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The Game’s Robson Green reveals season 2 wasn’t planned after shocking season 1 finale

After the breathtaking series one finale, the cast were surprised – but delighted – at the killer thriller's return.

Sitting in an interrogation room, Huw Miller (played by Jason Watkins) is sitting in a suit with his shirt collar up, looking off to the right. On the opposite side of the table is Patrick Harbottle (played by Robson Green) who is staring intently at Huw in a grey jumper with his hands on the table. The photograph is dimly lit with a greyish-blue colour scheme

Paramount/5

Published: Tuesday, 1 September 2026 at 9:54 am

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Robson Green and Jason Watkins are back and going head-to-head as The Game returns for season 2 – and it's more sinister than ever.

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Throughout the first season of the 5 crime drama, shamed former detective Huw Miller (Watkins) went on a mission to prove his new neighbour Patrick Harbottle (Green) was actually The Ripton Stalker – a serial killer who would follow his victims for months before taking their life.

While many didn't believe him, it turned out he was right, and Patrick was revelling in making Huw squirm as he tried to prove this theory with little success.

In the finale, Huw was finally able to put Patrick behind bars... but not before almost dying in the process, with Patrick stabbing him during the brutal final showdown that seemed to leave Huw for dead.

So it came as a huge surprise for fans when it was confirmed the show would be back for a second outing – and even actors Green and Watkins admit they weren't expecting a return either.

Prison officer Jackie is leading a handcuffed Patrick, who is wearing a grey jumper, back to his cell down a prison corridor. Other inmates in back of shot, and Jackie is looking over her shoulder as she walks

Robson Green and Tanya Franks as Patrick and Jackie in The Game Season 2. Paramount/5

"It was over. There was never meant to be a second series," Green said exclusively to Radio Times. "Where that knife went in the final scene..."

"Oh he’s alright? Where's his heart? Is it next to his kidney?" he joked. "I thought I knew the human anatomy! Oh s**t, I missed!"

"Reading the second series, [there's] just lots of really good scenes to play," added Watkins. "You know, you go, 'oh yeah, I want to do that one!'"

"There were a few people who had cash who just went, 'You know what? This works, and the people making it like making it, and we like watching it', and the viewing figures were great, and it got critical acclaim," added Green.

"I think it was one of their finest hours for Channel Five that year."

Huw and Alice sit on a leather sofa together in a cream living room, surrounded by moving boxes. Alice, in a pale blue jumper and black trousers, has her feet on the sofa as she hugs Huw – who is in a navy fleece – from the side. Both look upset

Jason Watkins and Sunetra Sarker as Huw and Alice Miller in The Game Season 2. Paramount/5

Season two picks up a year later, with Huw recovering from his near-fatal stab wound to the chest and Patrick seemingly rotting behind bars.

Wanting a calmer, more peaceful life, Huw and his wife Alice (Sunetra Sarker) have moved to a new home by the seaside, determined to put the drama with Patrick behind them.

But Patrick isn't as willing to disappear so quietly, and soon Huw is receiving letters from the twisted psychopath in their new home, while daughter Margot (Indy Lewis) is being stalked near the flat she shares with her new boyfriend, Sam (Sonny Ashbourne Serkis).

Alice wants her husband to ignore them, but Huw can't resist finding out more – and when it becomes clear Patrick will stop at nothing to get Huw's attention, their psychological war games are back on, darker than they were before.

"I think for Huw, there's sort of unfinished business with what happened previously, in that he let Patrick go, and was seen to be making a mistake, albeit at the end of the series he puts him in prison," explains Watkins.

Patrick and Huw sit face to face in a prison visitors room. Patrick (in glasses and a grey jumper) is leaning forward on the table between them, while Huw – who is in a coat – is pushed away from the table staring intently at Patrick

Robson Green and Jason Watkins as Patrick Harbottle and Huw Miller in The Game series two. Paramount/5

"I think that's something that irks him. I mean, even that he hadn't solved it sooner, you know, and that his reputation as a person, and I would say, as a man as opposed to an adult, there's a little bit of that going on, and he finds that hard to reconcile.

"So he's kind of immediately drawn in on any little [thing] and Patrick knows this. Any little sort of crumb that is laid in front of him, he's susceptible to picking it up because he sort of… he wants to win.

"He wants to win generally, and wants to win sort of personally. And if you're in that world, you will never win."

"It’s the same with Patrick," notes Green. "They're both addicted to the… whatever chemical is sent through their bodies through the pituitary gland, that gives them the dopamine to carry on. I mean, certainly Patrick's modus, the way of doing things, is his personality. He seeks to psychologically torture people, mentally tortures them, then physically tortures them, then kills them. That's his modus.

"He thinks it's a great way of living. He doesn't worry about it. He doesn't care what people think about it. That's him, and I think that, as an audience, you want that to stop. You want our hero to stop it, and that's the engine, the psychological chess."

But in a game where both want to win, who will emerge the victor? And what sacrifices will they have to make in the process?

The Game season 2 starts 1 September on 5 on Demand.

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Authors

Tilly PearceFreelance Writer

Tilly Pearce is a freelance TV journalist whose coverage ranges from reality shows like Love Is Blind to sci-fi shows like Fallout. She is an NCTJ Gold Standard accredited journalist, who has previously worked as Deputy TV Editor (maternity cover) at Digital Spy, and Deputy TV & Showbiz Editor at Daily Express US.

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