'Rogue Heroes's Season 2 Trailer Reminds Us Why The Show Is So Good

As the casualties of the streaming wars fall, we are in the awkward stage where failing streaming services are picking up programming that no one watches. It is a pity when shows that land on Sundance Now or IFC don't get simultaneous releases on Acorn TV because no one subscribes to the former streaming services, so no one knows they are there. The same is true for MGM+, which was only rechristened from Epix a year or two ago when Amazon took possession of it. Despite releasing high-profile titles like A Spy Among Friends and Belgravia: The Next Chapter, MGM+ has gained no traction. It's a tragedy, as that's where one of the BBC's best shows, SAS Rogue Heroes, is currently hiding.

Based on Ben MacIntyre’s 2016 non-fiction book of the same name, Rogue Heroes (Epix perplexingly dropped the SAS when it landed the rights to the series) was Steven Knight's first follow-up to Peaky Blinders, taking his trademark "dark'n'gritty historical period drama" sensibilities and applying them to one of the most fascinating aspects of World War II, the development of the special forces unit known as SAS. For Americans who don't know, the SAS stands for Special Air Service, and the original unit was credited with being instrumental to the Allies' success in World War II. However, they were a shoestring operation who faked it until they made it, a perfect pairing with Knight's type of storytelling.

Connor Swindells (Sex Education) stars as real-life Lieutenant Archibald David Stirling and Jack O’Connell (Skins) as Lieutenant Robert Blair Mayne, better known as Paddy, the two men who co-founded the SAS. They co-star with Dominic West (The Crown), who portrays Lieutenant Colonel Dudley Clarke, the real-life mastermind behind some of the British Army’s crazier World War II stunts. Since women were only first admitted into the SAS in 2018,* costar Sofia Boutella (The Kingsman) pays the fictional French intelligence officer Eve Mansour.

(*No, that’s not a typo.) 

Here is the Season 2 synopsis:

Season 2 rejoined the troops in the spring of 1943. Paddy Mayne takes control of the SAS following David Stirling’s capture, as attention turns from the conflict in North Africa to mainland Europe. But GHQ has cast doubt over the regiment's future while creating a second unit, and an influx of new arrivals makes things even more difficult for the men. Can they prove that the SAS remains essential to the war, wherever it may lead them?

O’Connell, Swindells, Boutella, and West co-star alongside Theo Barklem-Biggs (The End We Start From), Corin Silva (Masters of the Air), Jacob Ifan (A Discovery of Witches), Jacob McCarthy (Mary & George), Stuart Campbell (Baptiste), and Bobby Schofield (The Suspect). New additions joining in Season 2 include Gwilym Lee (The Great), Con O’Neill (Happy Valley), Mark Rowley (The North Water), Jack Barton (Heartstopper), Stuart Thompson (Starstruck), Paolo De Vita (Maigret), Anna Manuelli (Thou Shalt Not Kill), Edward Bennett (Industry), and newcomer Matteo Franco.

Knight once again penned all episodes, with director Stephen Woolfenden (Outlander) helming and Stephen Smallwood (The Serpent) returning as producer. The series is executive produced by Knight, Karen Wilson, Emma Kingsman-Lloyd, and Martin Haines for Kudos, and Nick Lambon for the BBC. 

Rogue Heroes Season 2 is expected to debut on the BBC after Christmas; MGM+ is expected to release all episodes as a binge either concurrent with the season finale or a day or two after.