Maya Jama The Gentlemen season 2 has been one of the most talked-about casting moves ahead of the new run, and now the show is on Netflix, we can see exactly what she brings to Guy Ritchie’s sprawling criminal world. It is the Love Island presenter’s first acting role, and she makes her entrance in the very first episode of the new season.
Who does Maya Jama play in The Gentlemen season 2?
Jama plays Aisha, introduced during a hunt at the Duke of Halstead’s estate as a friend of Susie Glass. Susie’s description of her sets the tone immediately: a ‘clever girl’ who ‘looks after herself and everyone who comes within her orbit.’ That is not a throwaway line. Aisha is revealed to be working with Prince Amir bin Abdullah al-Hadidi, having moved to the Middle East five years prior, and she reappears in episode four alongside Sheikh Khaled Suliman.
So not a cameo, then. Aisha is woven into the show’s expanding international storyline, which this season takes Eddie Horniman and Susie Glass to Italy as they look to grow their cannabis empire beyond the grounds of his estate.
What Maya Jama said about working with Guy Ritchie
Speaking to Variety at the start of the year, Jama was candid about stepping in front of the camera for the first time. ‘He doesn’t feel as intimidating as you’d think, being who he is,’ she said of Ritchie. ‘He’s very personable and he would be like, “Yeah, you’re doing well”, and reassure me, which was really nice.’
She also had this to say about watching him work: ‘He’s just really involved and kind of a genius to watch, because everyone’s practicing their lines and then he says something that’s way better than the original.’
At the series premiere in London on September 2, Jama spoke to the BBC and described Aisha as a ‘boss’, adding that the role was a natural entry point into acting. ‘I felt like if I was to be involved in the drug world my character would be quite like me anyway, so it was a nice easy breeze into it. I didn’t have to change my accent or anything.’
The new faces joining the returning cast
Jama is not the only new arrival. The returning ensemble, Ray Winstone, Vinnie Jones, Daniel Ings and Joely Richardson among them, is joined by a raft of fresh characters this season. According to Times of India, Hugh Bonneville plays Lord Hawthorne, an aristocrat who becomes entangled with Eddie’s growing criminal empire. Given the show’s fondness for using the English upper class as both comic relief and genuine menace, Bonneville’s casting looks well-placed.
Also new to the cast is Tyler Conti as Joe Green, a dealer who, according to Times of India, has a history with Susie Glass and previously had a relationship with her. That kind of backstory rarely stays backstory for long in Ritchie’s world. Expect it to surface at the wrong moment. Michele Morrone rounds out the headline new additions.
What to expect from season 2
The central thread follows Theo James as Eddie Horniman, the 13th Duke of Halstead, now operating alongside Kaya Scodelario’s Susie Glass as the pair push their cannabis operation into new territory. Season one established the unlikely partnership; season two tests it. Italy provides the backdrop, the stakes are higher, and the question of who Eddie is willing to cross hangs over every episode.
Ritchie’s blend of sharp dialogue, violence, and very English absurdity is back in full. And with Jama stepping into her first screen role as a character who operates at the intersection of high-level criminal networks and international power, the show has given itself a fresh energy without losing the voice that made the first run land.
The Gentlemen season 2 is available on Netflix now.