'The Serpent Queen' Season 2 Exclusive Clip: "Welcome to Court"
Samantha Morton in "The Serpent Queen" Season 2
(Photo: Starz)
As The Serpent Queen enters the back half of its second season, viewers have seen plenty of complicated alliances, romantic entanglements, and political crises both at home and abroad. Despite Queen Catherine de Medici's (Samantha Morton) best efforts, religious strife and general unrest is spreading throughout France, and both the Catholic Guise and the Protestant Bourbon families are actively plotting to position themselves for what feels like an inevitable civil war.
But if we've learned anything at all from watching this show, it's to never, ever count Catherine de Medici out.
Warning: Spoilers for The Serpent Queen Season 2, Episode 4 follow.
Reeling from her son Hercule's (Scott Folan) death, the constant ineptitude of her children to handle business any time she's not there to hold their hands, and frustrated by the increasing popularity of the Protestant preacher Edith (Isobel Jesper Jones), a young woman who can reportedly perform miracles, Catherine has finally had enough. Realizing that age-old adage if you want something done right you have to do it yourself, she embraces one of the (surprisingly many) extrajudicial assassination plans meant to take the young woman out.
It doesn't work, because the season's only half over. Not only does Edith survive, but she becomes even more powerful and influential in the aftermath of the poisoning attempt, having figured out a way to turn her near-death experience into a second miracle that reinforces her image as someone blessed by God. Trust that Catherine's not going to like this — and that Charles (Bill Miner) probably won't like the fact that his mother decided to take a shot at an enemy behind his back.
In this exclusive clip from Season 2's fifth episode, entitled "Welcome to Court," we see Catherine confronted by Montmorency (Alexandre Willaume), the Constable General of France, who is furious over the fact that she greenlit the attempt on Edith's life.
Here's the episode description.
Catherine relinquishes her seat on the Privy Council, but not before absolving Anjou of any responsibility in Hercule’s death and securing him a place on the Council. With religious war on the horizon and as Queen Elizabeth lands in the Netherlands, can a marriage be France’s saving grace?
The series also stars Angus Imrie (Fleabag) as Henry de Bourbon-Navarre; Rosalie Craig (The Tower) as Jeanne d'Albret; Ashley Thomas (Great Expectations) as Alessandro de Medici; Philippine Velge (Station Eleven) as Catherine's eldest daughter, Margot, Stanley Morgan (Sexy Beast) as Francis, Duke of Anjou, her youngest surviving son, Emma McDonald (Moonhaven) as Catherine's chief handmaiden and advisor, Rahima, and Minnie Driver (Starstruck) as Queen Elizabeth I.
Other notable cast members also include Danny Kirrane (Boat Story), Ray Panthaki (Boiling Point), Raza Jaffrey (Homeland), Enzo Cilenti (The Crown), Amrita Acharia (The Good Karma Hospital), Ruby Bentall (Firebrand), Beth Goddard (Manhunt), Ludivine Sagnier (Napoleon), and Rupert Everett (Funny Woman).
The Serpent Queen Season 2, Episode 5 premieres on Friday, August 9, 2024, at 8 p.m. ET on Starz. The series releases a new episode weekly on Fridays through August 30, 2024.
