WARNING: The following contains spoilers for the Season 2, Episode 1, of A Discovery of Witches, streaming now on Sundance Now, Shudder and AMC+.
The Season 2 premiere of A Discovery of Witches is finally here, and in the episode, Matthew and Diana complete the timewalk they started in the Season 1 finale, landing in 1590 London. Matthew takes them to the home he lived in at that time -- one of the perks of traveling with a vampire that’s thousands of years old -- and there, he introduces Diana to Christopher Marlowe and other members of the School of Night, the show’s fictionalized version of a historical group that’s now referred to by that name. Given Diana is a historian in addition to a witch, she quickly puts together that Matthew is also a member of this group. In fact, in 1590, he went by the name Matthew Roydon, making him a fictionalized version of the real historical figure.
The School of Night was a collective of poets that included Marlowe and Roydon, as well as the Earl of Northumberland and Sir Walter Raleigh, who Diana also meets in the episode. While Matthew notes both Raleigh and the Earl are human, Marlowe is a daemon, and clearly all the characters in Matthew's circle on the show are aware of the existence of creatures. The idea that the fictional vampire Matthew Clairmont is also Matthew Roydon is one of the clever ways Deborah Harkness, who wrote the All Souls trilogy on which A Discovery of Witches is based, incorporates real history into the story -- and one of the things that make the show unique.
Although you don’t have to be aware of the historical connections to enjoy the series, knowing the historical roots of some of the characters adds an extra layer of fun. And Matthew’s Elizabethan alter-ego as Matthew Roydon is especially intriguing because, as Diana says in the episode, there’s little known about him, making him the perfect identity for a vampire.
Moreover, Harkness and the show have used what is known about Roydon to flesh out Matthew’s 16th century connections and activities. In particular, Marlowe is identified as Matthew’s best friend on the show, and according to history, the two were indeed friends. Furthermore, while Roydon was a poet, Harkness herself, who is a historian like Diana, has said he was also a spy for the queen, a role the season premiere reveals Matthew fulfilled during this time in his life.
This has important implications for Matthew moving forward in the series. Returning to 1590 requires Matthew to resume his work as a spy, which involves torturing those who the queen and her allies want information from. And as Marlowe observes, this has the potential to change Matthew into the harder, more brittle individual he likely was at the time, a change that could fundamentally alter his relationship with Diana.
A Discovery of Witches Season 2 stars Teresa Palmer, Matthew Goode, Alex Kingston, Valarie Pettiford, Lindsay Duncan, Edward Bluemel, Aiysha Hart, Daniel Ezra, Aisling Loftus, Trevor Eve, Owen Teale, Malin Buska, Gregg Chillin, Tom Hughes, James Purefoy, Steven Cree and Adelle Leonce. New episodes are available to stream every Saturday on Sundance Now, Shudder and AMC+.