Credit - Courtesy of Prime Video
Warning: Spoilers ahead forMaxton Hall—The World Between Us
When director Martin Schreier was making the first season ofMaxton Hall—The World Between Us, he never imagined it would become Prime Video's most-watched international original series ever. Theteen romanceabout ambitious scholarship student Ruby Bell (Harriet Herbig-Matten) and arrogant rich kid James Beaufort (Damian Hardung) may be set at an elite British secondary school, but it is adapted from a German-language book trilogy by author Mona Kasten starring German actors and made by a German crew.
"We made it only with Germany in mind," Schreier says, joking that—otherwise—maybe they would have shot it in English. But after they finished shooting the first season, which premiered in 2024, Schreier says he was pleasantly surprised to hear that Prime Video's regional partners thought it had international potential. "That was a point where we thought, 'OK, maybe it could be a bigger success than we hoped for.'"
And the show has steadily found acclaim all over the world. Even before the second season's three-episode premiere in early November,Maxton Hallstarted climbingPrime Video's Top Ten series list. No doubt buoyed byThe Summer I Turned Prettyfans looking for their next epic TV romance, the second season has charted as the No. 1 show on Prime Video in 82 countries and within the top 10 in 112 countries,according to FlixPatrol.
With the six-episode second season officially finished, let's discuss how the German TV series has become such a big hit, where Season 2 leaves Ruby and James, and what we can expect from the third season.
The magic behindMaxton Hall
As withother breakout hits, the success ofMaxton Halldoes not come down to one thing. "I think there has to be a lot of things that come together to make such a huge success—lightning in a bottle that you catch," says Schreier. One of those factors? The lead actors. "We searched for over half a year for the right couple, and did a lot of tests and had a lot of different combinations and everything. I think that their chemistry is a big factor."
Hardung, the 27-year-old actor who plays James Beaufort, was the first to be cast. Schreier says Hardung came to the audition in character, even though the role was supposed to be a secret. "Somehow Damian knew that we were casting for the books," he says. "So he came prepared as James Beaufort. He played it arrogantly and everything. He was totally spot on. Early on, we knew that he was the right one."
Hardung, who isalso currently studying to be a doctor, explains what happened. "They wouldn't tell us the name of the project, right?" he says. "They were just coming up with some random names. But then they forgot, in one scene, to edit the last names. And so I just Googled the last names." From there, he was able to thoroughly prepare, studying the book chapters written from James' point of view.
Herbig-Matten, the 22-year-old actor who plays Ruby Bell, came later. "I remember, after her audition, I turned around to the producers, and the people from Amazon, and I said, 'If we don't take her, we would be stupid. She's the one,'" says Schreier. "And it took really a long time to convince everybody that they are the right couple." As with most projects that are based on source material, there wasn't universal agreement on Ruby's casting among fans of the book series. "Everyone was a little bit afraid," says Schreier. "But now everyone loves her, and no one thinks about what they thought when they read the book. Now, she is Ruby Bell."
Herbig-Matten was unable to answer questions due to illness, but Hardung spoke to TIME about the chemistry between the two actors. "I want to think there is always some mystical, magical element that we can't quite grasp and that we don't know how to calculate," he says. "That's the magic of moviemaking, as well, that we don't know which projects work and which don't. If there would be a formula, then it wouldn't be art … And I was just truly grateful to have undergone this journey with Harriet, because she's just a wonderful partner-in-crime to have."
Schreier's directing style also brings an emotionally evocative, cinematic lens to the central relationship. "Sometimes, you don't need words," says Schreier, whose background is in feature filmmaking, including the 2019 period romanceDreamfactory. "You just need the looks in the eyes, and the beautiful music, and it tells more than all of the talking. And I think this resonates with all of us—even which language we speak doesn't matter—music and pictures together can form an emotion that might be stronger than words."
