If you’re hunting for your next binge-worthy teen drama, Maxton Hall: The World Between Us is serving exactly what fans of swoony rival-to-lover stories crave. Adapted from Mona Kasten’s Save You book series, the German series follows Ruby Bell (Harriet Herbig-Matten), a scholarship student with a secret, and James Beaufort (Damian Hardung), the wealthy classmate who’s determined to uncover it. From fiery arguments to stolen glances, their complicated dynamic has viewers hooked—and, naturally, fans can’t stop wondering if the sparks between Harriet and Damian extend off-screen.
Harriet revealed that sparks didn’t ignite right away during auditions. “I think in our first audition, he had come into the room and he had this suit on and I was like, ‘Who’s this arrogant boy there?’ But in our second and last audition, it just clicked and we had tension,” she told Us Weekly in June 2024. “So we had chemistry, we just didn’t see that.”
And when it comes to dating rumors, Harriet set the record straight on the January 2025 episode of the “G Spot” podcast. “We are not together and we weren’t together either,” she said.
She also opened up about the pressure of constant fan speculation. “When you always read these comments about how we are so together, I started to get pressure that it had to be true,” she explained. “So I was like, ‘Only when that is the case, I will do people justice and then they will be happy.’ I thought that for a long time. Then over the course of time, I had to learn to distance myself from this version.”
Harriet added, “There’s Ruby and there’s Harriet who is promoted. So you know that this person who is me and has my name is not the real Harriet that I am in my private life. I first had to learn that this doesn’t correspond to reality and that was difficult.”
Despite the on-screen drama, working with Damian was smooth. Harriet described their collaboration as intense but rewarding: “We have a similar way to go into character and we kind of pushed it to the limit in some scenes. For example, the staircase scene when we screamed at each other. It was really intense and we just helped each other and we trusted each other. It was really important to trust your partner.”
Damian also commented on the constant attention: he called it “24/7 exposure” to their characters, highlighting just how public their chemistry can feel.
