On The Other Bennet Sister, Dónal Finn Is A Natural-Born Yearner

Weeks after debuting to smash ratings on the BBC, The Other Bennet Sister has finally arrived stateside via BritBox. Of course, American viewers might have already enjoyed a taste of its well-earned hype. On TikTok, viral clips of the show’s swooniest moments spread like gospel — no shortage of them highlighting Dónal Finn’s Tom Hayward, an earnest, tender-hearted solicitor bound to become your new favorite Regency crush.

And for the record, the Irish actor is touched by your edits.

“Love so often feels like a really singular experience,” Finn tells Bustle over Zoom. “And then you get out there, and you talk about it, or you consume a piece of art that makes you feel like ‘This person is having the exact same feeling that I had, and I thought I was the only person in the world that was having it.’ I’m so glad people are loving it and finding new ways of expressing that appreciation.”

The new series, based on Janice Hadlow’s 2020 novel, reimagines the character of Mary Bennet from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and gives the so-called “plain” sister her own love story — er, stories. On a journey of self-discovery that takes her from her mother’s domineering household to a more pleasant existence with her aunt and uncle in London, Mary (Ella Bruccoleri) suddenly finds herself with more suitors than she knows what to do with. Both Tom and the free-thinking William Ryder (Laurie Davidson) vie for her affection in very different — often hilariously clashing — ways.

For Finn, who also stars in Young Sherlock, starring in his first period romance was just as revelatory as it was to watch. “I have to say, I didn’t have the appreciation for it as a genre that I do now,” says the 30-year-old. “Because I understand more about what kind of restrictions were on a person at that time and how that limited the way that they can express themselves.”

In such a romance, those limits lend themselves to a language of physical pining. Despite it being his first time at the Regency rodeo, Finn’s clearly taken to its titillating brushes and micro-expressions like a duck to water (or... Colin Firth to a lake). His performance as Tom will delight viewers who swooned over Anthony inhaling Kate’s lily-scented essence on Bridgerton or got goosebumps when Mr. Darcy flexed his hand after touching Elizabeth’s in 2005’s Pride & Prejudice.

While Tom feels like a natural successor to this lineage of period heroes, he’s also distinct. He leads with tender kindness, not brooding, and bonds with Mary over poetry and bird calls. As Finn notes, “He really is taking all these actions to tell Mary how he feels about her — whereas I think a lot of other men in the period drama genre, it’s hard for them to access that kind of directness and vulnerability.”

As viewers wait to see how the show’s love triangle resolves — new episodes will drop on BritBox weekly — Finn opens up about yearning, the relatability of The Other Bennet Sister, and his take on Tom’s rolling-up-the-sleeves moment.

This series really centers kindness. What was that like to be part of?

It does. Mary Bennet has the ability to bring out the best in everyone. But what I love about the show is that Mary would probably describe herself as an unlikely protagonist and Tom would do the same. He has moments where he feels shy and is happy being small.

It’s so easy to be enamored by Elizabeth Bennet as a protagonist and to live vicariously through her decisions and the boldness of her personality as a woman at that time. But I would maybe not naturally identify with her as a character — I’m more like Mary. So it felt like a great privilege to be part of a story that centered people who might feel the same as an audience, and to give you permission to feel like the main character in your story.

In turn, Tom Hayward is someone you could imagine in real life.

What’s beautiful is that a lot of these characteristics are mirrored back to him through Mary: their openness, their willingness not to try to be anyone else. He doesn’t want to change her at all, and that’s one of the things that I loved about playing him. He’s very aware of the obstacles to himself and Mary being together, and this new feeling that has come up in Hayward obviously means he has to confront what that means for his relationship with Ann Baxter.

But once those things are clear to him, he sets on a persistent path. That call to action — to be like “I do really want this, and I am willing to be vulnerable time and time again, to make my feelings clear, to understand how she feels” — is very beautiful and refreshing.

Absolutely. Such a big part of Tom’s journey is being brave and getting to say the thing that he needs to say — and until he does, so much of it comes off as intense yearning.

It’s that conviction in believing that you want to make this person’s life better, and that you’re willing to lie down in traffic for them. That commitment to being part of someone’s life requires a lot of confidence in your decision. I don’t think you can yearn for many people at the same time.

Yeah, it’s not casual.

I find that moving — and maybe in a more modern lifestyle, it’s slightly lost. We miss it, and we welcome that kind of conviction in our stories. We’ve all had crushes, and we all ache to find out what is going on in that person’s mind and how they feel about us, and summoning the courage to bring your heart to them and find out how they’re gonna act when they receive it. And the show does that amazingly, particularly through Mary.

There’s so much intimacy, but it’s in a different way. People talk about that moment of Pride & Prejudice, where Mr. Darcy helps Elizabeth Bennet [into a carriage], and you can feel that rush through him. This show has moments between Tom and Mary, where you can hopefully sense that. The proximity they share speaks to something very relatable and pure.

Those moments stood out to me so much — when Mary picks up the graces hoop and their fingers touch, or the second time Tom rolls up his sleeves. People are like, “He knows what he’s doing!” How much do you think is conscious or subconscious in trying to woo Mary?

He definitely believes that this is a very welcome friendship, and one that he’s clearly enjoying. I don’t think he knows what he’s doing. It’s the truth of the moment, like, he doesn’t want to rip his coat again. That’s why he takes his jacket off. It’s the unassuming nature that people respond to — not even thinking about that being something Mary might be attracted to is actually what makes it so.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.