When asked about the frequent slow-motion moments on the show, Schreier speaks to the technique's potential to expand a moment. "I don't know why some people talk bad about slow motion, because I think it's beautiful," he says. "If you have a beautiful moment and you give the audience time to really dig deep into the emotion and to feel it more, it isn't rushed, I think it gives the emotion more time to breathe."
Music is another element, and Schreier shaped the soundtrack of the series, too, suggesting songs likeSYML's 'Where's My Love?'and'Moth to a Flame' by Swedish House Mafia and The Weeknd, both of which were featured in Season 1.
Through Schreier's lens, the heightened, fictional emotions ofMaxton Hallcan become an escape from the anxieties of the real world. "Everyone needs something for the heart, something simple so you can forget the whole world outside, and all the trouble we have in the world," he says. "I think this is maybe another factor that helped the success."
What happens inMaxton HallSeason 2?
While the first season ofMaxton Hallchronicled Ruby and James' first meeting, their initial animosity towards one another, and their eventual coming together over six episodes, Season 2 is when everything goes to hell. When we last left the characters, James' mother, Cordelia (Clelia Sarto) had unexpectedly died from a stroke. The tragedy sends the fragile James into a tailspin. In the first episode of Season 1, he goes on a bender and makes out with Elaine (Eli Riccardi) in front of Ruby at a party.
Ruby is furious and heartbroken, but the news that Cordelia has died sends her to James' side. In one of the most raw and intimate scenes from the entire season, Ruby comforts a grieving James in the darkness of his bedroom. It's the scene that Schreier is most proud of from Season 2. "I shot it completely differently than I shot the rest of the season," he says. "The rest of the season is really loud and colorful and has a lot of music—you know, fireworks for the senses. For this scene, I toned it down: almost no sound, just the two of them in a dark room, just the pure emotion."
But the relationship cannot last like this. Ruby understandably feels she can't trust James with her heart, especially when she is so close to finally clinching her dream to attend Oxford University. She breaks up with James, and tells him that she cannot be the one who saves him.
Much of the second season's character development happens with James, as he confronts his self-destructive behaviors, including alcohol dependence. He starts therapy, and commits to becoming a healthier person for himself, for his twin sister Lydia (Sonja Weißer), and for Ruby.
The season's turning point comes in Episode 3, at a mental health charity benefit organized by Ruby, James, and the rest of the Maxton Hall planning committee. When the planned speaker bails, James steps onto the stage to share some of his own mental health struggles. It's a brave moment of vulnerability that has James proving himself to Ruby and standing up to his father, who sees emotion as a weakness the Beaufort family cannot afford. "I remember we had 200 extras in the room," says Hardung, calling it one of the most challenging scenes of the season. "At some point, they just closed the door between [us] and the extras because I couldn't really hold it back anymore. It was a really intense moment."
Heading into the Season 2 finale, Ruby and James are committed to one another once again. Still, things are far from settled. Driven even further into his controlling, emotionally abusive behavior following the death of his wife, Mortimer Beaufort (Fedja van Huêt), is determined to keep Ruby and his son apart. He will do anything, including getting Ruby's scholarship to Oxford revoked and getting Ruby's mother fired from her beloved bakery.
Hardung thinks it is that latter action that finally gets James to understand the depth of his father's ruthlessness. "It's this breaking point where he really realizes the lengths to which his father is willing to go to keep everyone in line and to destroy the life of Ruby Bell," he says. "There's just so much pain in there, but also liberation. It's empowering, but also hurtful."
How doesMaxton HallSeason 2 end?
WhileMaxton Hallmay be an escape, it is not a particularly happy one come the end of Season 2. The second season ends with Ruby suspended from Maxton Hall, on suspicion that she had an affair with Professor Sutton (Eidin Jalali). It's a particularly ironic twist, given that the reason Ruby and James first met was because Ruby accidentally walked in on a passionate embrace between Sutton and Lydia, James' sister. James initially approached Ruby in order to buy her silence.
