Yahoo Finance A Discovery of Witches season 2's ending explained, and how it sets up season 3
A Discovery of Witches season 2 spoilers follow – including its ending.
Dashing vampire Matthew De Clermont and his new wife, trainee witch Diana, had a busy old time of it in season two of A Discovery Of Witches, and by the end of the season there were numerous cliffhangers to be resolved and questions to be answered.
After learning she could time walk at the end of the first season, Diana travelled back in time with Matthew to Elizabethan London to escape the clutches of witch Peter Knox, to learn more about witchcraft, and to search for the Book of Life, also know as Ashmole 782, that may contain vital secrets about vampires, witches and daemons.
They left behind Diana's aunts, witches Em and Sarah, who sought sanctuary with Matthew's vampire mother Ysabeau at her Sept-Tours chateau in France.
Meanwhile, Matthew's vampire son Marcus remained in Oxford, protecting his daemon friends Nathaniel and his wife Sophie who, just to complicate matters, was expecting a baby predicted to be a witch. That put them in danger from The Congregation, the group of witches, daemons and vampires who forbid inter-species relationships.
And, if that wasn't enough to be going on with, let's not forget there was also a mysterious vampire with blood rage (a disease Matthew and any 'blood' relatives are also stricken with) stalking the streets of Oxford and feasting on humans.
By the season two finale, Diana – who has learnt she is pregnant – and Matthew were preparing to head back to the modern day after Diana had mastered nine of the magical knots she needed to be a weaver (creator of magic).
While they had Ashmole 782 in their possession, Diana's father – a time walker himself, who travelled back from the time Diana was a child to the 16th century just in time to bump into his grown up daughter – convinced her to leave it in the past, as it was too dangerous to travel with such a powerful book.
Their meeting was bittersweet, as Diana was unable to tell her father what would happen to him in his future – that he and her mother would be killed by witches – even though she and Matthew didn't seem so concerned about affecting the past and future during their romp through Ye Merry Olde England that even had them both interacting with Queen Elizabeth I.
Matthew did attempt to return everything in his house to the way it was before he and Diana left for the present day – remember, there is an Elizabethan Matthew who will come home at some point and wonder who the hell has been sleeping in his bed – which mainly involved asking his nephew Galllowglass to put things right for him.
Diana, meanwhile, wanted to make sure that Jack, the boy she and Matthew had adopted, would be taken care of after they were gone. Without telling Matthew, she went and saw Andrew, the vampire ruler of London, and offered him a drop of her blood in exchange for his promise to protect Jack.
That blood gave Andrew glimpses of Diana and Matthew's modern day life – including a flash that showed them both time walking. Perhaps not one of Diana's better ideas, then, especially as Andrew was later stopped on the street by his sire - a vampire named Benjamin who wanted to know all about Diana.
After a hug with Gallowglass – whose use of the word 'auntie' for Diana is far sexier than it probably should be – she and Matthew prepared to depart, little knowing that all hell was breaking loose back in the present day.
Suspecting that Nathaniel and Sophie and their baby Margaret were now at Sept-Tours along with Diana's aunts Em and Sarah, Congregation vampire Gerbert sent witch Peter Knox there, hoping that one of three missing pages everyone is seeking from Ashmole 782 was there, too.
Peter lured Em out to a spiritual site near Sept-Tours and watched from the shadows as she conjured up Rebecca, Diana's late mother. (He looks very distressed when he sees Rebecca – could there be some history there?) Realising Em had one of the missing Ashmole pages, Peter attacked her just as she used a spell to hide the page away, and then killed her.
Marcus used his vampire speed to zip outside and confront Peter, but was knocked unconscious, and Peter slipped away into the night.
As the residents of Sept-Tours woke to the tragedy – though Marcus's human girlfriend Phoebe seemed to still be asleep despite all the commotion and murder – elsewhere, it looked like vampire Domenico might have figured out the identity of the blood rage vampire, whom he suspected had an unhealthy interest in Matthew and Diana.
But who is it? And could that be Elizabethan vampire Benjamin, lurking in the shadows watching Domenico?
What's to come in season three?
Filmed in late 2020 and early 2021, the third season of A Discovery Of Witches is expected to be the last as it is based on the third book of Deborah Harkness' All Souls trilogy (there is, however, a companion book about Marcus that could be made into a fourth season).
Although season two did use some elements from the third book (some of the present day events) there's still a lot for that final season to cover as Diana and Matthew return to Sept-Tours and discover what has happened in their absence (since Diana is now a very powerful witch, it's safe to assume that the couple do time walk to exactly where they want to be and don't accidentally travel to Nazi Germany or something).
Em, of course, is dead, and once Marcus recovers from Peter's sleeping spell, he will be able to tell everyone at Sept-Tours who is responsible.
Revenge will be on Matthew and Diana's minds when they discover what has happened. But most importantly, they will need to find Ashmole 782 and its missing three pages before Knox, as the book could be incredibly important. When Em was communicating with Rebecca just before she was killed, Rebecca told her the book would change everything, and that using it, Diana could unite all the creatures – something, of course, that Knox and other members of the Congregation don't want.
SHOP NOW to watch season 2
If you've read the All Souls books, you'll know that Diana and Matthew will have help as (hurrah!) Gallowglass turns up in the present, and he's not the only Elizabethan from season two we expect to appear.
It's likely it was Benjamin who was watching Domenico from the shadows, and he could be a threat to Diana and Matthew's happiness. But why is he so interested in Diana? And, if he isn't the vampire killing Oxford residents, who is?
Could it be someone else from Matthew and Diana's trip to the past – Jack, perhaps? He may have been a human child when they left him in 16th century London, but Diana did leave him in the care of vampire Andrew, so it's possible that Jack has been turned into a vampire and become immortal himself.
Another big question to be resolved is the one surrounding Diana's pregnancy. Matthew has blood rage, the hereditary disease that makes vampires savage monsters, and which he passed onto Marcus when he sired him (Marcus is a carrier, luckily, so has no symptoms). It's possible that Matthew and Diana's baby could also have the disease and desire human flesh – a problem if Diana ever plans on attending a mother and baby group.
And if it is Matthew – or his mother, Ysabeau, another carrier – who passes on blood rage, could that mean a De Clermont is related to the blood rage vampire killer, and is that killer coming after Matthew and his family for some personal reason?
Both Matthew Goode and Teresa Palmer confirmed to Digital Spy that season three would be the (hopefully happy) end of Matthew and Diana's story, so all these questions should be answered when the final season airs later this year or in early 2022.
All episodes of A Discovery of Witches season 2 are available on demand on Sky and NOW TV from January 8 and, for those that prefer linear viewing, A Discovery of Witches also airs on Sky One weekly.
Digital Spy has launched its first-ever digital magazine with exclusive features, interviews, and videos. Check it out with a 1-month free trial, only on Apple News+.
Interested in Digital Spy's weekly newsletter? Sign up to get it sent straight to your inbox – and don't forget to join our Watch This Facebook Group for daily TV recommendations and discussions with other readers.
You Might Also Like
