Boardwalk Empire Roars Back for Season 2

Michael Shannon If HBO's period gangster epic Boardwalk Empire includes a single truism to impart to working stiffs, it may be: It is good to become the king... well, mostly. Sure, Steve Buscemi's Nucky Thompson - Atlantic City treasurer, energy broker and bootlegger supreme - is awash in money, energy and glamour, but his day-to-day existence is really a never-ending bet on whack-a-mole, with egos to stroke, police force risks to evade and scores to stay. The show's sophomore season, which happens at the begining of 1921, finds that dichotomy entirely pressure but cleverly flicks the script, opening using the tomcatting Nucky deeply in love with Kelly Macdonald's hardscrabble immigrant, Margaret Schroeder, but facing a potentially deadly uprising among his nearest business allies. "Alliances change," Buscemi describes. "Last season his personal existence was more freewheeling, but his family were the folks he labored with. Now he's on shakier ground together, but he's closer with Margaret." As though remaining a measure in front of the law (especially Michael Shannon's fervent highlighting-on-insane federal agent, Nelson Van Alden) and bloodthirsty rivals like Arnold Rothstein (Michael Stuhlbarg) and Al Capone (Stephen Graham) were not risky enough, Nucky now finds themself within the conspiratorial crosshairs of his would-be mentor, the Commodore (Dabney Coleman) protégé Jimmy Darmody (Michael Pitt) as well as their own lawman brother, Eli (Shea Whigham). That, states creator and executive producer Terence Winter, may be the storytelling focal point of Season 2: "It's actually a question of Nucky closing ranks and seeking to protect themself from this massive attack on his world." Based on Buscemi, the uprising is driven through the insurgents' desire to have "a larger bit of the cake" but additionally rooted in this way to be disrespected by an overweening, dictatorial boss, while Nucky sees it as being a vintage situation of not good deed going unpunished. "He's a wise guy in many ways," Buscemi confesses, "but maybe he undervalued how people would experience the items he's implemented, which there'd be effects." Meanwhile, Nucky makes newer and more effective alliances of their own this year. He'll rub elbows using the Irish Republican Military, along the way prospecting Owen Sleater (Charlie Cox) to become a stand-by sorts for that now-untrusted Jimmy. Later this year, he'll make vacation to his ancestral homeland, Ireland. Around the home front, however, all is love and loyalty and renewal. Following their circumspect courtship in Boardwalk's first season, Nucky and Margaret begin Season 2 ensconced in something near to domestic bliss. For Nucky, it is a lengthy-preferred second chance following the years-ago deaths of his first wife and infant boy, while onetime servant Margaret now finds herself a respected lady of the home. "She's a genuine ally for Nucky, a great person to possess by his side," observes Macdonald, who states of the romance, "It had not been like love in the beginning sight - it had been more realistic, his or her respect and love began growing." For additional on Boardwalk Empire which fall's most popular cable shows - including Dexter, The Walking Dead and Top Chef - get this week's problem of TV Guide Magazine, on newsstands Thursday, September 29! Sign up for TV Guide Magazine now!