It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a full season of television devoted to his search for a wife. Luckily, Netflix’s Bridgerton has just announced Sex Education actress Simone Ashley has been cast as Kate Sharma, the female lead across from Jonathan Bailey’s exceedingly single Anthony Bridgerton, the focus of the show’s second season. “Kate is a smart, headstrong woman who suffers no fools - Anthony Bridgerton very much included,†the streamer tweeted Monday, announcing Ashley’s addition to the cast. Knowing this show, however, Kate is absolutely going to be suffering some foolishness (and romance and heartbreak) on the path to love.
The show’s beloved first season followed the romantic adventures of younger Bridgerton child Daphne, played by Phoebe Dynevor, as she danced around the issue with Regé-Jean Page’s dashing Duke Simon Bassett. You’ve got to work hard to maintain the title of London’s most eligible bachelor, however, and Lady Whistledown can upend the society hierarchy with a flick of her pen. Of course, Bridgerton’s second season is based on author Julia Quinn’s The Viscount Who Loved Me, the second in her Bridgerton series, so, you know, she deserves some credit, too.