Stunning “Sex Education” actress Simone Ashley is the city’s new lead actress, Netflix’s hit show announced.
The erotic-era period novel – based on Julia Quinn’s best-selling novel series, created by Chris Van Dusen and produced by “Scandal” queen Shonda Rhimes – takes place in the competitive world of Regency London with ruffles and high style in the decade of 1880.
The first season of the sensational mix of “Gossip Girl” and Jane Austen in Shondaland revolved around virginal socialite Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor, 25) and her ardent love affair with the sensual Duke of Hastings licking her spoon (Regé-Jean Page , 31).
For Season 2 – based on Quinn’s second entry in her book series, “The Viscount Who Loved Me” – sweet Daphne will have to share the spotlight with Princess Kate and Duchess Meghan, as the new episodes will focus on conjugal searches by the oldest Brother Bridgerton: Anthony (Jonathan Bailey, 32).
Ashley, 25, will take the lead role in Anthony’s romantic interest: Kate Sharma, recently transplanted from India to London, who is described as an “intelligent stubborn young woman who does not suffer from fools” – Anthony included, according to an announcement on Shondaland TV’s Twitter.
Season 2 in “Bridgerton” will also find the show’s producers continuing to break Broadway’s “Hamilton” style casting conventions.
Ashley’s Kate – originally named Kate Sheffield in Quinn’s second novel – and her family are descendants of Indians in a continuation of the multiracial world and reinvented the old school society created in Season 1, which included several important black characters, including the Duke (Page), Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh) and Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel) do not appear in the original book series, Deadline first reported.
In addition to her role as Olivia Hanan in Netflix’s acclaimed “Sex Education”, British actress Ashley was also recently seen in ITV’s UK mystery drama “The Sister”. She is reportedly one of several new faces in the cast of “Bridgerton”, which is the most watched series in the streaming giant’s history, with 82 million families tuning in during the first four weeks of the first season.
“We have a lot of new characters that we are going to introduce,” Van Dusen, creator and showrunner, revealed during an interview on “Today with Hoda & Jenna” on Janurary. “Anthony is going to have a love interest next season, and I think it will be as breathtaking, moving and as beautiful as the first season viewers can expect from the show.”
The turnaround in the history of the second season was also brought about in the final minutes of the end of the first season, when Anthony declared his goal to “promptly find and declare my intentions to my new viscountess” after the implosion of his illicit relationship with the proud singer of opera Siena (Sabrina Bartlett).
However, Van Dusen emphasized during the interview that he also expects Page and Dynevor to repeat their roles.
Note: Ashley’s previous experience in “Sex Education” can be useful. Season 1 of “Bridgerton” featured nude scenes so hot that they were infamously ripped to hardcore porn sites – much to the chagrin of Page and Dynevor.