Simone Ashley roped in as female lead opposite Jonathan Bailey in Bridgerton Season 2

By Vandana Srivastawa

on February 17, 2021 07:14:09 PM

Bridgerton has found its Kate Sharma in Simone Ashley. The actress has been tapped as the female lead opposite Jonathan Bailey’s Anthony Bridgerton in Season 2 of Netflix’s and Shondaland’s hugely popular Regency-era period drama series based on Julia Quinn’s best-selling novels. Simone is an Indian origin actress of Tamil descent who has starred in Sex Education, The Sister, Broadchurch and Because the Night.

Bridgerton 2 is based on Quinn’s The Viscount Who Loved Me, and sees Anthony’s pursuit of a suitable match after his affair with opera singer Siena (played by Sabrina Bartlett) finally ends. Netflix announced the casting with a tweet that gave an insight into the character. The handle wrote, “Get ready to fall in love with Simone Ashley, who will play Kate in Season 2 of Bridgerton. Kate is a smart, headstrong young woman who suffers no fools—Anthony Bridgerton very much included."

Quite the juicy bit of gossip, dear readers... This author is certainly looking forward to many a column covering Miss Kate Sharma https://t.co/jOxQRcw0Gx

— Bridgerton (@bridgerton) February 15, 2021

Simone’s casting has got much applause from all quarters including the author who took to Instagram to congratulate Ashley, saying, “Welcome to #Bridgerton, @simoneasshley! I couldn't dream of a more perfect Kate.”

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A post shared by Julia Quinn (@juliaquinnauthor)

Bridgerton 2 is based on The Viscount Who Loved Me and focuses on the marriage pursuits of the eldest Bridgerton sibling, Anthony after his affair with opera singer Siena (played by Sabrina Bartlett) finally ends in Season 1. Bridgerton Season 1 ended with the identity reveal of Lady Whistledown in a dramatic fashion but the second season will prove to be as interesting as the first one with more racial discourses and focusing on Anthony and Kate instead of Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) and Duke of Hastings, Simon Basset (Rege-Jean Page). Bridgerton is created by Chris Van Dusen and produced by Shonda Rhimes.

(Source: Twitter/Instagram)