‘Bridgerton’s Jonathan Bailey Didn’t Think “You Are The Bane of My Existence” Would Be His “Burn For You” Moment

Spoilers for Bridgerton Season 2 Ahead!

When Bridgerton fans logged onto Netflix on March 25, they would discover that the show had swapped its spoon-licking Duke for a brooding Viscount as their Season 2 romantic hero. And by god, it worked. All the fuss and worry about whether or not Bridgerton could survive without Regé-Jean Page‘s Duke of Hastings proved to be unfounded. Jonathan Bailey transformed eldest Bridgerton brother Anthony from a Regency era f*ckboy into a brooding hero transformed (against his will) by the power of love.

Bridgerton Season 2 uses Julia Quinn’s beloved second Bridgerton book, The Viscount Who Loved Me, as its primary point of inspiration. That books reveals most of Anthony’s anxieties are rooted in losing his father Edmund (Rupert Evans) as a college-aged kid. Overnight, Anthony had to become the head of his family, while suppressing his own grief. Duty is the name of Anthony’s game. Hence, when he decides to finally settle down with a wife in Bridgerton Season 2, he has his eye on Edwina Sharma (Charithra Chandran), the diamond of the season. It’s clear from the jump, though, that his heart wants Edwina’s older sister Kate (Simone Ashley).

Decider spoke with Bailey on Tuesday, the day Netflix announced that Bridgerton Season 2 was already a record-smashing hit. Bailey had just gotten off the stage — he’s currently co-starring with Taron Edgerton in a production of Cock in London — and seen the news in an email. “I mean, those sorts of numbers that’s just impossible for anyone to get a head around,” Bailey said.

Decider spoke with Bailey about the reaction that some of Anthony’s biggest Season 2 moments had gotten on social media over the premiere weekend and what he wants next for the Viscount and his Viscountess on Bridgerton…

DECIDER: How confident were you that you and Simone Ashley could take up the baton from Phoebe Dynevor and Regé-Jean Page this season?

Jonathan Bailey: I knew I was confident that it was a completely different love story because I’ve read the book. The psychological intimacy that these two characters were going to experience and explore was very different. And also, you know, it’s a more balanced partnership in the front. Kate’s very worldly. And it’s a lot that she has to overcome, much like Anthony. So yeah, I knew it was going to be a very different love story. And for that reason, I felt like we had a good chance of being able to, yeah, create and cast a different spell.

I spoke to you back in 2020 and we talked about how much Anthony is defined by grief. What was it like this season getting to act out those emotions and do the flashbacks with Rupert Evans and Ruth Gemmell?

Yeah. I mean, it was brilliant. To be able to visualize Edmund and to have Rupert come and do that.I hope there’s going to be more of him in the future in the flashbacks, because it’s just so important, isn’t it? For all of these Bridgertons, that blueprint for the love and the reasons why they all struggle and they’re all a bit lost, really. I think it’s because I think they had lost a vital member of their team, which is their dad. There’s no real emotionally sound men in this show at all. All the women are very capable, brilliant, intelligent, and independent. And all the men are sort of trying to surf in their wake, trying to work out who they are. And that’s really because of the loss of the dad, I think. So, yeah, it was great.

And Ruth has been.. we get on so well, and she’s so brilliant. So yeah, it was good. It was a bit overwhelming and luckily we could just walk off and have a little moment together afterwards to shake it off. But yeah, it was always going to be something that we both wanted to get right. And I knew it was critical for Anthony to really lean in, I think, and to really do the work and study what really would have been going on for him.

Shifting to the love story, I mean, I’ve been following the show’s response on social media, on Twitter and Instagram. People are losing their minds over the speech where you say, “You’re the bane of my existence and the object of all my desires.” Did you realize that was going to be your “I burn for you” moment when you were acting it out? And what was it like for you to do that scene?

No. Do you know what? We didn’t know that. And I mean, we try to keep it — me and Simone — kind of locked in and just trying to keep it as focused as possible. Because if you start thinking about that in a meta way, it all became a bit confusing. But we did think, ‘I vex you,’ was going to be up there in the top four, but I think that line is taken from the book, isn’t it?

I think so. I haven’t read it in a while, but I think so.

Yeah. Any one of Julia Quinn’s lines, you know, are always the good ones. And I think, “I burn for you” was, too. We needed a good one. It was always in the second book, anyway, wasn’t it? But we won’t go there… [laughs]

Well, another moment that people are just really excited about is your Mr. Darcy moment coming out of the lake with the wet shirt. What was it like shooting that? How did you feel about it and are you pleased with the outcome?

All I remember is wearing like a plastic sheet under my outfit. So I sort of felt like a Ken doll. And then, that it was over really, really quickly. And I just remember Charithra was determined to stay. She’d been wrapped about two hours previous, but she stayed just to watch fall in. So yeah, I think there was a lot of excitement and electricity crackling through the cast and crew as they watched me fall into the lake. So I think it was more joyful for them than it was for me. There’s a real buildup to that stuff because there’s about four different cameras. You know, you don’t fall in a way that looks believable, then you have to start from scratch. And my hair, Lara Prentice, she did my hair. You know, it would have been another 20 minutes before we could have done another one, so I wanted to get it right.

But yeah, I knew when I read it on the page, it was absolutely brilliant because it just sums up exactly what the show does. Which is, it politically is really front-footed, since it’s become something that is synonymous with really positive political agendas and conversations, but also, it’s one that sits firmly in the romance genre and period, but it doesn’t take itself too seriously and is self-aware enough to nod towards, you know, these incredible Austen references. It allows us to sort of jolly along, much like when you can hear Ariana Grande being played by a string quartet. You can watch out for these nods to other prolific romance authors. So, yeah, it was great. I think it was genius. So genius.

Simone mentioned to me when I spoke to her that she’s excited to follow Kate and Anthony and their relationship in future seasons. What sorts of things would you like the couple to get up to?

Well, I’m obviously thrilled at the idea of Edmund. Little Edmund II being born. Which is, I think Anthony and Kate’s first child. I think Anthony, I just think he’s going to be an extraordinary father and it’s going to be so much that he’s going to want with those children that he didn’t have from his dad. So I’m looking forward to that.

And I’m also looking forward to some more moments of reflection between the two, I think, as Daphne was so instrumental and was so wise in her spotting quite quickly what was going on for Anthony. I think Kate and Anthony together as Viscount and Viscountess will be a good, strong unit for the siblings as they experience what they do, but there’ll always be time for them — there’s a lot more that I think can be investigated in terms of their past. But also their deep understanding of each other, which, you know, it’s brilliant, really how the story has been told and that it was a slow burn because it does lend itself to the future. And yeah, we can only hope that there’s going to be more to see going forward.

Obviously they’re going to be two more seasons. Have you talked to any of your co-stars about what it’s like transitioning from the supporting role to the lead role in the show? Or are you just letting them follow through on their own?

Oh my God, listen! I’ve got their back majorly and I’ve got a little book. I’m gonna be handing down, so hopefully it’ll make its way all the way down to Hyacinth (Florence Hunt) and Gregory (Will Tilston), but then possibly on to Anthony’s first child. I mean, I’m sort of all for being there at 82. And there can be like seven different spinoffs. And my “grandson” can read it. Hopefully that book will still be there with all the tips and the tricks.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Watch Bridgerton on Netflix