Bridgerton is wasting no time trying to fill the gaping hole left by the departure of breakout star Regé-Jean Page, who confirmed on Friday that he would not be returning as The Duke of Hastings on season two of Netflix’s hit series.
On Monday, Deadline announced that Shelley Conn and Calam Lynch would be joining season 2 of the Regency-era period drama. They join previously announced new cast members Charithra Chandran, Rupert Young and Sex Education’s Simone Ashley, season two’s female lead.
Ashley will play Kate Sharma, love interest of Jonathan Bailey’s Anthony Bridgerton, who takes over the reigns from Phoebe Dynevor’s Daphne as the central Bridgerton looking for love in season two. Ashley’s Sharma is described as a “smart, headstrong woman who takes no fools,” including the rakish Anthony. Chandran plays Kate’s younger sister Edwina Sharma, taught by Kate to be the perfect debutante, while Young plays Jack, a new character not found in Julia Quinn’s novels, the source material for the Netflix series.
Conn, who played Dr. Elizabeth Shannon on Fox’s sci fi series Terra Nova, will be playing the Sharma sisters’ mother, Mary Sharma. Mary’s marriage once ensnared herself and her family in public scandal, and season two finds the Sharmas back in London under the judgmental eye of the ‘Ton once again. Lynch, who has appeared on Netflix’s Derry Girls, will play Theo Sharpe, a hardworking printer’s assistant who fights for the rights of all.
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