‘Heels’ Season 2 Scoop: Stephen Amell & Alexander Ludwig Tease The Fallout Of Jack’s Betrayal (Exclusive)
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Stephen Amell and Alexander Ludwig open up about Ace’s ‘solo journey’ in ‘Heels’ season 2 and Jack’s ‘focus on repairing’ his relationships.
Jack and Ace Spade hit their lowest point as brothers inside the ring at the end of Heels season 1. When season 2 begins, the brothers couldn’t be further apart, but the episodes to come will chronicle their individual journeys to getting themselves and their most important relationships back on track. HollywoodLife spoke EXCLUSIVELY with Stephen Amell and Alexander Ludwig about the aftermath of Jack’s betrayal last season. (This interview took place prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike.)
Stephen noted that Jack does a “real hard thing” in season 2 by taking a “good long look in the f***ing mirror and decides, okay, the way that I’ve been going about things is not working because we just had the most successful night in the history of this promotion that I’ve prioritized more than anything else in my life, and yet I come home to an empty house and have no one to share it with. Whatever I’m doing is not working. So for him to have that moment of realization and then to focus on repairing that was a really fun thing to play.”
The actor stressed that Jack and Ace are capable of being on solid terms again as brothers. He told HollywoodLife that their relationship actually “can be better” than it ever was before. Stephen added, “As bad as the fair was and for as explicitly as Jack broke Ace’s trust, those guys have so many shared experiences — good and bad. Growing up, Jack was Ace’s protector. At a certain point, he gotta stop doing that. You gotta let a person live. It just took him a while to figure that out. But I think it can be better because I think it can be based on honesty and a mutual respect and it wasn’t before.”
Meanwhile, Ace walked out of the ring at the end of last season after his brutal fight with Jack that left Crystal as the new DWL champion. Alexander revealed that Ace will be going on a solo, introspective journey in season 2.
“I think it’s really about Ace coming to terms with the man he can become,” Alexander said. “You don’t really understand why he’s so erratic and the kind of guy he is, but in the second season you get a glimpse at what they’ve actually had to deal with, and I think in that you sort of begin to understand Ace and he begins to understand himself. Ace is kind of on his own solo journey, and by the end of the season, I think you can see the person that he’s destined to become and the promotion that this could really be on a national level.”
Jack and Ace’s fight last season was visceral, and Ace said he could kill his brother. Alexander weighed in on whether or not Ace actually considered that option in the moment. “Accidentally for sure. But Stephen and I talk about this a lot, too. It’s a hate-love relationship. They hate each other, but underneath it all, in an instant, if either of their lives were in danger they would be there for each other,” Alexander said. “I don’t think Ace would purposefully, but he was so blinded in that moment… By accident? Sure He was not pulling any punches, and neither were we when we were actually shooting. It was brutal.” Heels season 2 premieres July 28 on STARZ.