Tuesday, 16th February 2021 at 1:35 pm
When Bridgerton returns for season two, the focus will shift to Viscount Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) and the show’s new heroine Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley). But that doesn’t mean we’re saying goodbye to the stars of season one: the ensemble cast is still expected to include fan favourites Regé-Jean Page (Simon), Phoebe Dynevor (Daphne) and Nicola Coughlan (Penelope).
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And when we say that Bridgerton has an “ensemble” cast,
boy do we mean it. Netflix‘s sumptuous period drama has a list of characters as long as your arm, with some very well-known faces taking on many of the key roles (alongside some relative newcomers).
The actor also reflected on why straight actors may play LGBTQ+ roles.
Bridgerton star Jonny Bailey has shared his hopes that more gay actors will be able to “play their own experience.” He made the comments in an interview with Digital Spy ahead of the premiere of Bridgerton on Netflix on Christmas Day.
Bailey is playing Anthony Bridgerton, a straight character, in the upcoming period drama and addressed the possible double standard within Hollywood.
“I think it shouldn’t matter at all what character people play, but of course there is a narrative that’s very clear, that openly gay men aren’t playing straight in leading roles,” he explained.
Speaking exclusively to
Digital Spy, Phoebe discussed the sexual evolution of her character and her relationship with Simon Basset, the 10th Duke of Hastings (Regé-Jean Page).
She also revealed that the Netflix series also had an intimacy coordinator who helped the pair tell the story of Daphne s sexual empowerment. What s brilliant about having an intimacy coordinator is me and Regé both had a massive say in how we both played it, Phoebe said. We talked it through with each other, we talked it through separately with the intimacy coordinator, so everyone is aware of what everyone s comfortable with, and aware of how we want to tell the story, particularly their sexual evolution.
I think that it s a relief to be able to serve those 190 different territories of people, the actor said, referencing the number of countries with access to Netflix. This is an audience that s 21st century, that is wider than it s ever been. And I think ignoring large swathes of that audience and how you cast your stories and who you tell stories about is not something that we re ready to do anymore. So I m glad that we re serving everyone as they should be, that we re representing more people than before.
Page plays the highly sought-after Duke of Hastings Simon Basset in