If it seems an age since the first series of Wolf Hall aired, that’s because it is: Mark Rylance made his debut as the scheming Thomas Cromwell all the way back in 2015.
Now, the adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s acclaimed last Cromwell novel, The Mirror and the Light, is finally set to air on BBC One this week. But given that it’s been nine whole years since we last saw her world on screen, you might be forgiven for forgetting a thing or who about what went down.
Fortunately, we have you covered. Here’s our recap of everything you need to know from season one.
Introducing Cromwell
As our central figure, we’re first introduced to Thomas Cromwell right in episode one. He’s a grifter, a hustler, who started his life making money on the streets with the “three card trick (the title of the episode)” and rose from the son of a blacksmith to a wealthy merchant.
The plot drops us right in the thick of things: with Henry VIII (Damian Lewis’) dismissal of the Lord Chancellor, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey (Jonathan Pryce), for his failure to convince the Pope to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Henry has a new lover, Anne Boleyn (Claire Foy), and is set on marrying her.
Wolsey is Cromwell’s old friend and mentor, and Cromwell is his lawyer. Via flashback, we see that Wolsey has been making enemies for a long time – mainly with the Boleyns. In 1521, we find out, he blocked Anne Boleyn’s marriage with a nobleman, Harry Percy (Harry Lloyd) for fear it would make the family too powerful. Now, with Anne as Henry’s mistress, he’s in the firing line.
We also learn something about Cromwell’s backstory. A loner at court, he lost his entire family (his wife and two daughters) from sweating sickness in 1528, the year before the story starts. We also find out about his abusive father and miserable childhood – one that Cromwell is determined to never return to.
The fall of Wolsey
Despite trying to plead his master’s case in court, episode two finds Cromwell dismissed out of turn by Henry VIII. It’s a massive snub, and one that spurs Wolsey to head north and seek shelter with the Catholic Church in York – the better to escape the king’s henchmen.
The king himself is conflicted about what to do – Wolsey was once his dear friend – but he wants that annulment. And the Boleyns don’t wait: a gang led by Harry Percy show up at his residence and arrest the old Cardinal, who dies on the road (from poison or illness? We never find out) calling for Cromwell.
Back in the palace, Cromwell soon finds himself facing romantic entanglements of all sorts: with Mary Boleyn (Charity Wakefield), the king’s former mistress; with Kate Phillips’ Jane Seymour and with his late wife’s sister.
But the true romance is with Henry, who sees Cromwell’s loyalty to Wolsey and takes a shine to him. It’s Cromwell that Henry calls for in the night to address his insecurities: has he sinned by marrying Catherine in the first place?
Cromwell reassures him and advises the king to throw off the shackles of the Catholic church entirely; the episode ends with him swearing fealty to the king.
Anna Regina
Around this point, we also get to know Thomas More (Anton Lesser) a lot better. He’s Cromwell’s enemy and new Lord Chancellor, a Catholic who takes joy in torturing his heretic prisoners in the interests of ‘saving them’.
Things are about to get difficult for Cromwell, too. Henry has put forward a bill allowing him to ditch Catherine and marry Anne Boleyn, but there’s a problem: Harry Percy has claimed that the pair got married in secret beforehand, meaning that she’s already married.
Cromwell, who has risen high in the court, quickly dispatches Percy with a masterpiece in threat – “I will rip your life apart. And then when you are without money and title, yes, I can picture you. Living in a hovel, wearing homespun, bringing home a rabbit for the pot. Your lawful wife Anne Boleyn skinning and jointing that rabbit. Yes, I wish you all happiness.”
Percy backs off and the episode ends with Anne being crowned queen. It should be a moment of triumph, but the image of her lying prostrate on the floor of Westminster Abbey like a sacrificial victim is deeply foreboding. And for good reason.
The aftermath
What follows comes straight from the history books. Anne falls pregnant, but her baby is a girl – Elizabeth.
And there goes Thomas More, who refuses to swear an oath accepting Henry as the head of the new Church of England – and gets his head cut off. Cromwell spends much of the episode trying to persuade him to change his mind, but More is adamant: he wants to save his immortal soul (as he sees it) and sees his death as a martyrdom.
Meanwhile, Cromwell’s influence continues to grow. In addition to helping Henry write the laws separating him from the Catholic church, we see him as the spymaster of Henry’s court, placing informants into many of the country’s great houses.
His star is rising ever higher, but as the series starts to draw to a close, he’s also in danger. As her power over the king starts to crumble, Anne starts to become ever more vicious and threatening; in response, Cromwell notices the king’s increasing fascination with Jane Seymour and starts cultivating a relationship with her.
But he’s also vulnerable. A jousting tournament goes horribly wrong when Henry is knocked off his horse and thought dead. Cromwell manages to revive him, but sees that his enemies are starting to close in – and when Henry himself berates Cromwell for his supposed lack of loyalty, the danger feels even more apparent.
Henry later apologises, but the threat is clear. Faced with the king’s displeasure, Cromwell is now in as precarious a position as his former master Wolsey; will he be able to survive where his mentor did not?
In the middle of all this chaos, Catherine of Aragon dies, but it is too late to save Anne. When she miscarries her child – a boy – Henry decides he’s finished with her, and asks Cromwell to dissolve the marriage between them.
The end
The finale shows just how rapid Anne’s fall is. Henry no longer wants her, and charges Cromwell with getting rid of her.
With Anne’s court a mess of gambling and drinking, an opportunity soon presents itself. Rumours abound that Anne’s musician, Mark Smeaton, is madly in love with her, and soon her malevolent sister in law, Lady Jane Rochford, comes to Cromwell with gossip.
Anne has been cheating on Henry, she says, with her own brother, George. Cromwell goes one step further, and manages to extract a confession from Smeaton that he slept with the queen, as well as her two other friends, Henry Norris and Francis Weston.
The queen, now friendless, is soon arrested. There is a trial; a shell-shocked Anne is found guilty and executed. The series ends with Cromwell walking through Whitehall Palace – once Anne’s, now his. He’s back in favour with Henry – but as we all know, that won’t last…
Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light will air on BBC One and iPlayer from November 10
