PBS' Extended 'Hotel Portofino' Season 2 Trailer Welcomes Viewers Back
PBS has finally released the trailer for Hotel Portofino Season 2, and, unlike public broadcast's typical thirty-second or one-minute clips, this is a nice long extended version, running almost three minutes. Unlike Season 1, which was edited to feel more like an ensemble piece with all the guests of the hotel given equal weight, the first look at Season 2 focuses on the hotel's matriarch, Bella Ainsworth, played by series lead Natascha McElhone (The Crown). And while most of the cast from Season 1 is checking back in for the new season for one reason or another, it's Bella around whom they orbit.
As fans may remember, Season 1's finale put the titular hotel's future in doubt. Despite Bella's abusive husband Cecil, played by Mark Umbers (Home Fires), trying to write her a check for 1000 lira, Bella tore up the money, her pride too important to sacrifice for her dream. Between her financial problems, the growing fascist regime in Italy, and the uncertain fortunes of the wealthy who patronize her establishment, the show ended with Bella announcing she would be looking for a new direction and standing independently for the first time.
The Season 2 trailer opens with Bella returning to her hotel, now under construction by an architect who also looks to be her new "gentleman friend." As for guests, while the winter months have taken them in different directions, it seems like each find they have good reason to stay the summer at Hotel Portofino once more.
