Alisha Boe and Kristine Frøseth on All the Unanswered Questions in 'The Buccaneers' Finale
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Spoilers ahead for the season finale of The Buccaneers! If you haven't watched, turn back now.
The last episode of The Buccaneers delivers a jaw-dropping ending.
In the final scenes, Nan (Kristine Frøseth) prepares to marry Theo, Duke of Tintagel (Guy Remmers), and as everyone gathers in the church, the girls help Jinny (Imogen Waterhouse) escape her abusive husband, Seadown (Barney Fishwich). Nan gets her sister into a carriage with Guy (Matthew Broome), and says her goodbyes.
As Nan arrives at the altar, Seadown realizes Jinny has escaped. Soon, Taylor Swift's "Long Live" kicks in (yes, Taylor Swift!) as Nan and Theo marry, making her the Duchess of Tintagel, and Jinny and Guy ride off. In the very last moments, Mrs. St. George (Christina Hendricks) learns that Nan's real mother is at the castle. It's a huge cliffhanger, and one that will surely leave viewers clamoring for a second season of the period drama.
"There are a lot of unanswered questions and I think that's incredibly exciting," Kristine Frøseth, who plays Nan St. George, tells Town & Country. Similarly, Alisha Boe, who plays Conchita, is elated the finale is now out in the world. "You never really know how people would react. And you might have one idea while you're filming, and seeing the finished product is always so satisfying," she says.
Ahead of the finale, Frøseth and Boe spoke with T&C about the season's end, all their unanswered questions, and, of course, Taylor Swift.
Let's talk about the finale. What was it like shooting those scenes?.
Alisha Boe: I just had this flashback. It has nothing to do with this. I mean, yeah, it does, but I was so... Me and Aubri [Ibrag, who plays Lizzy] were so sick. Do you remember?
Kristine Frøseth: We were all really sick!
AB: And it was in December, we were outside. It doesn't look cold, but it was freezing. And in between setups, we would be like... I ended up having to get surgery in January because I had sinus, not from being sick because of set, because I just had this infection for so long I had to get sinus surgery. I did press earlier this year in January, and my ear started bleeding and I was like, oh my gosh. But that's so unrelated! All I remember is being really sick during that scene. I just wanted to go home and have an antibiotic and drink some hot tea.
KF: Yeah, we were all pretty sick. I mean, I was really struggling with the emotion of Nan possibly not seeing Guy again, or her sister for that matter, and it almost felt too overwhelming, and I was really nervous about how to portray that. Me, Kristine, just felt emotionally overwhelmed and then I kind of went into a shutdown mode.
AB: That happens, it's so natural. You can't break down when you're trying to be strong for your sister.
Before you're shooting a scene like that, as an actor, Kristine, do you talk about the emotions or you just sort of go for it?
KF: I mean, it really depends. Charlie [Charlotte Regan] was directing us at the time, and she's really wonderful in the sense that she doesn't put too much pressure on an emotion or on a result, so me and her didn't have that conversation. It was mostly just, I kind of stayed in my corner focused and then when they said come to set and we came to set and then we just did it, and saw what happened. And then there were notes given, but there was never a major conversation about what had to happen, if there had to be tears, if it had to be this or that.
AB: It's just so unnatural.
KF: It's so unnatural!
AB: It's nice when you work with people who let you discover it in the scene. As long as you've done all of your preparation and you have a good working relationship with your partner and the director, I think it helps. And then you're in the story. Like Kristine said, you get in the room and everything else kind of just fades away and you see what happens.
In the first episode, there's the Taylor Swift song, "Nothing New," that plays, and in the last scene, her song "Long Live" plays, which was very full circle. Did you know she was going to be on the soundtrack?
KF: I didn't know. I found out with everyone else!
AB: Yeah, we had no idea.
KF: It was so exciting. She just never fails. She's transformed herself and reimagined herself all these years. I'm so impressed by how she keeps creating new versions of herself and exploring herself and inspiring so many women. I think she was the perfect artist for our show.
If you had to pick any song for your characters, not necessarily a Taylor Swift song, just any song, is there a song that you feel is Nan or Conchita?
AB: I'm going to—
KF: Don't!
AB: I'm stealing yours!
KF: We'll do it together, let's do it together. One, two, three.
KF & AB, in unison: "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free" by Nina Simone.
KF: It's relevant for both of our characters.
AB: That's the tune.
Did you have a shared playlist as the cast? Or do you talk about music?
KF: Josie Totah, who plays Mabel, she made a playlist called Deb's Shoot, which is all of our favorite songs combined. But I keep my character playlist private. I don't like anyone listening to my vulnerable songs. Usually when I'm reading the scripts I'm like, oh, this is the tune. And sometimes they'll come up when I'm shooting, but usually it's already there. But, I didn't know Nan's trajectory. I'd only read the first two episodes, but I was just going based off of her pre-news [about her mother] and post-news.
AB: It's hard on a television show. You'd kind of know a general thing and then each script comes and you have no idea. It's hard to plan.
What were your reactions to reading the final script?
AB: I was shocked, personally, for Conchita. I just didn't expect her to be broke. But I'm really happy that all the other noise gets to fade away and she gets to focus to on her marriage and her child. And I'm really excited to see where they go from there.
KF: I was surprised by Nan's choice to sacrifice herself. I wasn't expecting that. It's very old Nan, but throughout she might—
AB: She came back, she came back!
I know fans are probably hoping for season two renewal for The Buccaneers. What would you two hope for in a second season with your characters?
AB: Answering all of the questions.
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KF: All of the questions, and also going back to [Edith Wharton's book]. I think Nan and Theo have a really interesting relationship in the book and I'd actually really like to see that translate into screen.
They have an awful marriage, and just the subtleties of that and how their dynamic is forced, and how she secretly wants Guy. But she also miscarries a lot, and there's a lot of pressure for her to have a baby, to have a baby boy. So that's interesting.
What are the biggest questions that you two would hope answered in a season two?
KF: Where do Jinny and Guy go?
AB: Yeah, where are they going?!
KF: Is he going to take care of her baby?
AB: Is that the step dad?
KF [to AB]: How are you guys going to survive? How is Minnie going to be okay?
AB: I don't know. How am I going to feed Minnie?
KF: Is Nan going to divorce Theo?
AB: Probably, no.
KF: And will Seadown be caught? Will Seadown be taken down?
AB: Yeah. Will he face the consequences?
As you reflect on this season, is there something you're going carry with you? Be it emotional, be it something from the set that you took...
AB: I took the butt pad. We wore butt pads, bum pads, and our costumer sewed in our character names in the butt pad, and it's really beautiful. It's hanging in my closet, it's really cute.
I didn't know what butt pads were, but apparently they wore that in the 1800s... I mean that was part of getting dressed. It's this little string, and you tie it around your corset and when you lay the skirt it gives you that silhouette of you have the corset and then your butt goes out like that. [Demonstrates a curve with her hands.] And then even I think before the 1870s, it was even more pronounced. I was shocked!
KF: I brought the [butt pad] with me, too. That was really special that they did that. [Emotionally]: That just that you should just trust yourself. I feel like Nan doesn't need to be with a man right now. And I think that's really inspiring. Just do your own thing, find out who you are before anything. Self-love first, and then everything will grow from there.
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