Benjamin Wainwright made a remarkable impression taking over the role of Jules Maigret in PBS Masterpiece’s Maigret. He created a character who could be embraced by existing fans, and also loved by new viewers, finding that perfect balance between honoring history and adding something to it. Now he’s back for Maigret Season 2—which is giving the actor a brand-new challenge.

TVBrittanyF.com connected with Benjamin ahead of the Maigret Season 2 premiere to discuss stepping back into Maigret’s world. He explained how he approaches the role, and what he wanted to explore further in getting more time with the character. Plus, how much did the changes in Maigret’s world affect the show itself? And what did Benjamin learn from working with another legendary sleuth as Nathaniel Parker joins the cast?

Brittany Frederick: Going back to last season, was there ever a specific point where you felt comfortable playing Maigret? When did you feel you had found the character for yourself?

Benjamin Wainwright: I don’t know if that moment ever came in the first season. I think second season I’ve got there, but I felt like there was a lot of pressure on that first season. We’ve got such a beloved character and such a brilliant team and a brilliant script—I really felt like I had to get it right, and that maybe impacted my performance. Whereas [in] Season 2, I’m like okay, people like it, great. I can relax and look around a little bit more. We had a nice reception, and getting to do Season 2 is a real privilege.

In getting to come back, was there any particular part of the character or the world that you wanted to explore? What excited you creatively about returning as Maigret?

There was a lot of back and forth between me and Patrick [Harbinson], the writer, about what we could improve for Season 2. He already had some scripts written that didn’t make the cut for Season 1. And I was pushing for, in the books, Maigret’s not a cool dude. He’s a bit of a clown. Things go wrong for him. There’s all these absurd little moments that pushing Patrick to include a few more of.

And we had them in Season 1—he turns the little boy upside down, and all these funny little moments that you don’t expect from a detective show. But I want more of that, and Patrick’s like, let’s establish this guy as competent before we start to take him down a few pegs. That’s what I was pushing for.

What kind of preparation did you do for the second season? Did you go back and rewatch Season 1, or go back to the source novels? What was your process to sort of move to the next level?

I did a bit of that. I always start with the books, certainly, and it’s interesting to see what Patrick has pulled out of the books and what he’s left at the side. And then I’ll fight him whilst the scripts are still kind of being written. I’ll say, why isn’t this character here? Because I feel like the more I can own it and the more I feel involved from the very beginning, and the more he can justify his choices to me, then it sits quite deeply in me. By the time we get to the set, I don’t need to be asking questions. Then I can just kind of do all my prep and live the scene.

I definitely start from the text for the detail, and then sort of broad brushstrokes of where Maigret is emotionally. Certainly the journey with with his wife is this anchor that I will always go back to, and is sort of an engine for all of his emotion, and [I] just try and keep that engine fueled with whatever’s going on in my life.

It’s not the same approach, because so much groundwork was done from Season 1. Season 2, I was allowed to play with it a little bit more, rather than scratching around in the dark, being like, how do I become this guy? I’m like, it’s there somewhere, and now it’s just the words and playing with the actor opposite you.

Speaking of taking him down a peg, that’s the theme of Maigret Season 2. Guichard wants to humble Maigret by changing up his team, but as the lead actor, that’s also your company. So did the plot changes also affect you as performers?

Exactly, and I really rely on those guys. We spend an awful lot of time together. Sadly, in Season 2, we don’t have Blake [Harrison]; we don’t have Torrence. And then suddenly the team is shifting as well, and I saw a lot less of Kerrie [Hayes] than I would have liked. She’s my lieutenant on the show, and very much in real life as well—so reliable, so brilliant, and just a calm head—and suddenly she’s not there for these big scenes, because Guichard has moved that character out and is causing trouble.

So it’s unsettling, and it’s useful. You use it. But there’s a scene in Episode 3, I think, where all these hits of information keep coming. Cases keep landing on Maigret, he finds out that Lucas is being taken away from him, and Bonfils arrives, all in this very short scene, and it was just like a whirlwind. Playing that is hard. I felt kind of unsteady in real life, and I hope it shows on screen.

The joy of second seasons, though, is digging deeper into characters. Was that also true for you as an ensemble? Were you able to find more details and nuances to play now that the cast knows each other better?

It’s a question of knowing each other better, being relaxed with each other, but also Patrick knowing us better and writing for us. I think towards the end of the first season, he was starting to do that. But very much in this one—the first time I read it, I was like wow, these these words feel right. He knows me, and the same for everyone, I think. And everyone’s given a bit more of a an independent streak in this, so we get to see how everyone operates on their own, independent of Maigret.

Guichard, Maigret’s mentor, is portrayed by Nathaniel Parker, who’s been where you are; he starred in The Inspector Lynley Mysteries. Did you two talk about that at all?

