Declan’s Love Life in ‘Rivals’ Is a Mess, and Season 2 Is Making It So Much Worse
The Disney+ drama ‘Rivals’ has never been shy about tangled relationships and bruised egos, but the romantic chaos surrounding Declan O’Hara may be the most emotionally complicated thread running through the entire show. As the Irish journalist navigating the poisonous world of Rutshire television, Declan’s personal life has crumbled just as spectacularly as some of his professional victories.
Season 1 ended with a gut punch for Declan when his wife Maud packed up her bags and chose to take a job in a play rather than continue playing house with him in the Cotswolds. It set the stage for a Season 2 that refuses to let the man breathe, pulling him between loyalty, desire, and the wreckage of a marriage he failed to protect.
Declan and Maud’s Crumbling Marriage
In an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, Aidan Turner, who plays Declan, opened up about how the marriage deteriorated, saying, “You can so quickly not see that person anymore. The person is there and you’re cohabiting but you don’t see the person, don’t really engage in what they’re going through and aren’t present emotionally.”
Turner wasn’t putting all the blame on his character, though, noting, “I don’t think he’s entirely 100 percent to blame for all of it but there’s a lion’s share.” It’s a refreshingly honest take on a marriage that the show has always framed as genuinely loving but deeply broken by ambition and neglect.
Turner told Swooon that he believes the marriage can still be saved, saying, “I think they’re quite honest with each other. They have a very tumultuous, tempestuous relationship, but they need to sort out their problems, including Maud’s lack of happiness in the marriage with Declan’s work. I’d like to see them work it out, but I don’t know if they can at this stage.”
Season 2 turns the knife further when Maud takes a role in Corinium’s production of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream,’ to Tony’s smug delight and Declan’s frustration, with Declan suspecting the whole thing is designed to sabotage Venturer. What follows is the kind of slow-motion betrayal that ‘Rivals’ does so well.
The Tony and Maud Affair That Changes Everything
One of the biggest plot points in the second half of Jilly Cooper’s source novel is the reveal that someone has leaked all of Venturer’s secrets to Tony and Corinium, and while most people suspect Cameron to be the mole, especially after she is seen talking privately with Tony, the mole is actually Maud, who has been having an affair with Tony.
Season 2 brings this betrayal to the screen directly, showing Tony and Maud’s involvement right in front of the audience, rather than keeping it as a slow-burn reveal. Tony’s motives appear layered, with the affair functioning as both genuine attraction and calculated cruelty toward Declan.
It’s fascinating and humanizing that Tony shares a personal childhood anecdote about his camera with Maud, suggesting there is a real connection between them beyond pure manipulation, while Maud and Declan are left with unresolved and untenable tension between them. The fact that Maud is the source of Venturer’s leaks reframes everything viewers thought they knew about the O’Hara household.
Declan and Cameron’s Slow-Burn Temptation
Nafessa Williams, who plays Cameron, told TV Insider that she and Declan share “a love for the work in common,” adding, “It’s been nice to see the evolution of that working relationship build because they hated each other at first. So the trust has been built between them and it’s really exciting to see the exploration of that, which I think is going to shock a lot of people as they’re watching it.”
Season 2 Episode 5 sends Declan and Cameron back to Ireland together for his Yeats documentary, a trip that brings their simmering chemistry to a head. The episode proves shocking for many viewers precisely because Declan’s whole saving grace as a character has been his unshakeable loyalty, making the idea of him crossing a line with Cameron feel like a genuine shift in who he is.
TV Fanatic noted that knowing Declan has stayed true to Maud but Cameron is the one tempting his resolve shows just how much their time working together has imprinted on him and awakened a desire that completely changes the game, while the episode ends with Declan still devoted to Maud as his baseline. The tension is carefully managed, keeping audiences guessing rather than resolving anything cleanly.
Where Declan’s Loyalties Stand Right Now
Despite their undeniable chemistry, TV Fanatic pointed out that there are so many reasons why Cameron and Declan simply do not work, citing Declan’s deep-rooted loyal-partner energy and the complicated Patrick factor. The Patrick angle, referring to the possibility of Cameron and Declan’s son developing their own romantic interest, adds yet another layer of messiness to an already entangled situation.
The show is very much in the beginning throes of whatever Declan and Cameron could become, with the implication that Cameron may have been involved in helping Tony obtain the missing tapes still casting a shadow over everything. Nothing about this relationship is clean, and ‘Rivals’ seems perfectly content keeping it that way.
Based on the source novel, Declan eventually comes to terms with the fact that both of his children end up romantically entangled with his colleagues, accepting these unexpected outcomes after an initially apprehensive reaction. Whether the show follows that path or charts its own course remains one of the most compelling open questions of the season.
As ‘Rivals’ keeps Declan suspended between a crumbling marriage, a tempting new connection, and the chaos of the Venturer franchise war, it’s worth asking: do you think Declan deserves a fresh start with Cameron, or should ‘Rivals’ find a way to put the O’Hara marriage back together?
