Alan Cumming & Natalie Cassidy Join Cast Of ‘Boarders’ Season 2

Alan Cumming and Natalie Cassidy have been cast in the second season of BBC and Tubi drama series Boarders.

The Traitors host Cumming and EastEnders actress Cassidy will join a cast including leads Josh Tedeku, Jodie Campbell, Sekou Diaby, Myles Kamwendo and Aruna Jalloh in the coming-of-age series about five talented black inner-city teens who gain scholarships to the prestigious St. Gilbert’s boarding school. Creator Daniel Lawrence Taylor stars in the series

Cumming will play Alan, a man with high standards of the students at St. Gilbert’s, and Cassidy will appear as Sharon Hail, a teacher at a rival school. Season two will begin with a new acting headmistress, Carol Watlington-Geese, who wants the scholarship students gone, just as they have begun to thrive.

For Cumming, the casting is among his first since he struck a production deal with NBCUniversal in June last year on the back of the success of Peacock reality series The Traitors, which he hosts. All3Media-owed Studio Lambert, which produces The Traitors, makes Boarders for the BBC in co-production with Tubi and ZDFneo in association with All3Media International. 

“I’ve always said that letting people know you are a fan of theirs is a good idea,” said Cumming. “And, so it was with Boarders. I mentioned this to the producers — who also happen to produce The Traitors — and very soon after, I found myself on the set having such a fun time.”

Returning cast includes Niky Wardley, Assa Kanouté, Tallulah Greive, Rosie Graham, Harry Gilby, Georgina Sadler, Zheng Xi Yong, Dillon Mitra, Archie Fisher, Andrew Harmon-Gray, Ruxandra Porojnicu, Kye Malcolm, Llewella Gideon, Mohammed Mansaray, Niyi Akin, Maxim Ays, Al Foran, William Andrews and Yuriri Naka. Previously announced new cast are Wunmi Mosaku, Cara Theobold, Michael Salami and Kendra Brown, who plays an American exchange student.

Boarders is created by Lawrence Taylor, who is lead writer, with Yemi Oyefuwa, Jeffrey Aidoo and Racheal Ofori writing additional episodes. Joelle Mae David and Sarmad Masud are the directors, with Ali MacPhail the producer and Carleen Beadle-Larcombe the line producer. Mykaell Riley returns as musical director. Executive producers are Lawrence Taylor, Madeleine Sinclair for Studio Lambert, and Nawfal Faizullah and Katherine Bond for the BBC.

Season two launches on the BBC iPlayer and BBC Three next month, before rolling out on Tubi across North America and Latin America, and on ZDFneo in Germany. All3Media International has distribution rights.