Gentleman Jack’s Rosie Cavaliero has revealed that the show’s cancellation left her “really surprised” when the news broke last week.
The actor played cook-housekeeper Elizabeth Cordingley in both seasons of Gentleman Jack, which looked at the life and love life of landowner Anne Lister in 1830s Yorkshire.
When asked by RadioTimes.com at the South Bank Sky Arts Awards in an exclusive interview whether she was expecting the cancellation, Cavaliero said: “No, no, no.”
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She continued: “I was really surprised more than anything else. That was the last thing I thought would happen. As far as I was concerned, it was a really popular, successful show. People love it and it has an effect on people so I was really surprised.
“I don’t know whether it was [due to] COVID because it obviously made it more expensive and [caused] a delay between the series. This is just me, not the facts. I just don’t know, I’m very surprised as we all were.”
Written and created by Sally Wainwright, Gentleman Jack was based on the real-life diaries on Anne Lister, who wrote about her lesbian relationships in secret code, and was a co-production between the BBC and HBO.
HBO confirmed to Deadline on Friday last week that it would not be moving forward with Gentleman Jack’s third season, however the BBC said in a statement that it was “in discussions” with Wainwright about “what’s next”.
The series, which first aired in April 2019, received two BAFTA nominations in 2020 and won a Royal Television Society Award for Best Drama Series.
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