'Boarders' Season 2 lives up to its 100% Rotten Tomatoes score reputation for sophomore season

Daniel Lawrence Taylor's show Boarders continues to be a highlight in the bustling TV and streaming series landscape. Now back for Season 2 (available to watch for free on Tubi ), we're diving deeper into the characters in this British boarding school dramedy, with Jaheim (Josh Tedeku), Leah (Jodie Campbell), Omar (Myles Kamwendo) Femi (Aruna Jalloh) and Toby (Sekou Diaby) all returning to St. Gilbert’s.

Boarders is about a group of five Black, inner-city London teenagers who get the opportunity to go to an elite boarding school through a scholarship program. The biggest threat to our core five characters in Boarders Season 2 is new headmistress Carol Watlington-Geese (Niky Wardley). Not only is she the mother of Jaheim's nemesis Rupert (Harry Gilby), she's also been very vocal about how she wants the scholarship students gone.



"She just plays villains so well," Lawrence Taylor told Yahoo Canada about Niky Wardley playing the big threat of the season. "Whenever you write a villain it's fun, and she just humanizes this villain so well. .

.. She's also someone that kind of wears it quite boldly on her sleeve.

" The first season of Boarders was incredibly well received, even achieving a 100 per cent Rotten Tomatoes score. But Lawrence Taylor and the team behind the show really rose to the occasion to make Season 2 equally as strong. It's bolder in its comedy, while also reaching new heights emotionally.

"In some ways, when I was writing that first series, I genuinely was just writing it for myself," Lawrence Taylor said. "I was like, I love this and I think this is going to be great. .

.. Then when it went out into the world, luckily people loved it as well.

" "I think in some ways there was a pressure, because I had to be careful of how much I was reading online. ..

. What was beautiful is that people really fell in love with those characters. They really just were so invested, more so than I thought that they would be.

And so I wanted to make sure that I took care of them. And it can be quite difficult. .

.. It was very difficult being in that writers room and pushing them in certain directions, because you didn't want to hurt them, .

.. but then also realizing this is what the show is, and this is what an audience wants.

" Building out the world of 'Boarders' A particularly interesting character to watch in Season 2 is Jaheim, entering the new season as the school's Head Boy. While it's a great achievement, his family becomes an even greater part of his story this season, with Lawrence Taylor identifying that it was important to show Jaheim navigating "two worlds." "For a character like Jaheim, it's a reality," Lawrence Taylor explained.

"I remember growing up, I had a single mum. She had five children. I remember having to take care of my sister quite a lot, whilst also making sure that I got to school and did my school work and stuff, just so my mom could work.

" "Luckily the struggles that I went through are nowhere near as close as what Jaheim goes through, but I wanted to show that reality, in terms of the world that he's in. Just because he's been given this great opportunity in this elite school doesn't mean that his life stops. And I think it was so important for us to show that.

...

He is a kid getting a great education, but at the same time, he's also having to be a parent to his younger brother as well." What Lawrence Taylor also navigates brilliantly is how to introduce new characters into Boarders , something that can be particularly difficult when fans of the show have such a strong affection for everyone in the cast. A perfect example of how Lawrence Taylor continues to build out this world in a really impactful way is Leah's relationship with new American classmate Devonyé (Kendra Brown).

"I always want to surprise people, and I always want to kind of throw in a curveball and have characters reassess their belief system," Lawrence Taylor said. "And so for Leah and Devonyé, Leah's mind is like, 'Well she is a Black girl who is a rebel like me. So of course we're going to get on,' And I really love the fact that across the series their relationship fractures, and it's because of Leah's own insecurities.

" "That is always what I want to do with a new character, I really want them to kind of come in and have them disrupt the status quo. Because I think that is ..

. part of the joy of the show, is these teenagers discovering who they are. You've got this big thing looming over them, which is this old institution and how they should be.

But ...

you've got these individuals who are just shaping themselves, as humans do, and they're still learning who they are and what they are. What they want and what their belief systems are going to be." But in all honesty, one of the highlights of Boarder Season 2 is going farther down the rabbit holt into the St.

Gilbert’s Raisinettes, a secret society at the school that Omar's had his eye on since the first season. It doesn't just scratch that itch of out curious brains wanting to know more about something that's supposed to be secretive, the Raisinettes elements are also used as a tool to take big swings in silly comedy that feel incredibly delightful. "It's one of those weird ones where you don't know how people are going to respond, but as a writer, I do love it," Lawrence Taylor said.

"And I think it's because there is something so otherworldly about these institutions as well, and you just don't know what happened." "It is based on on real things, but sometimes I'll just take artistic liberties. So when I dive into stuff like the Raisinettes, I absolutely love it because it is just a world completely different to everything else.

And because at institutions like this they do throw money at things, so it does allow me to really go crazy and go wild. So it's really lovely when I hear that people love it, when I veer off track into these weird worlds." 'We've only scratched the surface' Without spoiling the ending of the season, we'll tease that it will absolutely make you crave a Season 3 to see where the story goes.

While the show hasn't been greenlit for another season, the team behind Boarders is prepared. "We have already put together a writers room. .

.. We've not had the green light, but we've already been chucking around ideas and stuff like that," Lawrence Taylor said.

"And we've got loads. We've got so many." "I feel like sometimes we've only scratched the surface, we've not even met Toby's mum or Omar's family or Leah's family.

There's so many more connections. ..

. Where we leave Season 2, there's just so many more new connections and relationships to explore. So I really hope for series three, because I think there's just so much more fun and entertaining things for these characters to do.

".