‘World on Fire’ returning cast confirmed: Who’s back in Season 2?

It’s been announced which characters will return in the second season of World on Fire.

Three years since its debut, the Second World War drama finally recommenced production earlier this month.

From the makers of Endeavour and Poldark, the first season of World on Fire was a hit when it premiered on BBC One in 2019, then on PBS in 2020, receiving great reviews.

A second season of World on Fire was officially announced in November 2019, and the new episodes were set to begin filming two years ago, before a global pandemic got in the way.

Fortunately, fans learned last week that six new 60-minute episodes of World on Fire have begun shooting in Northern Ireland!

We can now confirm which cast members from Season 1 will be reprising their roles.

As the above clapperboard photo reveals, Jonah Hauer-King (Little Women) is of course back as Harry.

Lesley Manville, soon to be seen in the fifth season of The Crown and Mrs Harris Goes to Paris, also returns as Harry’s mother, Robina.

Manville commented: “It’s wonderful to be bringing Peter Bowler’s epic scripts to life again. Rich characters telling great, human stories set against the backdrop of World War Two. It’s a feast!”

Sadly, it looks like Sean Bean (Sharpe) won’t coming back as Robina’s love interest, shell-shocked pacifist Douglas Bennett.

However, the BBC has said that “further new and returning cast will be announced in due course,” so Douglas may still reappear at some point or in future seasons.

We do know that Julia Brown and Zofia Wichlacz are definitely returning as singer Lois and Polish waitress Kasia.

They’ll be joined by Blake Harrison as Stan, Eugénie Derouand as Henriette, Eryk Biedunkiewicz as Jan, and Cel Spellman as Joe.

It seems like we won’t be seeing Helen Hunt reprise her role as American journalist Nancy Campbell.

Also absent from the BBC’s list of returning cast are Brian J. Smith as Nancy’s nephew Webster O’Connor, and Parker Sawyers as Webster’s partner, Parisian jazz saxophonist Albert Fallou.

With such a long break between Season 1 and Season 2, it was inevitable that not everyone would be available to return.

To be honest, we’d almost given up hope of World on Fire returning at all at this point, so we’re glad any of them are back!

Joining the World On Fire cast as new characters this time around are Mark Bonnar (Guilt) as Sir James Danemere, Ahad Raza Mir (Resident Evil) as Rajib, and Gregg Sulkin (Runaways) as David.

Executive producer Helen Ziegler said: “We are absolutely thrilled to be returning for this epic and adrenalised [second season] of World In Fire, with our wonderful returning cast joined by a host of new characters!”

Season 2 is expected to premiere in 2023 on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the UK, and on PBS in the US.

World on Fire is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video.