Bridgerton Season 2 might be a diversion from Julia Quinn’s The Viscount Who Loved Me, but there is no denying the fact that Simone Ashley and Jonathan Bailey are the perfect Kate Sharma and Anthony Bridgerton (Kanthony). To bring to life characters who are beautifully complex and deeply relatable, the series needed actors who understand the characters in such a way that answering questions about their future would be an effortless task.
And during the Bridgerton Season 2 global press conference, when asked about how Kate and Anthony could work through their trauma together, Ashley and Bailey knew precisely what to say. Thrust towards growing up far too quickly because of the grief they both experienced, Kate Sharma and Anthony Bridgerton carried burdens more enormous than they deserved to, often compelling them to protect others above their own hearts.
In meeting each other, all that changes. “I always say it takes one to know one, and I think that really applies to these two characters,” Ashley says with full conviction. “At the beginning, they kind of … they really grind each other’s gears because I think they recognize parts that they may see as flaws in themselves in the other person.” Flaws they work through together, even unknowingly, seamlessly bringing the best of the other to the surface. Ashley also mentioned that they mirror each other a little bit and challenge each other, which is a truth we can see throughout the season as their relationship grows deeper.
“I think it’s the first time that they’ve been opposite someone that has the patience with them, that doesn’t give up, that doesn’t walk away, and gives them a chance to show what’s beneath that surface that they kind of portray in front of everyone else,” Ashley declares further, solidifying what we could see beautifully throughout the season as we understand that because the two characters can see much of themselves in the other, protecting and caring for the other’s heart becomes a priority. “And whenever Kate and Anthony are alone, something always happens cause it goes deeper and deeper,” Ashley confirms, allowing us to hope in the details that for Kate and Anthony, there will never be moments where the couple isn’t growing for the better.
“It’s thrilling to think about what the future holds for them,” Jonathan Bailey chimes in with, bouncing off of Ashley’s comments about how passionate their relationship is with his own take on the enemies-to-lovers trope. “It is really passionate and actually, the enemies to lovers trope is obviously one of the most enjoyable sort of romantic tropes. Because what is that? That’s about identifying something you don’t like about yourself in someone else which means you have the similarities, which means it’s passionate, it’s complicated, and it’s a shared identity.”
As fans will see on-screen, Simone Ashley and Jonathan Bailey are correct in the shared identities between Kate and Anthony. And it’s utterly captivating how brilliantly this is echoed in their performances through the symmetry in their physicality, the expressions they wear solely around each other, and the words they speak even in silence.
In unmasking it all, Bailey calls it a “psychological nudity“—a form of unveiling that we can notice is both healing and gratifying, inspiring both characters to finally find laughter and serenity together.
Bridgerton Season 2 is will be streaming on Netflix on March 25.