‘Reign’: Toby Regbo On Francis’ Fatherhood Issues, Marriage To Mary & Grandma Catherine

“Reign’s” King Francis is keeping his baby.

Toby Regbo’s royal character held his crying newborn for the first time in the Season 2 premiere (just before his fling Lola was about to head off to travel far away from court) and fell in love. Now, the new king will be bringing his illegitimate baby boy and Lola back to court, setting up lots of drama in his relationship with Mary (Adelaide Kane).

Before settling into fatherhood and trying to balance baby and Mary, Francis has some political matters on his plate when he returns. Mary sent Lord Narcisse’s son to his death (in a chamber filled with plague victims) in the first episode back of the show. Craig Parker’s Narcisse will not be pleased and Francis will have to figure out just how to handle that.

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Toby Regbo spoke with Access Hollywood about all that’s to come, and just what kind of a grandmother Queen Catherine (Megan Follows) will be.

AccessHollywood.com: Francis took a page out of Madonna’s page book — he’s keeping his baby, or that’s what it looked like at the end of that episode. How’s that going to change him?
Toby: I think most of Francis’ actions can be explained with Madonna lyrics. Even the lyrics before ‘Papa don’t preach/I’ve been losing sleep.’ What are the next lyrics? ‘I stab you in the eye with a lance?’

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Access: I think that is how it goes, yeah (laughs). So how will having his son around change him?
Toby: Well, he doesn’t want to be like his father. He wants to be a good role model, so this is first test at not being like his dad. That’s for him, what the baby represents. The way that Henry raised his children and how he was – even just as a person — wasn’t always great. He wasn’t a good role model, so [Francis] wants to raise this child right, even though it’s in an incredibly complicated situation.

Access: How will that affect his marriage to Mary? She does need to produce an heir to keep her place there too.
Toby: Yeah, well it just puts the pressure on them, I suppose, that there is a ticking clock winding down, a constant reminder that an heir needs to be produced and the baby just is a constant reminder of that and that’s gonna be a burden for them. Francis wants to be a good husband, but he also wants to be a good father and those things aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive.

Access: Catherine — is she going to be the grandma from hell, the craziest grandmother ever?
Toby: (Laughs) Yeah, there’s a scene where she is such a crazy grandma. I don’t want to ruin it, but she walks in on me and Mary and it’s really funny. It’s really funny. I won’t give anything [away], but she’s totally crazy grandma.

Access: Mary pulled a few political maneuvers, made a few decision while you were gone, including one with Narcisse’s son. How’s Francis going to take the news?
Toby: Badly. She did something really silly. … When I come back to the castle, my first intention is to show Mary that I am trying to put her first and despite everything that happens and it has happened and will happen, that we are strong and the first news that she gives me is, like, ‘Oh, yeah, I killed the most important lord – the most important noble’s son while you were away.’ So yeah, that pisses me off basically. But we try and deal with it together, practically together.

WATCH: Toby Regbo & Adelaide Kane Talk ‘Reign’ Season 2

“Reign” continues Thursday night at 9/8c after “The Vampire Diaries” on The CW.

— Jolie Lash