It’s been a lengthy hiatus, but The Serpent Queen Season 2 is almost upon us.
The historical drama returns to Starz later this week. Monsters and Critics spoke with series creator Justin Haythe and Executive Producer Erwin Stoff about the upcoming events.
The Serpent Queen Season 1 featured Samantha Morton’s Catherine de Medici dispatching her enemies like it was her favorite sport, but somehow, she’s even more cunning in Season 2.
“Well, she’s had some practice, right?” Justin laughed while talking about her arc this season.
“Season 1 was about her doing everything she could to reach The Regency, meaning that we met her, you know, being dragged through his town square by a rope, right?” he added.
“I mean, you know, absolute bottom of the barrel. And that first season was to see how you get from there to crowning your own son, pushing The Cardinal aside, and putting the crown up?”
What comes next for Catherine de’ Medici?
Justin noted that Season 2 is very much about what she’ll do next after crossing so many big things off her list.
“In the interim period of time, she’s been ruling this country. And she has an idea as to how the country should be run,” he added.
“It’s very modern. She also has an idea of how her family would be protected by ruling the country in her vision,” Justin continued.
“Of course, things don’t go according to plan.”
When I pointed out that Minnie Driver was genius casting for Season 2 in the role of Queen Elizabeth I, Justin and Erwin admitted it almost didn’t happen.
Minnie Driver almost wasn’t on the cast
“This is one of the things you deal with in production,” Erwin noted.
“There were a lot of complications with another job. She had timing issues. Could we work it out? Everything pragmatic told us to move on,” he said, adding that they didn’t think it would work out.
“No matter how hard Justin and I tried, we could never think of a suitable replacement,” he continued.
“So we just stuck to our guns, and fortunately, it all worked.”
“Yeah, there were a thousand reasons for it not to work out practically, but creatively, it was always right,” Justin revealed.
Check out the full interview below.
The Serpent Queen Season 2 premieres Friday, July 12, on Starz at 9/8c. Stream Season 1 on Starz.