Reign executive producer Laurie McCarthy joined The CW show’s cast at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con in support of the upcoming second season of the popular (and addictive) series. In addition to the panel with fans held at the San Diego Convention Center, McCarthy sat down in a slightly quieter environment to talk about what fans of the series can look forward to in season two, creating storylines around historical events, and why American teenagers have latched onto the series.
The Reign Plot:
Over the course of the stormy first season, Mary Queen of Scots struggled to balance her many roles — as Queen of Scotland, as royal fiancée, and later as young wife to the future King of France, and as faithful friend to her ladies in waiting.
Challenges came in every form: the reigning queen consort of France, Francis’ mother, Catherine de Medici, did everything she could to destroy the union of Mary and Francis, even if that meant taking Mary’s life. Francis and Mary were both torn by their duties to their nations, paving the way for Mary to form a close bond with Bash, Francis’s illegitimate brother, who could offer Mary a level of devotion the future king could not.
King Henry descended into madness. And a bloodthirsty menace in the woods was annihilated, but not before taking dozens of lives and heralding the coming of a plague. By the end of the season, the shocking death of King Henry made Francis and Mary the new King and Queen of France. But before their new crowns could be placed on their heads, Francis had placed himself on the wrong side of the quarantined castle’s gates, rushing to help Lola give birth to his first and possibly only child.
The second season begins with Mary and Francis on the throne of a nation burning. France is rocked by the aftereffects of the plague — a disease that creeps inside the castle walls, taking thousands upon thousands of lives across the land, and ravages the stability of a nation. From the ashes, powerful lords will rise, carrying out personal, religious and political vendettas, taking lives, and tearing at Mary and Francis’s commitment to each other, and their people. Friendships will be tested, loved ones murdered and betrayed.
Meanwhile, a mysterious and deadly threat snatches victims from village streets and castle corridors; leaving evidence of savagery that looks like the work of monsters; mythical creatures who are the subject of nightmares, but who walk among us, doing the Devil’s bidding.
