How to Audition for ‘Bridgerton’

Each season follows a specific Bridgerton sibling as they set out to find a match among the London “ton.” The series also focuses on the Featherington family, led by striving matriarch Portia (Polly Walker); and Lady Agatha Danbury (Adjoa Andoh), an expert in the goings-on at the court of Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel). The story is narrated by mysterious gossip pamphleteer Lady Whistledown (voiced by Julie Andrews). 

Season 1 focused on Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor), the eldest Bridgerton daughter, and her tumultuous romance with confirmed bachelor Simon Basset, Duke of Hastings (Regé-Jean Page). The second season followed Anthony, the head of the Bridgerton family, as he became embroiled in a love triangle with Kate (Simone Ashley) and Edwina Sharma (Charithra Chandran).

Season 3 turned its attention to the third Bridgerton son, Colin (Luke Newton). In a break from book order, this installment is based on the fourth novel in Quinn’s series, “Romancing Mister Bridgerton.” The true focus of the season, however, was Colin’s love interest and longtime friend, Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan)—who, upon the Season 1 finale (spoiler alert!) was revealed to be Lady Whistledown herself. When Colin returns to London at the beginning of the third season, Penelope initially gives Colin the cold shoulder, having decided she’s over her long-standing crush. But when he agrees to be her matchmaking mentor, the two discover they belong together after all.

Season 4, based on Quinn’s third book in the series, “An Offer From a Gentleman” will take its cues from Cinderella as second son Benedict (Luke Thompson) falls for the woman whom he knows only as the Lady in Silver at his mother’s masquerade ball. That woman happens to be Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha), a maid who snuck into the ball uninvited. Benedict vows to find his mystery woman, but he also finds himself unexpectedly drawn to Sophie, not realizing she’s the one he’s been searching for all along.

Like iterations past, Season 4 will feature series regulars we’ve come to know and some new faces, too:

• Luke Thompson as Benedict Bridgerton
• Yerin Ha as Sophie Baek
• Jonathan Bailey as Anthony Bridgerton
• Victor Alli as John Stirling
• Adjoa Andoh as Agatha Danbury
• Julie Andrews as the voice of Lady Whistledown
• Lorraine Ashbourne as Mrs. Varley
• Simone Ashley as Kate Bridgerton 
• Masali Baduza as Michaela Stirling
• Nicola Coughlan as Penelope Bridgerton
• Hannah Dodd as Francesca Stirling
• Daniel Francis as Marcus Anderson
• Ruth Gemmell as Violet Bridgerton
• Oli Higginson as Footman John
• Florence Hunt as Hyacinth Bridgerton
• Martins Imhangbe as Will Mondrich
• Claudia Jessie as Eloise Bridgerton
• Luke Newton as Colin Bridgerton
• Katie Leung as Araminta Gun
• Michelle Mao as Rosamund Li
• Emma Naomi as Alice Mondrich
• Golda Rosheuvel as Queen Charlotte
• Hugh Sachs as Brimsley
• Will Tilston as Gregory Bridgerton
• Polly Walker as Portia Featherington
• Isabella Wei as Posy Li

Kelly Valentine Hendry was the principal CD for Seasons 1 and 2. Her U.K.-based company, KVH Casting, also assembled the ensembles of “Fleabag,” “The Wheel of Time,” and “Bridgerton” spinoff “Queen Charlotte.” Cole Edwards, who was previously a casting associate on the series, took the reins for Season 3. There’s no word on whether or not there was another leadership change ahead of Seasons 4, 5, and 6.

As with other Rhimes series, such as “Grey’s Anatomy” and “How to Get Away With Murder,” the ensemble of “Bridgerton” spans a wide variety of races and ethnicities—something that, even a few years ago, would have been unheard of for a period drama. It’s a conceit that, in a break from Quinn’s novels, is worked into the story itself.

“I’m ashamed to say that the word ‘inclusive’ only started to be used a few years ago in our business,” Hendry told British Vogue. “It was a world of white men making content through their own lenses. It wasn’t until recently that I felt confident enough to challenge the people I answer to.”

Hendry told us that she casts a wide net when looking for new talent. “That doesn’t take away the importance of training and drama schools, but if we are to be inclusive with our casting, we should be allowed to look for talent anywhere and everywhere. And we do. I won’t give my secrets away here. What I will say is I snoop around on fan sites a lot and pinch ideas all the time.”

When getting in touch with a CD via email, Hendry recommends using a subject line that’s brief and to the point. “For example, in ‘The Last Kingdom,’ [I told actors if they] happen to be Scandinavian, you put: ‘Scandinavian 6'5" actor re: “The Last Kingdom.” ’ I’m definitely opening that, because I’m running out of big, strapping Vikings! So just be clear in the subject [line], and keep it short, simple, and specific.”

