LONDON, United Kingdom | September 3, 2026 —

The Gentlemen Season 2 Review begins with a simple but dangerous change in Eddie Horniman: the reluctant aristocrat who once wanted out of the criminal world no longer wants to escape it.

He wants to own it.

That shift gives Guy Ritchie’s Netflix crime saga exactly the fuel it needs for its second season.

Theo James returns as Eddie Horniman, the immaculately dressed Duke of Halstead whose inherited country estate came with an unexpected underground business attached to it. Alongside Kaya Scodelario’s formidable Susie Glass, Eddie is no longer merely trying to survive gangsters, drug empires and aristocratic chaos.

Now he wants more territory, more influence and more control.

And in The Gentlemen, wanting more is usually the quickest way to lose something important.

Season 2 takes the ingredients that made the first season such an entertaining hit — British aristocracy, organised crime, outrageous characters, expensive tailoring, dry humour and sudden violence — and expands the scale without abandoning Guy Ritchie’s unmistakable style.

INVC NEWS Rating: ★★★★☆ — 4/5

The result is not a reinvention.

It is an escalation.

And for most of the journey, that is exactly what The Gentlemen needs.

The Gentlemen Season 2 Review: What Is the Story About?

A year has passed since Eddie Horniman stepped into the criminal world controlled by Bobby Glass and his daughter Susie.

The cannabis operation beneath the Halstead estate is no longer enough.

Eddie and Susie now expand their ambitions beyond England and into Italy, where beautiful lakeside villas, old money and luxury conceal another dangerous criminal ecosystem.

Their expansion puts them in the orbit of powerful Italian crime boss Marco Moretti and fixer Cico Maldini.

The international move immediately changes the stakes.

Eddie is no longer learning the rules.

He believes he understands them.

That confidence makes him more dangerous — but it also makes him more vulnerable.

At the same time, Bobby Glass begins making decisions that Eddie and Susie increasingly question.

That creates the season’s most important tension.

How long can Eddie work under someone else when he has started imagining himself at the top?

And how long can Susie trust a man whose ambition keeps growing?

Theo James Finally Lets Eddie Enjoy Being Dangerous

The first season worked because Eddie entered the criminal world reluctantly.

He inherited a title.

He inherited an estate.

Then he discovered that he had also inherited an enormous illegal cannabis operation underneath it.

His initial instinct was to get rid of the problem.

Season 2 flips that psychology.

Eddie has discovered something uncomfortable about himself: he is good at this.

More importantly, he likes it.

Theo James benefits enormously from that evolution.

Eddie becomes more interesting once the character stops pretending that crime is merely an inconvenience forced upon him.

He now sees opportunity.

Power begins to fit him as naturally as the beautifully tailored suits.

But James wisely keeps Eddie from becoming a conventional gangster.

The aristocratic restraint remains.

He rarely needs to behave like the loudest man in the room.

His confidence comes from assuming that he belongs in every room.

That makes his ambition more entertaining — and more dangerous.

Kaya Scodelario Remains the Show’s Sharpest Weapon

If Eddie represents ambition, Susie Glass represents experience.

Kaya Scodelario again gives the series much of its edge.

Susie understands the criminal world in a way Eddie never fully can because she did not enter it accidentally.

She grew up inside it.

That creates one of Season 2’s strongest dynamics.

Eddie may increasingly see himself as an equal partner, but Susie knows how quickly confidence turns into recklessness.

Their relationship remains far more interesting than a straightforward romance.

There is attraction.

There is affection.

But there is also calculation.

Each understands that the other can be extraordinarily useful.

And each understands that usefulness can disappear.

That uncertainty gives their partnership electricity.

The question is not simply whether Eddie and Susie trust each other.

It is whether trust can survive when both people want power.

Eddie and Susie Are Better When the Show Refuses to Define Them

One of The Gentlemen’s smartest decisions is resisting the temptation to reduce Eddie and Susie to a conventional television couple.

Their chemistry works precisely because danger contaminates it.

A romantic relationship would require vulnerability.

A criminal partnership requires suspicion.

