‘Reign’ Season 2 Premiere Q&A: Toby Regbo On What’s Next For Francis

Truths were revealed, a murder was committed, Lola went into labor and the plague took root in France when “Reign” wrapped up its Season 1 run in May.

As the show resumes this Thursday night on The CW with the premiere of Season 2, Toby Regbo’s King Francis II will be dealing with all of it.

Queen Mary (Adelaide Kane) broke the news in the final episode of Season 1 that her lady in waiting/his brief fling, Lola (Anna Popplewell), is carrying his child and is now ready to give birth. Despite the Black Death ravaging the countryside, Francis jumped on his horse and galloped through the gates of the court to be at Lola’s side.

PHOTOS: ‘Reign’ – Scenes From Season 2

There will be plenty for the young royal to deal with as the show begins, including the birth of an illegitimate child during a plague, and his wife having kept his baby news a secret from him. As Francis finds himself traveling through the countryside where people are pillaging and rioting, he will also meet two new characters, one seemingly a friend, the other, possibly a foe.

In a new interview with Access Hollywood, Toby dished on how Francis is feeling following the Lola reveal, what we can expect from the new men on “Reign,” and the joys of working with infants.

PHOTOS: ‘Reign’ – Season 2 Character Portraits

AccessHollywood.com: Francis found out some really big news at the end of last season. How does he feel about Mary as he’s riding to find Lola? What’s going through his head?
Toby Regbo: A complicated mix of emotions: regret, shame, guilt, hurt, but also drive to find his baby. A whole mixture of things tied up together in a rather complicated mess. Mary and Francis had acclimatized themselves to what Francis did with Lola in the last season. I wouldn’t say that they got over it, but they sort of got used to the fact that this girl who he slept with is around all the time and then suddenly the problem rears its head again. So yeah, that’s going to be a massive test on their relationship, basically.

Access: Have you ever played a dad before?
Regbo: No, I’ve never played a dad before. I tell you, having a baby on set is really, really amazing. It’s really weird how much it changes the dynamic completely because you rehearse with a doll, a horrible, Satanic doll, but if it’s lit in the right way, it looks like Damien or something out of ‘The Omen,’ and then, at the last minute, they bring in an actual child. … And it’s so weird how it just diffuses anger. It’s very difficult to maintain anger [in a scene where you have to be angry] around a presence like that. … But yeah, it’s one of the few experiences of pure acting that you can do, or pure non-acting if you know what I mean, ’cause the rest of the time, it’s like there is a script and you ‘re working opposite someone who you rehearsed the lines with or whatever and so getting a moment of like pure, actual acting on a television show, where you shoot everything in such small bursts is rare, but when you bring a baby into the mix and you look into just an actual baby’s eyes and act with that, it’s yeah, it’s just really sort of living rather than acting.

Access: As you were talking about that, it made me wonder, have there been accidents that you’ve had to deal with or stop filming because you know, nature calls?
Toby: Yeah, baby farts are a real sort of moment killer when you’re trying to maintain an intense look with someone and there’s just a ‘Toot!’ in the background. That can throw you off a bit, but for the most part they were really well behaved. I thought we would be dealing with sort of crying and screaming constantly and having to wait, but no, they’re well behaved.

Access: There are some new men this season on ‘Reign’ and we’re going to meet them in this episode. Tell me about Francis’ cousin, Louis.
Toby: Louis Conde, he’s played by Sean Teale, who I went to school with for 11 years.

WATCH: ‘Reign’ Season 2 Sneak Peek

Access: Are you serious?
Toby: Yeah, we’ve known each other since we were 10 or something. … We went to the same school, so we saw each other all the time. We did school plays together and stuff.

Access: Did you have any role then in helping him get the gig?
Toby: No, but he did call me beforehand and said, ‘Hey, guess what? I’ve got a part on your show.’ It’s like, ‘Oh my God! That’s so strange!’ Acting is actually a really small world. … He’s playing my cousin, who we meet in the woods in Episode 1. He sort of rescues me and Lola from the dangers of even being royal in the countryside, when people are scared, as you would be, when the plague is ravaging the country. The rules are sort of different, so finding an ally in the woods is a stroke of luck and he sort of keeps us safe and he’ll be an important adviser to me and right hand man as the season progresses, but he’s got ties with Protestantism, so that’s going to be a tension between us because I’m the Catholic king of a Catholic country. I answer only to the Pope.

Access: And we also meet Narcisse, who is played by Craig Parker.
Toby: He’s great. He’s a good actor.

Access: Did you watch either of his big shows – ‘The Seeker,’ where he played Darken Rahl, or ‘Spartacus’?
Toby: I did see some of ‘Spartacus’ yeah, but I’ve never seen ‘The Seeker.’ … I think people will get a real kick out of him.

Access: What has it been like having a boys club on set now that there are just as many men that can band together in the commissary? You’ve got the gaggle of girls, but now your boy numbers have expanded.
Toby: We’re such modern, sophisticated, metrosexual men that there’s no difference (laughs).

WATCH: Toby Regbo & Adelaide Kane Talk ‘Reign’ Season 2

“Reign” returns Thursday night at 9/8c on The CW.

— Jolie Lash