A decade after the first season of the series aired, Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light wrapped up the hit BBC historical drama to the tune of a 100% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Based on the Wolf Hall book series by the late Hilary Mantel, the television adaptation tells the story of Thomas Cromwell, the fixer for King Henry VIII who helped change the world, before fickle court loyalties led to his execution. The series was directed by Peter Kosminsky and stars Mark Rylance (The Trial of the Chicago 7, Bridge of Spies, The BFG) as Cromwell.

The many twists and turns of Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light were also scripted by someone with the right kind of dramatic experience in British playwright and screenwriter Peter Straughan. In addition to this series, Straughan is the writer of Conclave, and is working on entries in the Beatles cinematic universe. Straughan is no stranger to adapting literary material, as Conclave and other projects of his like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy were also based on books.

ScreenRant interviewed Peter Straughan about his work bringing Hilary Mantel’s writing to the screen with Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light. He discussed key relationships in the series and using imagery to evoke Thomas Cromwell’s apparent appetite for danger. Plus, he reflected on how Henry VIII’s marriage to Anne of Cleves was written to spell the end for Cromwell.

How Peter Straughan Returned To Wolf Hall After A Decade

He Took Cues From Author Hilary Mantel Picking Up “Exactly Where She Left Off”

Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light came to the United States a decade after the original Wolf Hall series first aired. This meant that there was a long gap in between the production of the first two seasons, during which writer Peter Straughan–and the show’s audience–found other projects. But when he returned to the life of Thomas Cromwell, Straughan dove right in. “I took the lead from Hilary,” he said, “I thought it was very telling and kind of interesting and fun that she decided to pick up the story exactly where she left off.”

Straughan said he always imagined both seasons as one piece, and found himself returning to one image: “That single piece that I always imagined … was like a mountain. We follow [Cromwell] on the slow climb up the mountain, then we watch him breach the very pinnacle, and then we see this shocking and sudden descent on the other side.”

Straughan took the lead from Mantel in other ways, as well, especially when trying to preserve his favorite elements of her writing. “I think she does write really good dialogue,” he said, “and to some extent I found myself combing through the book like a magpie. You don’t want to waste any of these great little moments, so there’d be lines sometimes that were thoughts, or there’d be lines that were from a different point in the story, but you’d find a way to tuck it in.”

“I didn't want to waste all of these great lines, especially the funny lines.”

Thomas Cromwell’s Downfall, Explained

“He’s Almost Like A Gambling Addict”

“There was an image in the first book in Wolf Hall, which I originally started the first episode with … the image was a memory that Cromwell had of when he was a soldier in a war, and he held a snake as a bet to see how long he could hold a snake without it biting him.” This moment–which was shot, but ultimately cut—was, in Straughan’s mind, “the central image” of Wolf Hall.

“How close can he stay to this dangerous heart of power before it’s going to be his undoing?”

The duality of Cromwell is what makes him so much more than a dry historical figure in Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light. Straughan described him as a man who, on one side, “has ambition and loves the battle … and believes that he can do good,” but on the other side, discovers he has a daughter and has a whole life available to him free of Henry VIII and the King’s court. “He could go with [his daughter] back to the low country, and he could leave the court behind,” Straughan said, “and he almost does.”

“He’s almost like a gambling addict,” the writer continued, saying, “He just keeps thinking, ‘I’ll turn it around. I can still turn it around.’” The increasing danger and desperation of this is key to Cromwell’s arc in the new season. “In the first season, I always felt like, as a viewer, you’re on Cromwell’s shoulder, urging him on,” Straughan shared, continuing, “and with the second season, I felt like a fear started to creep in for us as viewers.”

Looking back on history, there was a common theme of death for those in the orbit of Henry VIII (just ask Anne Boleyn), which makes the relationship between Cromwell and the king even more ominous. “I always felt that was a sort of central image, that [with] Cromwell and Henry, it is very much trying to work with a wild animal,” Straughan said, “It’s so unpredictable and potentially deadly.”

