‘Maxton Hall – The World Between Us’ Season 3 Wraps Shoot; First-Look Images & Update On Franchise Future

‘Maxton Hall – The World Between Us’ Season 3 first lookStephan Rabold

EXCLUSIVE: Graduation is nearing for the students of Maxton Hall, and we can reveal shooting on the third season has wrapped.

Filming for Maxton Hall – The World Between Us Season 3 has been quietly taking place over recent weeks, with online speculation reaching fever pitch. It has now officially completed, and we’ve a trio of first-look images from the set, along with more detail on plans for the third and final run from head writer and executive producer Ceylan Yildirim, and the news that German-language franchise looks likely to end with the trilogy.

As previously reported, Season 3 will be based on ‘Save Us’, the third part of Mona Kasten’s bestselling novel series.

On Friday, Season 2 came to a close with a cliffhanger ending that appeared to end the educational dreams of Ruby, a fish-out-of-water scholarship student desperate to reach Oxford University. Season 3 will deal with the fallout of the disaster, and whether her relationship with James can ever heal.

Here are the plot details as we have them: “Ruby is on the edge: She has been suspended from Maxton Hall College, and all evidence points to James being responsible for her expulsion. A slap in the face that not only endangers Ruby’s Oxford dream, but also puts their love to a severe test. While Ruby and James do everything to save Ruby’s graduation, their environment and James’s circle of friends get caught in an emotional whirlwind that completely disrupts the existing order. Ruby and James painfully realize: Their worlds couldn’t be further apart, and not everything is as it seems. Can their love and friendships survive the enormous storms while the shadows of the past grow darker?”

We can confirm that returning alongside Herbig-Matten and Hardung are Sonja Weißer as Lydia, Eidin Jalali as Graham, Ben Felipe as Cyril, Fedja van Huêt as Mortimer, Runa Greiner as Ember, Justus Riesner as Alistair, Govinda Gabriel as Kesh, Andrea Guo as Lin, Frederic Balonier as Kieran, Eli Riccardi as Elaine and Dagny Dewath as Ophelia.

UFA Fiction produces alongside Amazon MGM Studios. Martin Schreier will return as director, with Markus Brunnemann and Yildirim the executive producers. Yildirim wrote the season with Sandra Stöckmann, Marlene Melchior, Catharina Junk and Aylin Kockler. Producers are Eike Adler and Valentin Debler, and the German Motion Picture Fund returns to support production.

Franchise future

It’s bad news for viewers hoping for an expanded Maxton Hall universe, at least at the time of writing. Yildirim responded to our question about if franchise has future beyond the original series by saying, “Together with our partners at Amazon MGM Studios, we are always open to discussions. However, as things stand at present, there are no plans to do so.”

Meanwhile, Prime Video has told us that Season 2 remains at the top of its chart worldwide, as young adults flock to the show, which follows the epic love story between the starry-eyed Ruby (Harriet Herbig-Matten) and privileged James (Damian Hardung) at an elite English private school. Maxton Hall topped Prime Video’s rankings in almost 100 countries during its launch week, including in Germany, the U.S. and UK.

‘Maxton Hall’ Season 3 cast on locationPrime Video/Stephan Rabold

‘Maxton Hall’ stars Harriet Herbig-Matten (center) and Damian Hardung (first right) with producers and writers, including Ceylan Yildirim (second right)Prime Video/Stephan Rabold

Yildirim, an exec producer and showrunner at Fremantle-owned UFA Fiction, told us Season 3 “dives deeper into the characters’ growth and their complex relationships, building on the foundations we established in the previous seasons.”

She added: “Many relationship dynamics will be turned upside down. Due to the impact of the events in the Season 2 finale, all the characters have to reposition themselves. Ruby’s fate is at the center of the plot. We explore whether the lovers’ struggle against the hostile elements of the outside world has any chance of success.”

There will also be a conclusion to the controversial plotline involving James’ twin sister Lydia and former teacher Graham Sutton, a closer look at the snobbish Beaufort family and explorations of the “emotional chaos” in the relationships of supporting characters such as Ember, Wren, Alistair and Kesh.

“After the success of the first season, we decided to stay true to the basic narrative formula and keep the love story between Ruby and James as the central driving force of the show,” Yildirim told us in an exclusive interview. “Because of this, Maxton Hall didn’t become a classic ensemble series with several equally weighted storylines like other shows of this genre.

“Nevertheless, almost all of our supporting characters play a crucial emotional role in Ruby’s and James’ lives. The brief relapse of James’ sister Lydia’s secret love for Graham Sutton is the inciting incident that leads to Ruby and James’ meeting. This changes both of their lives forever because they ultimately fall madly in love with each other.

“And since all the other characters are so closely connected to them, the events in the main love story naturally also have an impact on the supporting characters and the dynamics of the existing relationship and value systems of their worlds. Ultimately, every character learns in one way or the other that true wealth is rooted in the emotional realm: That love is the currency they all long for, no matter which world they come from.”

Working around production challenges

Yildirim told us Season 3’s shoot had managed to avoid crowds of fans descending on the shoots that plagued Season 2 filming.

“During the filming of the second season, we were overwhelmed by the wave of success and unexpectedly had to deal with fan reactions and crowds of people from all over the world who suddenly showed up on set to take photos and videos of the cast,” she said. “This time, we took appropriate security precautions in advance.

“There was no communication about the filming, either before or during the shooting period. We erected privacy fences at Marienburg Castle and realized how important these were during filming in Oxford, if not before. Despite security staff, we couldn’t prevent passersby from noticing Damian and Harriet, and our team. Fortunately, everyone was very respectful, and we were able to complete the shoot without any major delays.”

Bigger production challenges came in the shape of coordinating the fast-rising cast’s schedules. “The success of the first season meant that they were involved in various projects, which made it at certain times almost impossible to coordinate everyone for rehearsals, fittings, and other important preparations,” said Yildirim. “We had to be incredibly flexible and creative with scheduling to ensure that we could get everyone together at the right time.”

Harriet Herbig-Matten and Damian Hardung in characterPrime Video/Stephan Rabold

TikTok’s ‘Maxton’ music obsession

Along with the strong streaming performance of the show, Maxton Hall‘s music has been driving social media chatter. We reported on the Season 2 soundtrack a few weeks back, with the list including the likes of  SYML, Billy Raffoul, Kyson, and Songs in Cinema.

Yildirim paid tribute to the latter in particular, saying that Songs in Cinema composers Victoria Hillestad and Julian Ehrhard’s “unique style lends Maxton Hall its recognizably emotional fairy dust sound.” She also noted SYML‘s music had been “a huge part of our Maxton Hall journey,” providing songs such as ‘Where is My Love’ and ‘Carry No Thing’ that “have defined crucial scenes for Ruby and James‘ love story.”

Yildirim revealed that the soundtrack was selected through collaborations between Amazon Music’s German team, led by Dennis Grimm, and the show’s music supervisor team, which Regina Reid oversees.

Yildirim said they “have a wealth of market knowledge and provide us with lesser-known artists and sometimes unreleased songs by newcomers, which our wonderful editors try out in the rough cuts,” adding: “Then we decide together which ones best match the emotional narrative of the moment.”

Occasionally, Yildirim and Schreier would select certain artists for signature moments, such as ‘If You Love Her’ by Forest Blakk playing during a pivotal restaurant scene in Season 2 episode 4.

“When we tried it, we were thrilled with how perfectly it fit the scene,” she added. “It landed at number one on the Shazam charts right after it aired and is being played on TikTok in countless Maxton Hall edits since. That’s amazing.”