Is the end of the Knights Templar near?
Landry (Tom Cullen) and the Templar Knights were able to raid the Paris Temple on the season two premiere of Knightfall, but King Philip (Ed Stoppard) is hot on their tails.
Only ET has an exclusive sneak peek at Monday's episode of the History drama, in which Philip's advisor, De Nogaret (Julian Ovenden) reveals his plan to deliver Landry's head to the palace -- and destroy the Templars forever.
"I will see the complete and utter destruction of the Knights Templar throughout all of France, and forfeiture of their wealth and property to the crown," an arrogant Prince Louis (Tom Forbes) promises his father in the clip -- leading De Nogaret to interject.
"I fully concur with these brilliant and glorious objectives. Yet, I would be remiss in my duties if I did not respectfully ask Your Majesty to wait," De Nogaret says. "...For me to build an ironclad legal case against the Templars on charges of heresy and blasphemy."
"These so-called soldiers of God still have the full support of the pope and his Church... to move against them without absolute proof of their crimes will cause problems," he insists.
De Nogaret wouldn't be De Nogaret if he didn't have a solution to the king's problems. "Who better to detail the grievous crimes of the Templars than a former Templar himself?" he asks, winning Philip over with his plan to use Gawain (Pádraic Delaney) to disassemble the Templars.
Watch the full scene in the video player above.
During an interview with ET last month, showrunner Aaron Helbing said that season two of Knightfall would showcase the "psychological" aspects of the royal family, including Philip's inner turmoil after killing his wife, Queen Joan, after finding out about her affair with Landry last season. Fans have also noticed how Philip has started to resemble Landry in appearance.
"He just wants to look like me," Cullen quipped of Philip's new bearded look, as Helbing confirmed there was more going on underneath the surface.
"All of it was a concerted effort to really tie in the storytelling to the characters and make them as grounded as possible. And the way we shot [the show], our DPs really brought a different element to the show too, our directors, everybody was on board for a darker tone," Helbing said. "Everybody involved really stepped up and wanted to make the show the best it could possibly be."
Knightfall airs Mondays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on History.
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