She encourages actors to get comfortable with self-taping, particularly if they don’t have an agent. “If you get in touch in the correct manner—I just mean politely, at the right time—and you can get your self-tape to a casting director, then you’re off,” she says. 

Hendry’s tips for recording an audition at home include:

• “I don’t like white backgrounds. They don’t make you look as good. You want a blue or a gray, and you want to light yourself.” 
• “Make sure that your sound is really good, and have your readers stand a little bit away from the camera, because you want to just hear them. Sometimes readers are terrible, and it genuinely does distract. Quite often, directors will watch with headphones on, and they’ll have really good headphones that pick up all the extra noise. It doesn’t take much for things to annoy people.”
• “Attempt to perfect your self-tape, but don’t think about it too much.”

If you end up in the room with Hendry, she says you can expect “an inclusive space—and hopefully a space [where] you can do your best work.” But there are a few things that turn her off. 

“Don’t be in any way negative or be disappointed that you are seeing an assistant or an associate and not the lead casting director,” she said. “Believe you me—you want to be in the room with them. I am often stuck on long, boring business affairs types of calls, and my team is amazing at meetings. Please give them the respect that they deserve. They are tomorrow’s casting directors.”

For Season 1, actors were asked to submit audition tapes to the producers and CDs; the team would then reach out to them to schedule a callback. 

Some actors auditioned for different roles than the ones they ended up playing. 

Bailey, for example, originally went in for the part of Simon; then, the production company and Van Dusen suggested he read for Anthony. “Ultimately, it’s really exciting when you’re told the character you should be thinking about,” Bailey told Oprah Daily. “They saw something in me, and they were like, ‘Go on—you can do it.’ ”

Hendry told Backstage, “We were lucky that we didn’t require ‘names’ for the roles, so we had a lot of freedom and could bring in anyone we felt suitable. A mixture of ideas, lists, and in-person casting kicked off the process, and then actors were either chosen by our creatives there and then, or we waited and brought most into the studio when we had the creatives in London for recalls. 

“As the episodes went on and we were down to day players, we used a mixture of self-tape requests and in-person meetings with Cole Edwards, my associate on this project, who worked extremely hard,” she added.

Hendry used this freedom to tap top actors from the local theater scene, she told Shondaland. “Because of the casting culture in the U.K., we have the theater, which is a casting director’s playground. I’ve been going to the theater three times a week for decades,” she explained. “ ‘Bridgerton’ is a who’s who of theater actors, so when my brief isn’t ‘we need big names,’ but rather ‘we want the best actress for the role,’ then I get to go and use all those years of knowledge from watching actors for hours on the stage playing different roles throughout the years. It’s easy to know that if they’re cast in something like ‘Bridgerton,’ because of whatever’s been thrown at them over the years, they’re only going to get better and better.”

Dynevor told us that, after submitting audition tapes for two different roles, she didn’t hear anything from producers for about three months. Then, out of the blue, she got a call about meeting with Van Dusen and executive producer Betsy Beers. A few days later, the team brought Dynevor in for a chemistry read with Page, who had just been cast as Simon. 

“Shonda Rhimes was in the room, which was very daunting and exciting. And the director and Chris Van Dusen, our showrunner, were in the room,” Dynevor said. “And it felt good, and there was something exciting about that. In acting, sometimes, there’s something quite intangible. You can feel the chemistry, and I felt that. But as an actor who obviously is fairly used to a lot of noes, you push that aside…. The next day, I got a call saying, ‘[the role of Daphne is] yours. Can you fly out to London in a few days?’ ”

As Hendry added, “When we saw Phoebe early on, we definitely noticed her, and she was someone we loved. But was she Daphne? Possibly, but let’s keep on going. I mean, that’s just the nature of casting. At some point, we wondered if she was Cressida, but after we saw hundreds of possible Daphnes, we kept on coming back to Phoebe. Daphne Bridgerton is one of the hardest roles we’ve ever had to cast on that show, hands down. Because Daphne Bridgerton needed to be simple; her beauty needed to be incredible because she was to be the diamond, but she also needed to be likable without doing too much. She’s quite down the center in terms of a character—she’s playful, but she can’t be too playful. Things like that,” Hendry continued. “She had to be the perfect woman. And it was Phoebe.”

Hendry told us, “I’ve cast a lot of ensembles, and I really love it when there is a massive world to create. In that world, there are lots of different forms of chemistry: friends, families, and lovers. There was a clear distinction from the start between the Bridgertons and their neighbors, the Featheringtons. And once we cast a couple of them, the rest were easier to add.”

“I’ve cast a lot of ensembles, and I really love it when there is a massive world to create,” Hendry said. “In that world, there are lots of different forms of chemistry: friends, families, and lovers. There was a clear distinction from the start between the Bridgertons and their neighbors, the Featheringtons. And once we cast a couple of them, the rest were easier to add.” 

