'Bridgerton' Stars Talk Gay Actors In Straight Roles And Asian Inclusion!

Season 2 of ‘Bridgerton’ has arrived!

Source: Netflix / Netflix

The ‘Bridgerton’ cast chatted with Janee Bolden ahead of the premiere about what it means to have two South Asian women in lead roles and an out gay actor as the lead of a highly successful period drama.

“Representation that isn’t super explicit, but is core to who we are. Being Indian, being gay is an important part to who we are but it’s not everything that we are,” Simone Ashley told BOSSIP. “Finding that balance between — this is something we value and something we are proud of, but it’s not the entirety of our identity. That balance is really hard.”

“Representation can be a choice creatively, but also it can be below the line,” Jonathan Bailey added. “I know when I was cast my sexuality didn’t even come into conversation. But my gosh when you work so hard on a show that you love anyway, then to know that it accesses an empowerment to people to see themselves in a way that maybe we didn’t have. If we had this show as teenagers… I think that’s where the joy comes. It would have allowed us to believe that more things were possible.”

“It’s so exciting and interesting to have these conversations,”Charithra Chandran finished. “We’re doing this in this transition period so that in the years to come there will be actors like ourselves sitting in these positions where it isn’t so groundbreaking and it’s just normal, one day.”

Jonathan Bailey, Simone Ashley and Charithra Chandran also spoke about the steamy side of the Netflix show, but revealed the sex scenes weren’t nearly as complex as the parts involving sexual tension.

“I think it’s much harder to bare all emotionally than literally,” Jonathan Bailey told BOSSIP of his time spent unrobed. “I think what’s so amazing about this series is there is a real competence in the storytelling and the genre of romance. It’s more complicated, it’s more cerebral, it’s more emotional and of course there are sex scenes because it’s important to see these two people come together but it’s a very very slow burn that will pay off in a completely different way and it will give people a different experience to be able to distance themselves from Daphne and the Duke that we loved so much the first time.

Check out the full interview below:

‘Bridgerton’ Season 2 is streaming now on Netflix!