Reach for the smelling salts ...Bridgerton heart-throb is quitting
PERHAPS it was his brooding character, or those Regency-era tailcoats and tights – or when he stripped them off.
Whatever it was, Bridgerton fans fell hard for the dashing Duke of Hastings, played by Regé-Jean Page, and they were eagerly awaiting news that he had started filming season two of Netflix’s hit period drama.
Alas! Their hopes were dashed yesterday when the actor, 31, confirmed he would not be taking part.
It will come as no surprise to fans of Julia Quinn’s novels, on which the series is based, as the emphasis on duke’s often steamy romance with Daphne Bridgerton, played by Phoebe Dynevor, shifts to other stories. Instead, the second series, due to start filming soon, will follow Daphne’s brother Anthony, played by Jonathan Bailey, 32. Miss Dynevor, 25, is returning to help him ‘navigate the upcoming social season’.
Bridgerton’s Instagram account delivered the announcement from narrator Lady Whistledown, voiced by Julie Andrews, 85, whose gossip newsletter drives the plot. It read: ‘Dear Readers, while all eyes turn to Lord Anthony’s quest to find a viscountess, we bid adieu to Regé-Jean Page, who so triumphantly played the Duke of Hastings. We’ll miss his presence on screen, but he will always be a part of the Bridgerton family.’
Later Page shared a photo of himself in costume on a horse, tweeting that the role was a ‘pleasure and a privilege’.
He had previously hinted that his involvement was limited, telling Variety that the role appealed because, ‘I get to contribute my bit and then the Bridgerton family rolls on’. Page will next appear in Netflix spy thriller The Gray Man and he has been tipped as the new James Bond.