He was great. He had a lot of stories to share from back when he was doing Lynley. He was telling me they spent something like 10,000 pounds on his suits for Lynley, and I was saying I think my jacket [in Maigret] came from a charity bin. [Laughs.]

What’s interesting is your characters have this previous relationship where they were close, and yet Guichard comes in and basically tries to ruin what Maigret has built. How did you play that massive contrast between past and present?

I pushed to have that first embrace that we have, just to establish there is some warmth between them, because he comes in hot and really starts messing with Maigret. But there’s great affection between them. He’s shepherded him through the police force, and now is turning on him as he becomes too big for his boots.

But it’s great. it’s lovely to play with that complexity, of having that affection for him and and also his being an antagonist. And he’s just such a different voice to have in amongst the Maigrets. He’s a booming, huge presence [with] so much energy, so you can just feed off him. And it’s fantastic to work with.

It’s also already been revealed that Rob Kazinsky returns as Cavre, who was Maigret’s primary thorn in the side last season. So who’s the bigger problem in Maigret Season 2: Guichard or Cavre?

I think it’s got to be Guichard. Maigret and Cavre, they do come to blows, but they’re slightly in different worlds this time. So I’d say Guichard is the biggest pain in Maigret’s ass for sure. [Laughs.]

But with all this chaos in the office, the core of Maigret is still his home life with Louise, and they went through it last season. How do they move on in Season 2?

They start to draw the conclusion that maybe it’s the jobs that they do that is making life difficult, and maybe a really dramatic change is what they need to to be fulfilled and to conceive [a child], so they start to kind of talk in that direction.

Yet that’s one of the fascinating things about Maigret as a series: his past is almost concurrent, whether it was learning about his childhood or now through Guichard. How much does that help you as an actor, when you’re getting all this context for your character?

It’s essential. If the writer doesn’t do it for you, you’re doing a lot of that stuff on your own, in your imagination—but to be able to tie all that imaginative work to what’s happening on screen is when it’s satisfying. As you say, we get to see Maigret’s past, his present, and what he hopes for in the future, and it makes my job an awful lot easier to have a sense of where I’m going and where I’ve been.

I don’t think we’ve really filled that story in completely yet. I think there’s a big missing piece—this black hole that gets talked about in the final episode of Season 1, that I hope we get to someday. I thought we might this series and there was talk of touching on it, but there’s a rich seam there that I hope we get back to. Why is Maigret so sympathetic with these criminals? Why does he know the criminal brain so well? What happened in that time? I hope we get there one day.

What were your favorite parts of Maigret Season 2? Either from an acting standpoint, or that you just enjoyed doing?

In terms of scenes that I enjoyed shooting, I was just watching Episode 1 again, and the first encounter of Maigret and Carver in the IGDS—in Internal Affairs—[with] the new character Bonfils. Working with Rob is such a joy. He’s so talented, and Patrick loves writing those scenes. There’s a lot in them. And then there’s also this third party Bonfils; this unknown quantity.

That day, we’re all kind of just giddy to be back for Season 2. And sometimes when you’re doing a scene, you’re enjoying it so much, and it all feels quite right. You’re on the edge of laughter a lot of the time, and sometimes that doesn’t produce a scene—but I think in this case it really does, and you sort of feel like it could go in any direction. It’s all just kind of loose and light and and very enjoyable for the actors.

Alex Bhat, the actor [who plays Bonfils], is a good friend of mine. I knew Rob very well from Season 1. I know Al very well from my life, we had this great scene, and we were just playing with it, and that is a real joy. I think that’s maybe something I did less of in Season 1, because I was so focused on delivering Maigret, and actually I can play around this year.

By the end of Maigret Season 2, you’ll have spent more time with him than any other character you’ve portrayed. What does that mean to you?

It’s really cool. It’s such a pleasure. So often these series start, and everyone is very hopeful for a Season 2… and then to actually do it is amazing. And there’s such a shorthand. We’ve got directors returning, most of the Hungarian crew are back, heads of department are back. So you come back to a family feeling.

I grew up in theater, and my training was all kind of stage training. And what I miss from that is whether you’ve got a tiny part or a huge part, you’re in there every day, and it’s a proper ensemble, regardless of how big a part it is. You really mesh with these people, and you go in there every night—you kind of bare yourselves, and you get all the adrenaline, and you have a drink afterwards, and it’s great. And for that time, you’re so tight with people.

What you struggle with [in] TV is some people might have a day here and there, or a few days, or you might make this brilliant family and never see them again. And so to be able to have a bit of that sense of theater, of the sort of family coming back together, it’s amazing, and it makes your life so much easier and the work so much more pleasurable.

Maigret Season 2 premieres Oct. 18, 2026 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on PBS Masterpiece, and streaming on the PBS App and PBS Masterpiece on Prime Video. Photo Credit: Gabor Kotschy/Courtesy of PBS Masterpiece.

Article content is (c)2020-2026 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.