“The Buccaneers” creator breaks down finale, from Nan's choice to mama drama

Katherine Jakeways answers our burning questions about the Apple TV+ drama's season 1 finale.

Warning: This article contains spoilers about the season 1 finale of The Buccaneers, "Wedding of the Season."

We wouldn't exactly call it happily-ever-after.

On Wednesday, the first season of The Buccaneers, based on Edith Wharton's final unfinished novel, came to a rather shocking end. Intent on running away with Guy (Matthew Broome), Nan (Kristine Forseth) was preparing to leave Theo, Duke of Tintagel (Guy Remmers) at the altar. But when she realized her sister Jinny (Imogen Waterhouse) was in desperate need of an escape from her abusive marriage, she sacrificed her ticket to happiness by sending Jinny away with Guy.

Meanwhile, Richard (Josh Dylan) and Conchita (Alisha Boe) resolved to live a life on their own terms, family money be damned... Only to learn that Richard's father, Lord Brightlingsea, is terminally ill. After entertaining a marriage proposal to a man, Mabel (Josie Totah) decided to instead embrace the possibility of a life with Honoria (Mia Threapleton). And in the show's final moments, Mrs. St. George (Christina Hendricks) revealed that not only did she know the true identity of Nan's biological mother — but that the woman was sitting in the crowd at Nan's wedding.

While AppleTV+ has yet to renew The Buccaneers for a second season, the finale left us with a lot of questions. So we called up creator Katherine Jakeways to get the tea on Mabel's future, Nan's sacrifice, and the potential answer to the mother of all secrets.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Mabel is intent on pursuing her own love story in spite of her mother denying who she is. Should we get a second season can we expect that to be more complicated than she's ready for?

KATHERINE JAKEWAYS: All the relationships in the show are more complicated than they seem to start with. What we wanted to do with that relationship with Mabel and Honoria — because it has to be a more secret relationship than the others in the show, and it has more barriers to it, it means they have different challenges. They can't go and dance in front of their friends, or they don't get given a ring or a party or a big wedding where they announce their love. But we were so clear from the start when we decided to do this relationship that we wanted it to be as joyful and as romantic and as real feeling for them as any of the other relationships in the show. We didn't want it to be a sad relationship where all they could ever do is love in secret and be sad. We wanted to see them laugh, and we wanted to see them love each other and enjoy each other's company and be happy together.

That last scene on the balcony with the two of them, where effectively Honoria says "I do," and they're holding a bunch of flowers and they have a little dance around on the balcony, they get their happy ending more than anybody else. There's nothing about a second season at this stage. I don't know whether Mabel and Honoria will be able to continue their love or how that's going to affect either of their families, but I hope they're happy.

Richard and Conchita decide to go it alone, despite it having to be without any money. How might that come back to bite them?

There's many ways that could go. You hope that they will be able to do their big escape from the family and live on a beach somewhere with no money and no responsibility. But of course, he gets the news at the end of episode 8 that his father's going to die. If that does happen, then that means that they're something going to have to take responsibility for being Lord and Lady Brightlingsea themselves. That might hamper their plan. It might not be straightforward for them.

Jinny does escape with Nan's help, but she's probably still in danger. How concerned for her should we be after she rides off in this carriage?

James is not far behind, is he? He chases straight after her. And he's not a man who will give up easily. He will want to know where she is. She's breathing a bit of a sigh of relief, and she's got Guy Thwarte by her side, and he will look after her, I'm sure. But I suspect it won't be plain sailing. Jinny is carrying James' child. At that time, it would've been regarded as theft for a woman to run away with a child, unborn or born, that belonged to her husband. She'll be in danger from the law and the authorities as well as from James. Yeah. But Guy Thwarte has those boat tickets, so let's hope they get away.

Nan very clearly loves Guy but marries Theo anyway to help her sister. I presume if we go on that this would not be the end of this love triangle, but regardless, how might the fact that she obviously has feelings for both men continue to complicate her life?

We were very keen with that love triangle to make it a realistic choice for her, a genuine choice. It is something that we've changed from the book because in the book, the Duke character is a much less good choice for her. From the start, he is clearly not somebody that she would be happy with. We wanted to try and make it a genuine choice between two good options for her at different times. And we did a lot of talking about who was Team Guy and who was Team Theo in the process of it.

Nan's life is always going to be complicated, and she now has this duty to her husband. She's obligated to him. Marriage is for life when you are marrying a Duke. The dowager will absolutely be making sure that Nan stays in line and doesn't harm the institution. Nan has had feelings for Theo, and Theo isn't a cruel man, and he's not a terrible choice for her. But certainly that's not where her heart is. It's hard not to think it's going to be a bit of a hard path for Nan, but she's made the choice that was absolutely fundamental to who she is — and she's chosen her sister. Is she going to choose Guy? Is she going to choose Theo? No, of course not. Who's she going to choose? Jinny, when push comes to shove. Even though Jinny's betrayed her and let her down, and they've been estranged for several episodes. It wasn't even particularly a choice for her.

We end on this reveal that Nan's biological mother is at the wedding. Do you all know who she is? Would that continue to be a mystery if you were to go forward?

We know who she is. It would be remiss of us to not have had conversations about who Nan's mom is. So yes, it's something which may or may not be revealed in the future, but let's hope so.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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