How The Season’s Most Pivotal Moments Were Written

From A Failed Marriage To Cromwell’s “Self-Destructive Streak”

Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light shows Henry VIII’s failed marriage to Anne of Cleves as a turning point in the life of Thomas Cromwell. “It was always like a gift when what was going to be a political turning point was embedded in the relationship,” Straughan said about the moment. “Often, if it was about the wives [or] Henry and his sexual appetite, it’s so relatable and it’s so human, even though the repercussions are international and hugely political. So it’s fantastically dramatic.”

Straughan especially borrowed from author Hilary Mantel for key scenes with Anne of Cleves: “That was one of those moments which I thought Hilary did so well: when Anne turns from the window and sees Henry for the first time, she doesn’t keep control of her face. She shows dismay, and Henry sees it and cannot forget it and will not forget it. That scene is brilliant. And, because of that, kingdoms turn.”

“When we asked ourselves the question, ‘What brings about the downfall? What destroys Cromwell in the end? That was really where we started from.’”

Although Henry’s marriage to Anne of Cleves was an unmitigated disaster, “historically, there’s something of a mystery” surrounding Cromwell’s fall, said Straughan. And while that marriage played a part, those behind Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light worked to ensure that Cromwell’s fate was the result of more than one moment. “There were various situations that you can point to,” the writer said, adding, “but at the same time, there were things that went wrong that felt to us like they were own goals by Cromwell–as if there was this sudden self-destructive streak breaking out in him.”

“He does things that he never would have done earlier on,” Straughan continued, “He has displays of anger that he never would have had before, when he attacks [the Duke of] Norfolk, or when he baits Norfolk by taking away some of his ancestral properties where his ancestors are buried, knowing that … no good can come of it.” Things like that had Straughan asking, “‘Why is Cromwell doing these things which are damaging his own chances?’”

Peter Straughan Reveals His Approach To Language

“I Like The Language To Feel Rich One Way Or The Other”

Straughan has been tapped to write entries in the Beatles biopics, which will see the writer tackling very different eras and social classes. Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light and Conclave both feature a certain amount of aristocratic double-speak, but that’s a far cry from how John, Paul, Ringo, and George lived. Asked how he felt about working with a very different communication style, Straughan said, “I like it when there are some time periods and idioms that are great to play with in of language. They just give you richness.”

“That can be very working class or it can be slightly more rarified,” the writer continued. “What you don’t want,” he said, “is a kind of neutral, unanchored, could be anywhere, could be anyone kind of language. That’s language at its most poverty-stricken. I like the language to feel rich one way or the other, but there are all sorts of different ways in which language can be rich.”

Mary & Cromwell’s Relationship Explained

Their Dynamic Audiences See Cromwell “Be Tender”

A major player in Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light is Mary Tudor, Henry VIII’s daughter who would go on to become Mary I of England. Her relationship with Cromwell, as portrayed in the series, offered viewers an insight into the man they wouldn’t otherwise have. “I always felt like some of the strongest scenes,” Straughan said, “were between Cromwell and the women. And I think that’s there in Hilary’s writing.”

“I think it was a really interesting aspect of Cromwell that, if you want to know what’s really going on, you talk to the women,” Straughan continued, “He understands that, and he connects with them, and he has sympathy with them. I think Mark [Rylance] said that he, at a certain point, thought ‘Cromwell is a woman. I need to play Cromwell as a woman, because, like the women, he has no hierarchical or traditional power. He’s had to live by wits alone, and by his own innate skills.’”

But Mary specifically brought something unique out of Cromwell. “He says it himself in the first episode of the second season,” Straughan shared, “He’s like a butcher’s dog. If you set him to guard something, that’s what he’ll do. And Mary’s mother, we discover, had begged him to protect her and look after her, and that’s what he does. And Mary’s this complex, damaged, and also quite frightening character that I thought was just fascinating, because we know what she’s going to become. We know she’s going to go on to do some terrible things.”

Also check out our interview with Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light composer Debbie Wiseman.

Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light is streaming on PBS.