Heading into the final moments of Season 2, the viewer is led to believe that the affair between Sutton and Lydia has been exposed. Lacrosse bro Cyril (Ben Felipe) snapped a photo of Lydia and Sutton embracing at the Midsummer Night's Dream party in Episode 5. Elaine, who is jealous that James has chosen Ruby over her, asks Cyril to send her the picture. By the end of the party, Headmaster Lexington (Thomas Douglas) has been texted an incriminating picture.
Lydia, who is pregnant with twins, and Sutton take it surprisingly well. Sure, it means the end of Sutton's career, but they can be together. However, as is revealed in the season's final act, Elaine actually sent a photo of Ruby and Sutton from the Maxton Hall party in Season 1. In the photo, Sutton was talking to Ruby about his affair with Lydia. It looks intimate because Sutton didn't want anyone to overhear their conversation.
Ironically, James was the one who took the photo. At the time, he was gathering material to blackmail Ruby into silence about Lydia and Sutton—even though Ruby had no intention of telling anyone about what she saw. When Lexington is sent the photo, he calls a disciplinary meeting for Sutton to explain what happened, and for action to be taken. Mortimer Beaufort is in attendance.
Sutton, who thinks he and Lydia have been caught, accepts his fate. It is only halfway through the meeting that he realizes Lexington, Mortimer, and the rest of the committee have the details wrong. He seemingly doesn't correct them before being dragged off by the police. Alongside her mother, Ruby is told she has been suspended from Maxton Hall. Now, her future at Oxford—or any college—is in question. Distraught, she flees the office and runs into James' arms. The two are crying, but they are together.
The finale also includes the reading of Cordelia Beaufort's will. Though James, Lydia, and their Aunt Ophelia (Dagny Dewath) are convinced that Cordelia has left her children primary ownership of the Beaufort company, the will leaves everything to Mortimer. Ophelia, Cordelia's sister, is convinced Mortimer tampered with the will and vows to contest the outcome.
While Mortimer chooses control over affection, Percy (Hyun Wanner), the Beaufort chauffeur who has been a father figure of sorts to James and Lydia, quietly mourns Cordelia. In the finale,
we see him placing flowers at Cordelia's grave, and kissing a key that hands around his neck. Earlier in the season, during a conversation with Ruby, Percy reveals that he grew up alongside Cordelia. His family has served the Beauforts for generations. A shot of Percy looking up into the sky fades into a shot of James looking up into the sky, implying a similarity between the two. Could Percy be James and Lydia's biological father?
When constructing the final moments of Season 2, Schreier hesitated to leave viewers in such a distressing place. The first book ends with James betraying Ruby following the death of his mother, but the TV series' creative team decided to end slightly earlier than that, preserving a quasi-happy ending should a Season 2 never come to pass. "In Season 1, it was really, really important for me and for Amazon that it ended almost like a happy end. You know that they stay together. The mother dies—OK that's the cliffhanger—but the love story is finished."
When writing and filming Season 2, the team knew that they would have a chance to continue the story, hence the sad ending. "I think it's the best thing to let the audience out with the biggest emotion possible—positive or negative, but they have to feel something … I want them to be on the edge of their seat, and to say, 'I want to know what happens next.' … I hope we have achieved this with this cliffhanger."
Will there be aMaxton HallSeason 3?
Yes. Prime Video greenlit Seasons 2 and 3 ofMaxton Hallshortly following the success of Season 1. Season 3 ofMaxton Hallwill be based on the third book in Mona Kasten'sSave Mebook series, and will wrap up the love story of Ruby and James.
Schreier was sworn to secrecy about the details of Season 3, which has already started filming, but that he is "pretty happy" with how everything was going. "I think what we try to achieve with Season 3 is to bring everything to a close and to give every character a great standoff and a farewell," he says. "And I hope we will make the audience happy that, after all this drama, with how good everything turns out for everyone."
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