Rivals Renewed for Third Season After Record-Breaking Success

Rivals has been renewed for a third season, after the first half of its second run broke Disney+ ratings records.

The series is set to return with a second batch of episodes in November, but it's been announced that fans of the Jilly Cooper bonkbuster will be treated to even more 80s drama.

The first part of the second season debuted in May, becoming Disney+'s biggest EMEA original premiere in the UK and Ireland. 

As the dust settles post the scandalous revelations in Season Two, we see the stakes become higher and the alliances more fragile, with nothing staying buried for long.

New romances blossom, old flames rekindle and shocking secrets will be spilled in this third series which takes everyone's favourite rivalries to the next level. 

Lee Mason, Vice-President, Scripted, Disney+ EMEA, commented: 'The phenomenal response to Rivals is a credit to the bold, irreverent and endlessly entertaining world created by Dame Jilly Cooper, our cast, creative team and production partners at Happy Prince. 

'We're delighted to be bringing audiences a third season on Disney+/Hulu. Expect more ambition, more romance, more rivalries and, of course, more scandal as we return to Rutshire for another irresistible chapter.'

Dominic Treadwell-Collins, Chief Creative Officer of Happy Prince and Alexander Lamb, Creative Director of Happy Prince added: 'We've been delighted and overwhelmed by the audience's response to season two of Rivals - testament to the hard work from everyone working on Rivals both on and off screen. 

'Our one sadness is that Jilly didn't get to witness the love for season two. But she's still very much with us in spirit and would be so delighted that season three has been green lit.

'We're so thrilled to continue to work with Disney as we dive deeper into the Rutshire Chronicles and expand the Cooperverse even further.'

Rivals viewers are in for a frustrating wait for the next six episodes as the midseason finale concluded with a major cliffhanger.

Episode six of the second series dropped on Disney+ on June 6, with the racy shenanigans of the first batch of episodes swapped for an altogether darker storyline.

Set against the backdrop of hurricane weather, the series' main story thread of Tony Baddingham's (played by David Tennant) affair with Maud O'Hara (Victoria Smurfit), the wife of his nemesis Declan (Aidan), finally came to a head.

As the stormy weather displaced key characters around the mansions and manors of Rutshire, the episode ended with a shock death. 

Ahead of the midseason break critics had declared that series two more than lives up to its opening run, with a string of five-star reviews heralding its return to screens last month.

Based on Dame Jilly Cooper's 1988 novel, the comedy-drama debuted on Disney+ in October 2024 and immediately became a huge hit. 

The eight-episode first series ended in December 2024 and was soon renewed for a second outing. 

, Rivals follows the high-stakes world of British television as careers, marriages and reputations hang by a thread when professional and personal lives collide.

Dame Jilly, who penned the novels the series is based on, was an active part of its production and served as an executive producer until her death in October.