“Like, we didn’t kill him. He’s still alive!”
That’s what Shonda Rhimes told Vanity Fair recently, reacting to the uproar over news that fan favorite Rege-Jean Page would not return as Simon Basset, Duke of Hastings, in the second season of Netflix’s hit series ‘Bridgerton.’
Rhimes, an executive producer on the series set in Regency-era England, said she was “really shocked, because usually that happens when I’ve killed off somebody that’s been around for a while” — like the McDreamy (Patrick Dempsey) and McSteamy (Eric Dane) characters on ‘Grey’s Anatomy.’
In the case of ‘Bridgerton,’ Page’s disappearance is mostly to do with the structure of the source material, eight books by Julia Quinn that detail each of the eight Bridgerton siblings’ love lives. Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor), the rakish duke’s eventual one-and-only, had her story told in book one (‘The Duke and I’) and in season one. And now that’s done.
Page, Rhimes said, “is a powerful, amazing actor and that meant we did our job — every season, our job is finding the right people and putting together this incredible, world-shifting romance. I don’t know that I expected this much of an explosion, given that every book [in the Bridgerton series] is a different romance.
“What would be the ever-after of this combo? I mean, really: What would Rege-Jean do, you know what I mean?,” she told Vanity Fair. “We gave them their happily ever after! And now we have this next couple coming. And so yeah, I was like, whoa!”
Since making a splash (and nabbing a SAG Award nomination) as the dashing duke in Netflix’s popular series, Page has hosted ‘Saturday Night Live,’ been mentioned as a leading candidate to play the next James Bond and nabbed a leading role in the Hasbro-Paramount adaptation of ‘Dungeons & Dragons,’ along with Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez and Justice Smith.
Netflix announced Monday that ‘Bridgerton’ has also been picked up for seasons three and four. Season two, based on ‘The Viscount Who Loved Me,’ will focus on the romantic adventures of Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey), the fictional family’s eldest son, and Kate Sharma (‘Sex Education’ star Simone Ashley).
