Rivals ended on a shocking note and now Aidan Turner is weighing in on Declan’s potential future with Cameron, that steamy kiss between Rupert and Taggie and more.
During an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, Turner, 41, started by addressing his character, Declan, ending the first season on a high — only to find out that his wife, Maud (Victoria Smurfit), was leaving for an acting opportunity.
“[Their relationship] feels very real. It feels very truthful. It suddenly feels like the things that a lot of couples go through in marriages. You can so quickly not see that person anymore,” Turner said about how Declan and Maud’s relationship diminished throughout the season. “The person is there and you’re cohabiting but you don’t see the person, don’t really engage in what they’re going through and aren’t present emotionally.”
The actor developed the context before diving into season 1, adding, “Life got pretty busy for them and pretty stressful and taking them in different directions. There’s all sorts of tangents happening and they just haven’t really caught up with themselves. I don’t think Declan has really seen that [and when he has] it is fleeting. He’s in and out of seeing that for many years. He’s neglected his family and he’s neglected his wife.”
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Following Maud’s years of unhappiness, Turner wasn’t surprised when Declan‘s marriage ultimately fell apart.
“She’s sacrificed a lot. It’s slowly dawning on Declan — it comes in waves where he’ll get a lot of it and then he’ll sort of try to shake it up because of the guilt and the shame that’s surrounded with that and get busy again. Then it’ll come back again,” he explained. “It’s by the end of the season that it’s really dawning on him the damage that he’s caused.”
Turner isn’t putting all the blame on Declan though. “I don’t think he’s entirely 100 percent to blame for all of it but there’s a lion’s share,” he added. “We always got the sense [off screen] that you have to play everything quite truthfully. It could be high, you can stylize it and turn up the volume on everything, but it needs to be rooted in concrete and it needs to be authentic.”
Based on Jilly Cooper’s novel of the same name, Disney+ and Hulu’s Rivals centers around a feud between two men fighting for control of a television station in 1980s Britain. Turner’s character, Declan, finds himself in the middle of Rupert (Alex Hassell) and Tony’s (David Tennant) rush to the finish line, which ultimately affects his personal life.
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“It always felt to me that Declan has a very complicated and complex relationship with his wife and with his family. But it always felt very real to me. So I always had a door in that didn’t feel like I needed to struggle for it. He is a good guy, essentially,” Turner noted to Us. “He loves his family and he just wants to be with him. But of course there’s ego and there’s all of these other things that get complicated. Life is tricky and complicated and not what you think it’s going to be. It’s just an understanding of that.”
Not every viewer found themselves rooting for Declan and Maud to make it. In fact, others picked up on some chemistry between Declan and Cameron (Nafessa Williams) that seemed undeniable.
“With the Cameron situation, they work very well together. And in the [book], there’s a project they’re both working on outside of the country that brings them both away,” Turner teased to Us. “And I think their friendship and their relationship is put to the test. That is all I can say. I don’t want to say too much.”
There’s also the small issue of Declan warning Rupert about not touching his daughter Taggie. Rupert tried to stay away from Taggie for most of the season but the fan-favorite couple ultimately gave in during the finale and shared a very romantic kiss.
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“It’s two sides of the same thing that can go either way. Declan really respects Rupert and he sees value in Rupert. I think they are friends and that friendship and that bond is getting tighter,” Turner said. “But he has told him to stay away from his daughter.”
He continued: “I think he’s going to find that [kiss] very, very difficult. I don’t think it’s something he would accept. There could be a moment there — there could be a big moment.”
Rivals is currently streaming on Hulu in the U.S. and Disney+ internationally.
