Victoria Smurfit says Maud's affair with Tony Baddingham has pushed Declan O'Hara into a more dangerous place, and the new edge shows up in a bonfire celebration scene now available in Rivals season two. In that moment, he chases a frightened Maud across the lawn as she screams for help.
Smurfit on Declan's rage
Smurfit said Maud had seen glimmers of Declan's rage before, but not like this. Asked how far that anger goes, she answered, "[but] to that extent? Probably not." She also described him as "He's spitting vinegar," a line that fits the way the scene shifts from marital damage to open threat.
Aidan Turner took the same scene even further, saying, "There is a certain redness, isn't there? It's scary. He's quite dangerous in that scene." He added, "I often thought, what if the other people weren't around? I don't think he's doing it to showboat." That reading turns the lawn chase into more than a burst of temper; it suggests control is slipping in front of other people, not just inside the marriage.
Turner on the lawn chase
Turner also said, "It's quite scary to think what would have happened if other people hadn't been out there." That is the sharpest clue in the interview about how far the scene was meant to go before the crowd interrupted it. If the surrounding guests had not been there, the sequence reads less like a public confrontation and more like an unchecked confrontation with no brake at all.
Smurfit placed the marriage history behind the scene too, saying the O'Hara marriage has survived Maud cheating before, but this rupture feels different. Turner agreed, saying, "They do [usually] find a place, but I think this time it does feel different." He went further and said the relationship might not be repairable because of who Maud had the affair with.
The marriage after this affair
Smurfit would not promise a reset. Asked whether the relationship can be repaired, she said, "Who knows?" and then added, "That is up to the writing gods in the sky… I think they're on a roller coaster." The practical read is simple: Rivals has moved the O'Hara marriage from familiar conflict into a version of betrayal that both actors treat as more volatile than the previous rounds.
Rivals season two episodes 1-9 are available to stream on Disney+, and the show airs weekly on Wednesdays. For viewers, the immediate takeaway is that the affair is not just background drama; it is now the engine for Declan's most dangerous turn yet, and the marriage story is being written as a break point rather than a routine reconciliation.