Season 2 keeps those impulses rubbing against each other.

Susie sees Eddie partly as an investment.

Eddie sees Susie as a partner but also as one of the few people capable of preventing him from becoming the most powerful person in his own story.

That imbalance creates tension without requiring melodrama.

Whenever The Gentlemen focuses on this relationship, the series feels sharper.

Guy Ritchie Knows Exactly What World He Wants

Nobody will mistake The Gentlemen for someone else’s television series.

Guy Ritchie’s fingerprints remain everywhere.

Men in beautiful suits behave terribly.

Criminal negotiations unfold in extravagant rooms.

Aristocrats reveal themselves to be just as corrupt as gangsters.

Characters speak in elaborate threats.

Money changes hands.

Someone inevitably makes a catastrophic decision.

Violence arrives suddenly after long stretches of witty conversation.

It is a formula.

But Ritchie understands his formula unusually well.

The attraction is not realism alone.

It is the contrast between refinement and brutality.

A character may discuss etiquette one minute and organise something deeply criminal the next.

That contradiction remains the heart of The Gentlemen.

Italy Makes the Criminal Empire Feel Bigger

Moving part of the action into Italy gives Season 2 a useful visual and narrative expansion.

The first season built much of its identity around the collision between British country-house aristocracy and an underground drug business.

Season 2 needs a larger playground.

Italy provides it.

Elegant villas, international criminal networks and new power brokers allow Eddie’s ambitions to grow physically as well as psychologically.

The setting also prevents the series from feeling trapped by its original premise.

There are only so many ways a show can continue discovering strange criminals around one English estate.

Taking the operation international gives The Gentlemen somewhere new to go.

Sergio Castellitto and Michele Morrone Raise the Stakes

The Italian expansion introduces another tier of players.

Sergio Castellitto’s Marco Moretti represents the kind of criminal authority Eddie wants to challenge or eventually emulate.

Michele Morrone’s Cico Maldini operates as the sort of fixer who makes international crime possible while simultaneously reminding everyone why nobody in this world deserves complete trust.

These characters help the series widen its hierarchy.

Eddie may feel increasingly powerful in England.

Internationally, he is still entering someone else’s territory.

That difference is essential.

A crime saga stops being exciting once its hero becomes untouchable.

Season 2 keeps finding people who can make Eddie uncomfortable.

Hugh Bonneville Is Inspired Casting

One of the most entertaining additions is Hugh Bonneville as Lord Hawthorne.

Casting an actor so strongly associated with polished British respectability inside Guy Ritchie’s criminal playground almost feels like a joke before the character says anything.

That contrast is exactly why it works.

The Gentlemen has always understood that British class structures can produce comedy simply by placing respectable people next to extremely disreputable behaviour.

Bonneville fits that philosophy perfectly.

His presence strengthens the aristocratic side of the show just as the international crime story expands.

The Supporting Cast Keeps Getting Better

Season 2 brings back a strong ensemble around Theo James and Kaya Scodelario.

Ray Winstone returns as Bobby Glass, whose authority becomes increasingly important as Eddie’s ambition expands.

Daniel Ings returns as Freddy Horniman, a character capable of turning almost any manageable situation into a crisis.

Joely Richardson, Vinnie Jones, Giancarlo Esposito, Jasmine Blackborow, Michael Vu, Harry Goodwins, Ruby Sear and Pearce Quigley also return.

New additions include Hugh Bonneville, Benjamin Clementine, Benedetta Porcaroli, Amra Mallassi, Tyler Conti, boxer Chris Eubank Jr. and Maya Jama.

It is a crowded world.

Usually that works in the show’s favour.

Ritchie’s crime stories thrive on eccentric side characters entering, causing chaos and disappearing before they overstay their welcome.

Freddy Remains Chaos in Human Form

Daniel Ings’ Freddy remains crucial to the tone.

A completely serious version of The Gentlemen would become exhausting.

Freddy prevents that.

His ability to misunderstand danger, make terrible choices and behave as though confidence can substitute for competence makes him one of the show’s most reliable sources of comic disaster.

