‘Victoria’ star Rufus Sewell reveals what’s in store for Lord M in Season 2

Rufus Sewell has given some hints about what’s coming up for Lord M in the new season of Victoria.

The star of Amazon’s The Man in the High Castle is reprising his role as the Queen’s former Prime Minister and confidante, Lord Melbourne.

The 49-year-old English actor revealed: “What wouldn’t work is trying to repeat the situation and the dynamic that Lord M and Victoria had in Season 1, fun though it was to play. That had to end and by the time Albert arrived Melbourne’s role and the nature of his relationship with Victoria had changed as it should.

“After that Melbourne, who had always been a very vital man, changed and aging caught up with him relatively quickly so what was interesting was navigating his changed relationship with Victoria and also with Albert.

“There had been a certain level of imagined antagonism to start off with but actually in reality they liked each rather a lot once the original suspicion went away so it was lovely to come back to work a little more with Tom Hughes.”

Sewell also chatted about his research into the history of the period: “I did so much reading on the subject for the first season. One of the things I enjoy about my job is that it gives you an excuse to learn new things, so I read a hell of a lot about him, about Victoria and the period.

“The hope being, that more you absorb, the greater your understanding of people and it’s a great reminder of how people don’t essentially change from time to time or place to place.

“But then there comes a point when you have to put that aside, and just get on with being there. All the same, it was very refreshing to go into Victorian England and Melbourne’s history because I had just come from being immersed in rather the brutal alternate Nazi history of Man in the High Castle!”

Watch a clip of Lord M’s return:

Starring Jenna Coleman (Doctor Who) and Tom Hughes (The Game) as Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, Victoria continues tonight on ITV in the UK with ‘The Green-Eyed Monster’.

The first season of Victoria is available now on DVD.

Season 2 will air in the US on Masterpiece on PBS from January 2018.