The Gentlemen Season 2

ON SCREEN: THE GENTLEMEN EXPANDS ITS EMPIRE AS EDDIE HORNIMAN MAKES A PLAY FOR POWER

Two years after The Gentlemen turned Guy Ritchie’s familiar mix of old money, organized crime and very expensive clothing into one of Netflix’s biggest television hits, Eddie Horniman is back. This time, he doesn’t seem particularly interested in finding a way out.

That’s probably the smartest place season two could take him.

Netflix has released the full trailer for The Gentlemen Season 2, arriving September 3. Theo James returns as the Duke of Halstead alongside Kaya Scodelario’s Susie Glass, with the story picking up a year after the pair went into business together under Ray Winstone’s Bobby Glass.

The first season worked because Eddie spent so much of it resisting the world around him. He inherited a country estate, discovered an enormous cannabis operation sitting underneath it and then slowly proved he was much better at crime than he had any business being.

By the finale, though, the idea that Eddie desperately wanted his old life back was becoming harder to believe.

Season two appears ready to drop the act.

The trailer finds Eddie looking outward rather than searching for an exit. He wants to reclaim land once belonging to the Halstead estate. He wants to expand the operation. More importantly, he looks increasingly comfortable using the strange combination of aristocratic privilege and criminal power he stumbled into the first time around.

There’s something much more interesting about watching Eddie become the problem than watching him spend another eight episodes trying to escape one.

And he may not be the only problem.

Bobby Glass is back, but his decisions are becoming increasingly questionable, leaving Eddie and Susie to decide how long they’re willing to follow his lead. That puts the series in dangerous territory in the best way. Eddie isn’t simply moving deeper into the business anymore. He may be starting to think he could run it better.

Then Guy Ritchie takes everyone to Italy.

Part of the new season moves beyond the English estates and into the Italian lakes, where Eddie and Susie cross paths with crime boss Marco Moretti, played by Sergio Castellitto, and Michele Morrone’s Cico Maldini.

It looks gorgeous, obviously. This is still The Gentlemen. Nobody enters a room badly dressed and even organized crime seems to come with immaculate interior design.

But bigger isn’t necessarily better here. The first season was at its strongest when all the money, violence and absurdity were wrapped around a fairly simple problem: Eddie had inherited something he couldn’t get rid of. Moving into international territory risks turning that wonderfully contained mess into another sprawling crime story.

The trailer, thankfully, suggests Ritchie hasn’t completely lost sight of what made it work.

Because underneath the guns, estates and increasingly complicated criminal deals, the real reason to come back is still Eddie and Susie.

James and Scodelario found an odd rhythm together in the first season. There was attraction, certainly, but the show was smarter when it refused to make that the whole point. They liked each other. They distrusted each other. Sometimes they appeared to be doing both at exactly the same time.

That tension matters even more now.

Susie grew up inside this business. Eddie didn’t. Watching him become increasingly convinced that he understands it — and perhaps deserves more control over it — gives their partnership somewhere to go beyond another round of flirtation and reluctant teamwork.

The returning cast includes Vinnie Jones, Joely Richardson, Daniel Ings and Giancarlo Esposito, while Hugh Bonneville, Benedetta Porcaroli, Benjamin Clementine, Maya Jama and professional boxer Chris Eubank Jr. are among the new arrivals.

It is, admittedly, a lot of people.

That may be the biggest concern going into season two. The Gentlemen already lives close to the point where Ritchie’s love of colourful gangsters, eccentric side characters and increasingly elaborate schemes starts competing with the actual story. Adding another country and another pile of characters could push it over the edge.

Then again, restraint has never really been the appeal of Guy Ritchie.

The first season arrived in March 2024 and became a genuine global hit, reaching Netflix’s Top 10 in more than 90 countries, taking the number-one spot in 75 and generating 100 million views globally across 2024 and 2025.

Netflix clearly thinks there’s more life in it. Before the second season has even premiered, The Gentlemen has already been renewed for another eight-episode run, with Ritchie returning to direct.

Season two doesn’t need to reinvent what worked. It probably shouldn’t.

What it does need is a reason for Eddie to still be here.

Judging from the trailer, it has one. Eddie Horniman isn’t trapped in this world anymore. He likes it.

That makes him considerably more interesting — and probably a lot more dangerous.

The Gentlemen Season 2 premieres September 3 on Netflix.