A Bridgerton casting director has been inundated with X-rated audition tapes ahead of the Netflix series’ fourth season.
Kelly Valentine Hendry, who has worked on the show since its 2020 debut on the streaming service, said during the Sunday, June 30 episode of the “Should I Delete That?” podcast that the videos she’s received are reminiscent of adult films.
“It’s every day … I get the most unbelievable videos, unsolicited,” Hendry told the podcast’s hosts, Alex Light and Em Clarkson. “It’s sex basically, it’s not actual sex but it’s quite punchy. It’s not nudey pictures, but not far off.”
Hendry, 47, added that her inbox is constantly “90 percent” full of emails from hopeful actors looking to join the hit period drama, which is renowned for airing some of TV’s steamiest sex scenes.
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Hendry, who also worked on the British ITV series Broadchurch, said many of the aspiring actors who contact her are hoping to land the role of Sophie Beckett, the love interest of Benedict Bridgerton, played by Luke Thompson, as introduced in the acclaimed Bridgerton romance novels that inspire the TV series. This is despite the role of Sophie not being officially confirmed.
During the podcast, Hendry detailed one audition tape that arrived with a “heavy-duty” banner of a woman dressed in period costume that was large enough to hang off “scaffolding.”
“It’s a bit sad, really, I don’t understand it,” Hendry said.
Fans of Bridgerton, which was one of the most-watched original shows of June according to Variety who published the month’s analysis on Monday, July 1, believe that season 4 will focus on Benedict’s love story with Sophie.
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The fan prediction comes after Collider reported that Netflix put out a casting call last month that detailed the search for a “major recurring role” and a “character roughly between 24-30 years old described as plucky, endlessly resourceful, and having trouble trusting others.”
The character is also scripted as an East Asian female and there was a note about the job involving nudity and scenes of a sexual nature.
Although the character was reportedly given the title of “Emily,” fans were quick to speculate about who the character could really be.
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“The Bridgerton fandom focusing on the ‘major recurring role’ for doubts instead of the whole description screaming Sophie Beckett,” read a post via X. Another person wrote, “Sophie Beckett asian vision in Jessie Mei Li may be real and i’m delighted.”
Casting calls often use code names to ensure details of crucial roles remain under wraps.
Netflix is yet to announce a release date for Bridgerton season 4, however a showrunner, Jess Brownell, told The Hollywood Reporter on June 12 that “we’re kind of on a two-year pace”, which would suggest 2026.
The final four episodes of season 3, part two, dropped on June 13.
