easy to play sisters because she’s kind of like my big sister. We have the same relationship and connection like Ember and Ruby. It\u2019s really special.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t worry \u2014 James will also have some additional emotional support this season, in the form of his Aunt Ophelia (Dagny Dewath), who reconnects with her nephew and niece after Cordelia\u2019s funeral. \u201cJames and Lydia only know their aunt from their mother’s stories,\u201d says Yildirim. \u201cThey never had any contact with her themselves. Ophelia gives them a new perspective on their mother and the family history that had previously been hidden from them.\u201d We\u2019ll also meet Frederic Ellington (Basil Eidenbenz), the older brother of James\u2019 best friend Alistair (Justus Riesner), who \u201cgives us a glimpse behind the fa\u00e7ade of the elite structures of the Ellington family,\u201d adds Yildirim.\n<\/p>\n

Ruby (Harriet Herbig-Matten) in ‘Maxton Hall’ season 2.<\/p>\n

Prime Video \/ Stephan RaboldPrime Video \/ Gordon Muehle\u00a0<\/p>\n

Based on the bestselling books by Mona Kasten<\/a>, season 1 of Maxton Hall was a massive hit for Prime Video, landing at number one on the streamer\u2019s charts in more than 120 countries. Becoming an international star overnight \u201cwas really overwhelming the first few months,\u201d admits Herbig-Matten. \u201cWhat I didn\u2019t expect is when you get recognized not only in Germany but also in Italy and Spain. We never expected that to happen.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

YA fans are loyal but also very, very vocal \u2014 and Yildirim wants Maxton Hall viewers to know that she and her fellow writers and producers are listening. \u201cWe take the fan community’s discussions about the novel series and their feedback on our adaptation very seriously. Even during the development phase for season 1, it was extremely important to us to listen to the Booktok community,\u201d she says. \u201cThe research we did was a huge help in casting and world-building.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Sign up for\u00a0Entertainment Weekly<\/a>‘s free daily newsletter<\/a>\u00a0to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.\n<\/p>\n

When Herbig-Matten hears from fans, many of them are young women looking to break into acting \u2014 and all of them want Ruby and James to get their happily ever after. \u201cEveryone wants them to fix their problems and to overcome all obstacles,\u201d says the actress. While the duo clearly has a long (and bumpy) road to relationship success, Herbig-Matten assures us that Ruby and James are on their way: \u201cSeason 2 is about growth. It\u2019s about changing, finding each other again, and healing.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Season 2 of Maxton Hall\u2014The World Between Us premieres Friday, Nov. 7 on Prime Video.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sure, William Shakespeare wrote the words \u201cthe course of true love never did run smooth\u201d more than 400…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":113527,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427],"class_list":{"0":"post-113526","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}