With Reign Season 2 premiering tonight, I jumped when given the opportunity to interview Torrance Coombs, who plays King Francis' older brother, Bash.

He was everything you would expect him to be; charming, enthusiastic and excited about the new season. Read on for the full interview and be back here tonight for a full review of Reign Season 2 Episode 1!

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In Reign Season 1, Bash was definitely more of a lover than a fighter. You had fantastic chemistry with Adelaide Kane (Mary) and then with Caitlin Stasey (Kenna) as well. Do the scenes come easily? Are you a romantic a heart?

I love romantic scenes, but at the same time, part of it just stems from our off-screen chemistry, as well. They're both good friends of mine and there is a comfort level that we don't really have to worry about it that much.

I don't really enjoy romantic scenes with someone who I just met that morning and I don't have anything in common with and who would rather be somewhere else. It's all about context. Everybody on our cast is really open and gung-ho and we all have really vast chemistry, I think.

Now that Francis and Mary are in power, will Bash change at all? Will he be less loving and more attentive to politics?

The job that his little brother has been groomed to do his whole life? He now finally has it. Francis appoints Bash his deputy. Bash is someone who he would trust with his life. But there is still that funny thing where your little brother is King and you can't always take him completely seriously, but you just have to. So that's fun!

It's different because Francis is trying to be a much different King than his father and he's finding that it's a lot more difficult than he anticipates. There are a lot of rich and powerful interests trying to control the outcome of how the kingdom should be run and he needs me there to deal with some of these powerful nobles.

Is he holding any resentments considering he loved Mary and was almost King himself?

No. I don't think so. If it's there, it's buried under the surface. In times of tragedy and need, the brothers have always had each other. So I think in a funny way, the death of their father brought them back together. So Francis really needs Bash now and Bash, it's pretty far back in his mind now, all of that, especially now that he's actually quite happily married to Kenna.

So, yeah, there hasn't really been any resentment, just a lot of deep love and understanding. You know, I imagine it's a bit of a sore spot for both of them somewhere, but they've put it aside for now.

How will the relationship between Bash and Kenna progress during the new season? Will they continue to grow their love and care for their new ward?

Well. Yeah, going forward there are some challenges because no matter how much you love someone, sometimes you just have to ask if you're compatible. They want different things in life.

Bash, even though he's got this official title of King's Deputy now and he's doing that sort of thing, he's still just a man of the woods. He doesn't have a lot of time for courtly matters, so his favorite part of the job is just going out to the woods and riding his horse around and he just tends to disappear sometimes for weeks at a time. On official affairs of the state, he can't really tell Kenna what he's doing, so she just desperately wants to be included in his life, but she's not a part of this huge part of his life.

On the flip-side, Kenna still has great ambitions. She wants to go to fancy parties and have cool friends and nice things; she craves status, not just for vanity but also just to be set up. I don't think she likes to constantly be in the state of 'OK, what's next for us?" I think she feels like things are just treading water a little bit, you know, like Bash is doing what he wants to do but what's in it for her? So there are some real challenges for her to overcome.

It sounds like that will be really good to watch.

I sure hope so. You know, I love Caitlin to bits and happy marriages are nice in real life, but they don't make for the most compelling television, necessarily, so our show has certainly been willing to amp up the drama when there's an opportunity so I imagine that will be good.

Will you have the chance to interact with any new characters showing different sides of Bash?

Yeah, we have quite a few different characters this season and Bash gets to interact with a few new people in various capacities. We have Francis' cousin, Lord Conde, we have a powerful nobleman, Narcisse who comes in and causes all kinds of trouble for Francis and he commands a great deal of resources. He's very, very smart and cunning and dangerous. He's a potential ally but also a potentially dangerous enemy. You've just got to play your cards right.

And then we're going to be introduced to another of Henry and Catherine's children, Princess Claude, who was away for a while but she comes back this season and stirs things up.

What's the most difficult side of Bash to play?

I guess, and this is going to sound bad, but sometimes I just get frustrated when he's such a do-gooder. When he just takes such a really strong moral stand on something without considering any shades of gray.

For me, I just always try to approach a situation from understanding the other person's position and understanding the different ways that people can find themselves in situations and to I think he just barrels through and says this is right and this is wrong. I think it's just a bit more black and white for him and that's one of the more difficult things for me to play sometimes.

What about the Plague? Will the people we love be touched by it; will anyone die?

The Plague affects us all. Whether you get the Plague or not, the Plague sets things in motion for the whole season and not just people getting sick and dying, which does, in fact, happen, but also the masterminds that use the Plague for their own purposes and can maybe make people disappear or things of that ilk. When disaster strikes, that's when all the evil guys come out to scare the scared populace and that sets the tone for the whole season.

Will the Plague storyline last the entire season or will it die down a bit. Obviously if Bash is out in the woods every night, they aren't quarantined for long.

The Plague really sets things in motion, but it's not just an entire season of sickness and death. We do move on from it.

You're really active on social media. What's the most fun for you about doing that and do you think your fans have gotten wind of where you're living and are pulling the fire alarm so you have to go outside every night?

Oh man! That fire alarm. I just got a list of reasons every one of these fire alarms have gone off and it actually has to do with faulty wiring, believe it or not. Why is the wiring never faulty at 3am? Why is only when I'm trying to sleep! {chuckles}

As to the other part, I don't know. I think I kind of dug my own grave a little bit. I have always liked kind of 'weirdness' and when people send me really weird stuff I tend to enjoy it and I think I've actively courted some of the weirdest people on the Internet on my Twitter feed. As a result, that's all anyone wants to give me anymore and now I'm just kind of craving normal conversation a bit, but I recognize that I brought this on myself and I still enjoy it a lot.

You can always start responding more to the general conversation, causing people to wonder why you're not craving the crazy content anymore.

That's just it, I can dictate the type of content that's thrown at me. You encourage the discourse you want and just ignore the stuff you don't.

It's always enjoyable watching your interaction with fans during Reign, so thanks for taking the time to do it.

Well, thank you. I love doing it. It's something that's great part of the job for me. I really enjoy it. Actually a whole pack of us are getting together and live tweeting the show on Thursday night, so I guess we'll have some fun with that.

Is there anything you can give to whet the appetites of fans before the premiere?

I guess just get excited. It's darker and the stakes are higher. This is the point of the story that was always envisioned for the show, to get the show to the point where Francis and Mary are in power. This is where the real meat of the story starts, so I think people are really going to love it.

If you've missed any of this exciting series, you can watch Reign online via TV Fanatic. 

Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She's a member of the Critic's Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on X and email her here at TV Fanatic.