Rhys Montrose

Rhys Montrose is the golden boy of Joe's new London social circle: a working-class-made-good author and mayoral candidate whose bestselling book on class and violence has made him a minor celebrity. Charismatic and self-deprecating, he holds court at dinner parties, quotes philosophy easily, and seems genuinely curious about the quiet American stranger who's just joined the group.

Ed Speleers plays him with an easy, magnetic warmth that makes every other guest at the table look brittle by comparison, which is exactly the trap. The writing gives Rhys the show's sharpest lines about privilege and violence, letting him say things that sound like insight and confession at once, so you can't quite tell if you're charmed or being handled.