As Mary Queen of Scots struggles to repair her life on "Reign," she's found herself growing closer to a man who isn't her husband -- Sean Teale's Conde.
While Mary spent much of Season 1 coming to the decision that she loved Francis the most (over his brother Bash), she's finding herself drawn into another struggle of the heart as Season 2 continues. This time, however, it's with the younger son of her husband's rival family.
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But how different is Mary and Conde, versus Mary and Bash?
"I was worried about the concept of potentially Conde being Bash 2.0.," Sean told Access Hollywood on a phone call from Toronto, describing his early concerns about the Mary-Conde connection in a very modern way.
"There is a physical connection there [between Mary and Bash] and Francis is witness to it, so there are those similarities between Mary and Conde/Mary and Bash, but it's different. There's not the problem of them being brothers. It's not a family affair. It's a rival bloodline and although Conde's been there for Mary, although Bash has been there for Mary, it's a different connection," Sean continued. "I'm not sure entirely of how Bash and Mary came to each other, but Conde and Mary have been through some frightening things."
Conde has been one of the only men Mary has been able to be around since she suffered a horrendous rape at the castle earlier in the season. And he's been protective of her, while growing angrier and angrier at her husband, King Francis.
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There's also the matter of that letter. Mary received Conde's note revealing he is in love with her, in an episode late last year (when he thought he wouldn't see her again), but as the two have spent more time together (thanks to him being hunted by the Vatican), what are her feelings toward him?
"Mary understands her duty as queen… so anything that she might feel toward Conde, she will attempt to quell as [her] duty as queen [and] to her husband, King Francis. The problem, I suppose -- that I'm sure Mary is struggling with -- is she can't really explain to Conde Francis' actions because if the Bourbonis [Conde and Antoine's family] find out the Valois son of Henry committed regicide, that's a very dangerous thing for a rival household to learn. … So, Conde's reaction to Francis' actions is entirely validated," Sean said. "He's been, in his view, an awful king, an awful husband, but because he's not allowed to know any of that, Mary must be sort of in a very difficult position, trying to tell Conde, you know, 'It's not what you think, I just can't tell you what it is.' … But she loves Francis, you know, Team Frary," Sean laughed. "So we shall see what happens there. There's a lot of developments in the upcoming episodes. Things get very heated in every sense, family wise and such."
While Francis (Toby Regbo) and Conde just had a fierce, non-lethal duel in court in last week's "Reign," it was a fun moment for Sean, as an actor, because he has known Toby Regbo since they were pre-teens.
"Knowing each other since we were 11 is bizarre and we started working at very different ages in our lives, career or professionally at least, but we did a lot of drama together, and so, funnily enough, that scene was a moment that we had where we stopped fighting and… Toby looked at me and went, 'Is this?' And I went, 'This is,' and we both went, 'Weird! This is weird, right?' 'Yeah, okay. This is weird,'" Sean said. "Toby's sort of very right in saying, 'How on earth did we find ourselves after knowing each other for a decade, not knowing that we'd ever be in the same profession, working together on the same show, in Canada, fighting each other with sticks in a room full of 200 people?' It was so bizarre. So, so bizarre, and it's a wonderful oddness, obviously. ... And so it's great, bizarre, but truly rewarding to work opposite him. That was part of why I was excited to come on this, I mean, there's been so many reasons why, but to have someone already there that you know that you get along with and are friends with is a bonus for sure."
Sean Teale and Toby Regbo in 'Reign' (The CW)
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On screen, Mary is hoping to create more-than-a-friendship between Conde and Anna Poppelwell's Lola (conveniently pushing her friend, but somewhat rival for Francis' heart, a little further away from Lola's babydaddy), urging the two to get to know each other.
"She's a feisty lady and she knows what she wants and that's great. I mean, Anna's an unbelievable actress, and she's so much fun to work with so I was really happy with that," Sean said of when he learned about the plot twist.
"She has certainly got the ability to [sway Conde]. She intrigues him. I'm sure he's -- to an extent -- willing to have some sort of time out from the intense situations that he finds himself in, a little bit of fun wouldn't go amiss, so she is very capable of that, and at the same time, Conde for all his good traits, at the same time also has some bad ones. ... But he's intrigued by Lola and also, Lola has another side to her," Sean continued. "She's feisty and she is [mother to] the King's child. So there's a spark there that he's intrigued by I'm sure, and with a lady as beautiful as Anna, why wouldn't she be able to sway him."
"Reign" continues Thursday at 9/8c on The CW.
-- Jolie Lash
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