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Simone Ashley addressed her loyalty to Bridgerton despite her character Kate’s decreased screen time.
During the Monday, April 13, episode of “The Louis Theroux Podcast,” Ashley, 31, credited Jonathan Bailey for teaching her some important lessons about making Bridgerton a priority, adding, “He set a great example of — for lack of a better word — the loyalty to the show. It is a show about family and returning home and returning to the family. I think a lot of people follow that suit.”
Ashley “learned a lot” from Bailey, 37.
“Now when we go back, there is that environment of coming home and feeling like we’re part of a family,” she added. “I can only comment on what me and Johnny have done. We just really make sure that our schedules can just make it work.”
Ashley continued: “He flew between Toronto and London back and forth whilst he was filming Wicked. Thank God I’ve not been filming during the start of this year. I’ve done like eight cities in one month. So that would have been a bit nuts to figure out. But I would have done it. I would have scheduled it.”
Kate’s romance with Anthony (Bailey) was the focus of Bridgerton season 2. Since most of the season was focused on Anthony getting out of a courtship with her sister, Edwina (Charithra Chandran), before getting together with Kate, viewers were expecting the pair to play a large role in season 3.
Season 3, however, featured Anthony and Kate sharing only a handful of scenes before disappearing on a second honeymoon. They returned toward the end of the season to announce Kate’s pregnancy, which is when the pair decided to take a trip to India. Season 4, meanwhile, explained Anthony and Kate’s continued absence by keeping them in India after the arrival of their first baby.
“I think the strength of sending them off to India for a little while is that it does leave the door open for them to come back, schedules allowing,” Brownell told Teen Vogue of the characters in June 2024. “I think, understandably, when any of our lead actors have given over their lives for their season, in future seasons, we want to be supportive of the fact that they do have other projects coming in, and to ask actors to come back just to be in the background is not really fair to them.”
At the time, Brownell explained the planned vision for Kate and Anthony.
“I think after all they went through in their season, obviously, the focus for us this season was just showing them in a more loving place. But we also wanted to underscore how they’re still the Kate and Anthony you know,” she continued. “They still banter with each other and get annoyed at each other. We wanted them to show up in that way … They’re in a much wiser place, both of them, in their relationship to relationships.”
Brownell clarified why Anthony and thus Kate were barely in season 4, telling People, “I think for [Luke Thompson’s] Benedict in particular, it was important for Anthony to be elsewhere in part 1, to give Benedict a moment to struggle with the weight of being the second son who’s filling in for the viscount.”
She added: “For Anthony to be in India — or later in Aubrey Hall — it allows Benedict the chance to rise or to fail. It also felt incredibly important to bring Anthony back, because the relationship with Benedict is so key between the first and the second [parts of season 4].”
Bridgerton is currently streaming on Netflix.
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