What Happened To Nicholas’ Ex-Wife & Child After He Left Paris In The Regime?
Summary
- Nicholas’ past abandonment of his first wife and child highlights dysfunction in his marriage to the Chancellor.
- The Regime offers a biting political satire on a crumbling authoritarian regime led by Chancellor Elena.
- A subplot involving Elena’s illness, Nicholas’ loyalty, and a mysterious child adds complexity to the series.
Warning: Major spoilers for The Regime episode 1 “Victory Day” below!The Regime’s Nicholas explaining what became of his first wife and their child underlines the dysfunction at the heart of his marriage to Chancellor Elena. Kate Winslet’s third HBO miniseries is a biting political satire and follows a crumbling authoritarian regime in a fictional, Central European nation. Winslet plays the nation’s Chancellor, Elena Vernham, who on the surface projects total authority and calm, but behind the scenes is riddled with insecurities and doubts.
The Regime’s Chancellor also suffers from an illness, meaning she shuts herself away from her people. During the first episode, Elena makes an unlikely ally in a troubled soldier named Herbert Zubak (Matthias Schoenaerts), who killed several people during a mining protest. Elena is also married to Guillaume Gallienne’s Nicholas, but while it’s clear he loves her, there’s a frostiness to their relationship. Nic seems suspicious of Herbert’s influence on her during the ending of The Regime episode 1, and he’s almost certainly right to be alarmed.
Nicholas Reveals He Abandoned His Wife & Child To Marry Elena In The Regime
A key subplot during episode one involves Elena trying to secure a cobalt mining deal, since the economy of The Regime’s unnamed country is in dire straits. During a tense dinner with the CEO of this mining company, Nicholas reveals he met Elena in Paris when they were both studying medicine. It turns out Nic was married with a child at the time, but Elena was “very persuasive.” Elena later returned home, while he stayed in Paris with his family.
However, when Elena was running her political campaign, she decided it would be best if she was married. So, Nicholas swiftly dropped his ex-wife and child in Paris and married Elena instead. He also notes he hasn’t seen them since, which displays his total devotion to the Chancellor – and lack of empathy for his first family.
From the way he recounts this charming tale over dinner, Nic dropped them with barely a second thought. Considering he hasn’t seen them in at least seven years, it’s unknown what became of Nicholas’ wife and child after he left Paris. This could be a storyline The Regime will return to in future episodes, especially since Elena’s government is already showing signs of decay.
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The Regime’s cast also includes Andrea Riseborough as Agnes, the palace manager. While Nicholas and Elena don’t have a child of their own, The Chancellor is close with Agnes’ son Oscar, who she allows to play in her private quarters. Later, when Elena is recovering from an attempted assassination, Agnes reveals Oscar has been asking to see her.
The Regime Cast & Character Guide
The HBO series The Regime is full of talented newcomers as well as A-List stars, who tell the story of a power struggle in an authoritarian regime.
Elena is even concerned for the boy’s health, reminding him he needs to take his epilepsy medicine. It’s possible to miss the dialogue revealing Agnes is Oscar’s mother, which might lead to confusion with some Regime viewers about his exact relationship to Elena. Perhaps Elena and Nicholas can’t have (or didn’t want) children, with Oscar possibly standing in for the child Nic abandoned. Sadly for Oscar, he’s not growing up in the most nurturing environment.
New episodes of
The Regime
release Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max.
The Regime
The Regime is an HBO/Max mini-series that takes place over the course of one year and follows a failing dictator as her fictional empire begins to crumble around her. The show will see the beginning of the end of the dictatorship and the challenges that the Chancellor faces to keep her unsustainable rule afloat.
- Release Date
- March 3, 2024
- Seasons
- 1
- Streaming Service(s)
- HBO
- Directors
- Stephen Frears
- Showrunner
- Will Tracy
