Bridgerton showrunner Jess Brownell has shut down speculation that the series could recast key roles from the first two seasons.
The hit Netflix period romance is known for re-centring on new characters each season, with the latest fourth season focusing on the love affair between Sophie (Yerin Ha) and Benedict (Luke Thompson).
While many of the core cast have remained in the series through multiple seasons, Bridgerton has seen some note-worthy departures: Regé-Jean Page, who played the Duke of Hastings , left after just one season, and Phoebe Dynevor, who played Daphne, exited after season two.
It has been speculated by fans that the roles could soon be re-cast, in order to bring the characters back into the world of Bridgerton.
Brownell denied this, however, telling Variety: “We are not interested in recasting the characters. I think it would [be] a disservice to everything Regé and Phoebe set up in season one, and all the beautiful work they put into those characters.
“We would love to potentially have them back at some point, but I think, logistically, we want to make sure we bring them back when we have something really meaty for them.”
Since leaving the show, Page and Dynevor have both gone on to work in cinema, with Page appearing in films such as spy thriller Black Bag and fantasy blockbuster Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Dynevor has featured in films including the erotic thriller Fair Play.
“To have them come back to say a line at a funeral and just prove that they were there, it wouldn’t feel right for many reasons,” added Brownell.
“So I think in my mind, the camera doesn’t capture everything. They’re hypothetically there; it’s television. But we would love to find a time to bring everyone back at some point in the future.”
The fourth season of Bridgerton has received mixed reviews from critics, with The Independent’s Nick Hilton awarding it three stars.
“The show – created by Chris Van Dusen and produced by Shonda Rhimes’s Shondaland – has managed to take the conventions of the period drama and distil them into something even more conventional,” he writes.
“It is the closest a human could come to creating an AI slop Regency romance: distilling plotlines from classic novels and fairy tales, generating consistently perfect facial bone structure, rendering everything in lurid, over-saturated colour.”
Bridgerton is available to stream now on Netflix.
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