The beautiful “Sex Education” actress Simone Ashley is the new leading lady in the city, who showed the hit from Netflix announced.
The erotically charged period soap – based on Julia Quinn’s best-selling series of novels, created by Chris Van Dusen and produced by “Scandal” queen Shonda Rhimes – takes place in the competitive world of the cheerful, high-style Regency London in the 1880s.
The first season of Shondaland’s excellent mix of “Gossip Girl” and Jane Austen revolved around virgin socialite Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor, 25) and her steamy love affair with the stuffy spoon-licking Duke of Hastings (Regé-Jean Page, 31 ).
For Season 2 – based on Quinn’s second entry in her book series, “The Viscount Who Loved Me” – lovely Daphne will have to share the spotlight a la Princess Kate and Duchess Meghan, as the new episodes focus on the marriage of Daphne’s eldest Bridgerton brother: Anthony (Jonathan Bailey, 32).
Ashley (25) will take on the lead role of Anthony’s romantic interest: Kate Sharma, a fresh London transplant from India, described as an intelligent, ‘stubborn young woman who does not suffer fools’ – Anthony included, according to an announcement on Shondaland TV’s Twitter.
Season 2 of “Bridgerton” will also see the producers of the series continue to break casting conventions in the style of Broadway’s “Hamilton”.
Ashley’s Kate – who was originally christened Kate Sheffield in Quinn’s second novel – and her family are of Indian descent in a continuation of the reimagined, multiracial world of high school society created in Season 1, featuring several important black characters, including the Duke (Page), Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh) and Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel) who do not appear in the original book series, Deadline reports for the first time.
In addition to her role as Olivia Hanan in Netflix’s award-winning “Sex Education”, British actress Ashley was also recently seen in the British ITV mystery drama “The Sister”. She’s reportedly one of a few fresh faces thrown into ‘Bridgerton’, which is the most watched series in the history of the streaming giant, with 82 million households tuning in during the first four weeks of season 1.
“We have a bunch of new characters that we’re going to introduce,” Van Dusen, creator and showrunner, revealed during an interview on “Today with Hoda & Jenna” in January. “Anthony will have a love interest next season, and I think it will be as sweeping and moving and as beautiful as the viewers of the first season of the show expected.”
The plot season of Season 2 was also teased in the final minutes of the Season 1 finale, when Anthony declared his goal to “find my intentions and immediately explain to my new fish countess”, after the implosion of his illegal relationship with the proud, bad opera singer Siena (Sabrina Bartlett).
However, Van Dusen emphasized during the interview that he also hopes that Page and Dynevor will repeat their roles.
Note: Ashley’s previous “Sex Education” experience may come in handy. Season 1 of “Bridgerton” featured nude love scenes that were so dumb that they became notorious for hardcore porn sites – much to the dismay of Page and Dynevor.