Bridgerton Alum Rege-Jean Page Open to Show Recasting His Role

By Jenna Anderson

Bridgerton has easily become one of Netflix's biggest hit series, with the first two seasons of the romance series being viewed for hundreds of millions of hours thus far. A lot of this success is thanks to the show's buzzworthy ensemble cast, including Regé-Jean Page, who became a breakout star through his performance as Simon Basset in the show's first season. Even amid that success, fans were shocked that Page did not return for the show's subsequent seasons, with the show's creative team explaining that Simon did not fit into the narrative that Season 2 was telling. That being said, there's always the question of whether or not Simon could return in future seasons — but apparently, Page would not mind not being the one who plays him. In a new interview with Variety, Page revealed that he would not be opposed to the show recasting his role (as it has already done with the role of Francesca), if the circumstances played out that way.

"They're free to do as they like," Page explained. "Shonda [Rhimes, executive producer on 'Bridgerton,'] and I had a wonderful conversation at the end of Season 1. We were quite happy with how we stuck the landing on that one."

"We did so well on that redemptive arc that people forget that Simon was kind of horrific. He was the best example of a Regency f-ckboy that any of us had come across," Page continued. "And so, because we came around full circle so well, because we stuck that landing, you're left with this great feeling. You really do have to be brave about ending stories like that."

This echoes comments Rhimes previously made about Page's exit, arguing that Simon's story was relatively complete across Bridgerton's first season.

"I don't think I fully expected or understood what releasing all eight episodes around the globe at once was going to do," Rhimes said in an interview last May. "And yeah, I was like, 'I've killed many a man that people adore.' I'm so surprised that everybody is [losing it over a character we've watched] for eight episodes leaving. But obviously, Regé is an amazing actor and he did an amazing thing and people responded. I also was surprised because the nature of this series is simply, this year it's this couple, this year it's [that] couple."

"I was just excited about the idea of being able to tell a complete romantic tale that has an end, where you're not finding 14 other reasons why the couple can't be together or frankly having Regé stand in the background of somebody else's romance," Rhimes added. "That doesn't make sense."

What do you think of Regé-Jean Page's new comments about Bridgerton? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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