Bridgerton season two welcomes Simone Ashley as new lead

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

As Bridgerton has become one of Netflix's most-viewed series, chances are quite good that you or someone you know have checked it out, at least in part, and Deadline has now reported that Simone Ashley has joined the cast of the upcoming second season in a major role.

Simone Ashley, best known for Sex Education and Because the Night, is slated to play Kate Sharma, a love interest to Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey). Newly arrived in London, Kate is a smart, headstrong young woman who suffers no fools — Anthony Bridgerton very much included. Based upon the series of novels by Julia Quinn, the first season of the series centered on the Bridgerton family as they searched for love and happiness in London high society, largely focusing on the blossoming romance between eldest daughter Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) and Simon Basset (Regé-Jean Page), the Duke of Hastings. The second season will adapt the second Bridgerton novel, The Viscount Who Loved Me, and turn the attentions to Anthony Bridgerton's pursuit of a suitable marriage. "We left him at the end of the first season at a bit of a crossroads, so I’m looking forward to jumping in and discovering how he fares on the marriage market," said Bridgerton creator and showrunner Chris Van Dusen. Production on the second season is expected to begin in London this spring.

"We have a bunch of new characters we are going to be introducing," Chris Van Dusen said when the series was renewed last month. "Anthony is going to have a love interest next season, and I think it’s going to be as sweeping and moving and as beautiful as viewers of the first season have come to expect from the show." The popularity of Bridgerton has become so vast that many have called for Regé-Jean Page to become the next James Bond.