He also serves another important function.

Eddie looks extraordinarily capable whenever Freddy stands beside him.

That sibling contrast remains effective.

The Gentlemen Is Still Very Funny

Crime dramas often become more serious as their stakes increase.

The Gentlemen understands that its humour is not decoration.

It is structural.

The absurdity of wealthy people, criminals, aristocrats and opportunists negotiating with complete confidence while everything collapses around them remains one of the series’ greatest pleasures.

Ritchie does not ask audiences to admire these people morally.

He asks us to enjoy watching them believe they are clever.

Sometimes they are.

Frequently they are not.

That gap produces much of the comedy.

The Show Looks Expensive — and Knows It

Visual confidence remains a major selling point.

This is a world of tailored clothing, stately architecture, luxury cars, polished interiors and carefully framed criminality.

The visual language reinforces the central joke.

These people may operate businesses built on drugs and violence, but they insist on behaving as though everything is a respectable transaction between gentlemen.

The production design does not merely make the show attractive.

It reinforces the satire.

Criminality becomes another form of elite commerce.

Where Season 2 Can Become Too Much

The same confidence that makes The Gentlemen entertaining also creates its biggest weakness.

Guy Ritchie enjoys this world enormously.

Sometimes he enjoys it more than the story requires.

The characters can talk longer than necessary.

Criminal schemes can become unnecessarily elaborate.

New eccentric personalities can arrive simply because eccentric personalities are fun.

Style occasionally begins overtaking momentum.

Season 2’s expanded ambition therefore cuts both ways.

Bigger does not always mean tighter.

Viewers who already find Ritchie’s dialogue, swagger and mannerisms exhausting are unlikely to be converted.

This is not Guy Ritchie becoming restrained.

It is Guy Ritchie receiving more room.

Eddie Risks Becoming Too Comfortable

Another challenge comes from Eddie’s transformation.

The reluctant criminal of Season 1 automatically generated tension because he constantly faced a world he did not understand.

Season 2’s Eddie understands the game far better.

That makes him cooler.

But coolness can be dramatically dangerous.

A protagonist who always looks composed eventually becomes predictable.

The series therefore needs Eddie’s ambition to create mistakes.

His desire for more power must cost him something.

Otherwise the journey from reluctant duke to criminal kingpin becomes too easy.

The most interesting question is not whether Eddie can win.

It is what winning turns him into.

The Class Satire Still Works

Underneath the drugs, guns and expensive suits, The Gentlemen remains a comedy about class.

The aristocracy and criminal underworld initially appear to represent opposite systems.

One inherits power.

The other takes it.

But the series repeatedly reveals how similar they are.

Both depend on hierarchy.

Both protect family interests.

Both trade influence.

Both understand loyalty as a currency.

And both become extremely unpleasant when someone interferes with their money.

That parallel gives The Gentlemen more substance than a simple gangster comedy.

Is The Gentlemen Season 2 Better Than Season 1?

Season 2 is bigger than Season 1.

Whether it is better depends on what attracted you originally.

If you loved the first season’s criminal characters, humour, stylish production and Eddie-Susie partnership, Season 2 gives you more of almost everything.

The criminal world expands.

The locations improve.

The cast grows.

Eddie becomes more ambitious.

Susie receives higher-stakes problems.

But Season 1 had one structural advantage: discovery.

Watching Eddie uncover the criminal empire beneath his aristocratic inheritance created natural momentum.

Season 2 cannot repeat that surprise.

Instead, it replaces discovery with ambition.

That is the correct creative decision.

Is The Gentlemen Season 2 Worth Watching?

Absolutely — especially if Season 1 worked for you.

This is not a franchise attempting to reinvent itself because the original formula failed.

It understands exactly why audiences returned.

Theo James remains effortlessly suited to Eddie Horniman.

Kaya Scodelario remains an excellent counterweight.

Guy Ritchie continues mixing crime with class satire.

The supporting cast gets stronger.

Italy broadens the world.

And Eddie’s transformation from reluctant participant into ambitious power player gives the story somewhere meaningful to go.

