It's the bonkbuster with heart that has made viewers gasp, laugh out loud and weep in pain - now another 12 episodes of Rivals is coming down the line15:01, 16 Jun 2026Updated 15:02, 16 Jun 2026It was Disney's biggest UK drama launch of 2024, now Rivals has been officially ordered for a THIRD series to film next year after the second run proved even more successful.‌Again starring the likes of David Tennant, Aidan Turner, Danny Dyer, Katherine Parkinson, Alex Hassell and Emily Atack, this third outing will be the first that the late author Dame Jilly Cooper has no part in. The author’s death from a fall in October came after she’d had heavy involvement in series two, which fans are now halfway through, with the second set of six episodes coming in November.‌Showrunner Dominic Treadwell-Collins said he was saddened that Dame Jilly, who had been one of the show’s executive producers before her death, had not been able to share the response to the series in recent weeks.‌“We’ve been delighted and overwhelmed by the audience’s response to season two of Rivals - testament to the hard work from everyone working on Rivals both on and off screen,” he said.“Our one sadness is that Jilly didn’t get to witness the love for season two. But she’s still very much with us in spirit and would be so delighted that season three has been green lit. We’re so thrilled to continue to work with Disney as we dive deeper into the Rutshire Chronicles and expand the Cooperverse even further.”‌Dominic told the Mirror that he has every hope the show can run for many years to come. While it will keep the same title of Rivals - the name of the second book in the series which came out in 1988, three years after Riders - the TV version will select stories and characters from the other books which include Polo, The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous, Score! and Pandora.“We've planned season three and what we're doing is looking at the books as a universe, as the Cooper-verse,” he said. “So we can pick and choose and play and yeah, we're going to be doing that in this series - and we want to keep on doing that.”‌Pointing out that Jilly’s Rutshire Chronicles run to 11 books in total, Dominic added: “We've got two series out of Rivals and I mean, Polo is ginormous. We've got many, many books to play with.”This is good news for Hassell, because Rupert Campbell-Black is the main character in four of the books and a background character in six others. But it may not be such good news for Tennant, because his character Lord Tony Baddingham only appeared in Rivals - disappearing after his company Corinium loses the TV franchise to upstart rivals Venturer at the end of the book.This storyline is set to play out in the already filmed episodes due to air this autumn.‌The first half of the series ended in dramatic fashion with Monica Baddingham, played by Claire Rushbrook, being killed off. This was a departure from the books, where she eventually left her philandering husband Tony for a woman.Announcing the new commission today, Disney said the series had “continued to captivate audiences with its sharp wit, high-stakes drama and richly drawn characters” and had become the channel's biggest original premiere in the UK and Ireland. Describing what is to come next, they gave little away: “We see the stakes become higher and the alliances more fragile, with nothing staying buried for long. New romances blossom, old flames rekindle and shocking secrets will be spilled in this third series which takes everyone’s favourite rivalries to the next level. In a world of power, passion and betrayal, everyone has something to lose.”Disney executive Lee Mason, who commissioned the drama for the streaming platform, said: “The phenomenal response to Rivals is a credit to the bold, irreverent and endlessly entertaining world created by Dame Jilly Cooper, our cast, creative team and production partners at Happy Prince. We’re delighted to be bringing audiences a third season. Expect more ambition, more romance, more rivalries and, of course, more scandal as we return to Rutshire for another irresistible chapter.”Article continues belowLike this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.