Regency Roast
Regé-Jean Page Has Thoughts On That Bridgerton Proposal Scene
But what would Simon make of his brother-in-law’s Season 4 antics?
It’s been five years since Regé-Jean Page played Simon, the dashing Duke of Hastings, in Bridgerton Season 1. His pitch-perfect performance established the Regency romance as the bona fide hit fans yearn for year after year. And while Page only appeared for one season, he still keeps up with the ton — and recently weighed in on his on-screen brother-in-law’s polarizing proposal in Season 4.
From One Reformed Rake To Another...
“I check in every now and then [on Bridgerton] because I have a lot of friends there and people I love, and they do wonderful work,” Page told DuJour while promoting his new rom-com You, Me, & Tuscany. “I’m not fully up to date, but I know enough not to be running around asking anyone to be my mistress any time soon.”
Page is, of course, referring to Benedict asking Sophie to be his mistress in Season 4 — a clumsy if well-intentioned move that fans weren’t thrilled about. (As Luke Thompson, who plays Benedict, told Bustle: “It’s a classic thing of someone feeling a push to change but getting it absolutely wrong.”)
The Duke’s Future In The Ton
Of course, Page has been open about the fact that Simon was far from a perfect gentleman himself. As he told Variety in 2022, “I think we did so well on that redemptive arc, people forget that Simon was kind of horrific for most of that series. He was the best example of a Regency f*ckboy that any of us have come across.”
Because of that growth, he said, “you’re left with this great feeling. And I think you really do have to be brave about ending stories like that.”
Even so, Daphne and Simon’s absence from future Bridgerton stories — save Phoebe Dynevor’s solo return in Season 2 — has had fans pining for the show’s debut couple to return. Dynevor, for her part, has expressed her readiness to come back. As she told Bustle last year, “I’m waiting for it. I’m not sure how Daphne would appear now, but I loved playing her.”
Meanwhile, Page has said that he’d be fine with his role being recast — but showrunner Jess Brownell has said that’s not in the cards. “We are not interested in recasting the characters,” she recently told Variety. “I think it would feel like a disservice to everything Regé and Phoebe set up in Season 1, and all the beautiful work they put into those characters.”
Still, she added, a cameo for the sake of it wouldn’t work: bringing them back “just to say a line at a funeral... wouldn’t feel right.”
If they can return for something “really meaty,” Brownell continued, she would “love to potentially have them back at some point.” However, bringing them back “just to say a line at a funeral... wouldn’t feel right.”