Viewers who disliked Season 1’s swagger, stylised dialogue or intentionally ridiculous criminal characters will probably find the same irritations here.

Everyone else can settle in.

The suits are sharper.

The empire is bigger.

And the consequences are getting uglier.

The Gentlemen Season 3 Is Already Confirmed

Netflix has already made one important decision about the future.

The Gentlemen will return for Season 3.

That confirmation arrived before Season 2 premiered.

It gives the second season additional long-term importance.

Eddie’s expanding ambitions are no longer simply the setup for one season of chaos.

They form another stage in a larger criminal story.

For viewers wondering whether Netflix intends to leave the series hanging, the Season 3 renewal provides useful reassurance.

The Gentlemen universe is continuing.

The Gentlemen Season 2 Review: Final Verdict

The Gentlemen Season 2 understands its greatest asset: confidence.

Theo James has become completely comfortable as Eddie Horniman.

Kaya Scodelario remains commanding as Susie Glass.

Ray Winstone brings heavyweight criminal authority.

Hugh Bonneville adds another layer of British-class comedy.

And Guy Ritchie continues constructing a world where aristocrats and gangsters differ mainly in tailoring and vocabulary.

The expansion into Italy gives the story fresh scale.

Eddie’s ambition gives it a stronger psychological engine.

The growing tension around Bobby Glass gives the power structure something worth disrupting.

And the complicated Eddie-Susie relationship remains the emotional and strategic heart of the series.

The weaknesses are also unmistakably Ritchie.

Some conversations run longer than necessary.

Some characters exist because outrageous characters are entertaining.

The storytelling occasionally falls in love with its own cleverness.

But none of those flaws fundamentally damage what the series does best.

The Gentlemen does not pretend to be solemn prestige crime television.

It wants to be stylish, funny, violent, extravagant and slightly absurd.

Season 2 delivers exactly that — only on a larger canvas.

INVC NEWS Rating: ★★★★☆ — 4/5

Verdict: Highly Recommended

The Gentlemen Season 2 Quick Review

Series: The Gentlemen Season 2
Release Date: September 3, 2026
Streaming Platform: Netflix
Genre: Crime – Comedy – Drama – Action
Creator: Guy Ritchie
Lead Cast: Theo James – Kaya Scodelario – Ray Winstone – Daniel Ings
Major New Cast: Hugh Bonneville – Benjamin Clementine – Benedetta Porcaroli – Michele Morrone – Sergio Castellitto – Maya Jama
INVC NEWS Rating: ★★★★☆ — 4/5
Recommendation: Highly Recommended
Season 3: Confirmed

The Gentlemen Season 2 FAQ

What is The Gentlemen Season 2 about?

Season 2 follows Eddie Horniman and Susie Glass as they expand their criminal operation beyond the Halstead estate and into international territory, including Italy. Eddie’s growing ambition places increasing pressure on his relationship with Susie and Bobby Glass.

Who plays Eddie Horniman?

Theo James plays Eddie Horniman, the Duke of Halstead who evolves from reluctant criminal participant into an increasingly ambitious power player.

Who plays Susie Glass?

Kaya Scodelario returns as Susie Glass.

Is Guy Ritchie involved in The Gentlemen Season 2?

Yes. Guy Ritchie remains the creator and is part of the writing and directing team.

Where can I watch The Gentlemen Season 2?

The series streams exclusively on Netflix.

When did The Gentlemen Season 2 release?

Netflix released Season 2 on September 3, 2026.

Is The Gentlemen Season 2 worth watching?

Yes. Fans of Season 1, Guy Ritchie’s crime films and dark British crime comedies should find plenty to enjoy.

Is The Gentlemen Season 2 better than Season 1?

Season 2 offers a larger criminal world, bigger ambitions and an expanded cast. Season 1 retains the advantage of discovery, while Season 2 focuses more heavily on power and expansion.

Will there be The Gentlemen Season 3?

Yes. Netflix has officially confirmed Season 3.

What is the INVC NEWS rating for The Gentlemen Season 2?

★★★★☆ — 4 out of 5 stars.