The audition process was quick for Coughlan. “When I went for the first audition, I only had a couple of days to prepare; I didn’t have time to read the books or do anything like that,” she told Parade. “I just thought, I’ll give this a go, and if I get a second call, then I’ll read everything. But that didn’t happen; I just got the job.”

Hendry said that although many of the older cast members are well-known in the U.K., they still auditioned for their roles. “You know what I love about the cast of ‘Bridgerton’? They nearly all read for the parts, and that is highly commendable, especially for the older actors. I respect that hugely. We did ideas lists so that when we did meet actors, we knew that we were serious about them already. Oh, how I wish we could have cast more.”

With Season 4 on the doorstep, there’s much more to look forward to, as Netflix renewed “Bridgerton” for Seasons 5 and 6 in May 2025. During her October 2025 appearance on “Today,” Rhimes confirmed the writers’ room was already in session, with Season 5 slated to begin filming in the U.K. in March 2026. (Fans estimate Season 5 will debut on Netflix in spring 2027 as the series averages an eight-month production schedule.) Rhimes also noted the series likely won’t end with Season 6. “If we do it right, we’ll have eight seasons, [one] for every child,” she said. “Every Bridgerton has its own story.” 

Netflix hasn’t confirmed its focus, but fans predict Season 5 will follow Eloise Bridgerton’s story, as inspired by Julia Quinn’s novel “To Sir Phillip, With Love.” And if Season 6 aligns with the novel’s timeline, it will likely follow Francesca Bridgerton’s story as told in “When He Was Wicked.”

Currently, there are no open calls. But with Season 5 set to start filming in spring 2026 and Rhimes’ goal of producing one season for each of Quinn’s eight books—as well as potential future spinoffs—there’s plenty more romance ahead.

Keep an eye on our main casting page to stay on top of the latest Netflix casting calls, and check out our guide on how to audition for the streamer so you’ll be ready when the opportunity strikes.

Be persistent. Dynevor started acting at age 11, when she convinced her parents to let her attend an open audition for the 2007 film “The Golden Compass.” Though she didn’t land that project, she got her first gig on the BBC’s “Waterloo Road” a few years later. 

She advises young actors to stick with it, even if they don’t book roles right away. “It’s funny, but it’s actually only when you start working or you get a bit of success that you look back and you go, Oh, I didn’t get that ’cause it wasn’t right, and it wasn’t the right time. So just keep going, be resilient, and learn your craft in [whatever] way you can. But know that it’ll come when you’re ready.”

Learn to deal with rejection. It’s never easy to deal with a long string of noes, so Dynevor suggests approaching auditions with a more casual attitude. “I think when things started changing for me, it was [when I began thinking that] I’m not gonna go in and beg for a job,” she explained. “That was a little bit of a turning point for me, when I just thought, You know? Fuck it. I’m just going to do what I think’s right, and they either take it or they don’t. There’s something to be said for playing a bit hard-to-get in those situations.”

Pay close attention to notes. If you’re asked to return for a callback, Hendry stresses the importance of taking direction from directors and CDs. “It is single-handedly one of the reasons that people don’t get the job. You can do a blinding audition with the directors, then I ask you to do it again, and give you a couple of little notes. If you do not do those notes, after the person leaves, they say, ‘I love their first tape, but they don’t take direction.’ Just make sure you change it as asked.”

Take time to regroup. Before starring on “Bridgerton,” Coughlan endured many a failed audition. “A lot of people think they would like to be an actor, but unless it really truly makes your heart happy, I would not do it,” she told the Belfast Telegraph. “There is a lot of rejection—an awful lot. It’s tough.” 

She quickly learned there’s “nothing wrong with regrouping,” because beating yourself up over what you think of as failures is a “horrible way to treat yourself.” 

As she noted, “You have that fear where you go, I don’t think I know how to act anymore, I don’t remember anything! You make up all these things in your head, I think it’s just like this defeatist voice.... You just have to tell it to shut off. It’s so unhelpful, it’s so stupid.” Instead, Coughlan advised actors to “stay hungry for it…. You’ve got to find the joy in whatever job you’re doing or lucky enough to have.”

Stay focused. For Ashley, every role marks an opportunity to represent those who rarely see actors who look like them onscreen. But as she told Elle, it’s important to block out naysayers who try to tear you down. “The most powerful thing you can do in this industry is to cut out the noise, stay true to yourself and just keep your head down, stay focused on your own craft and what genuinely brings you joy and inspiration—and I respect any artist who can do that,” Ashley said. 

“We live in an age where there is so much noise. The minute you look at your phone, especially on social media, there are a million opinions from different people being thrown at you—and it’s only human to let that in,” she added. “But it’s a very powerful thing to be able to shut that out and listen to that feeling of what it is you actually want.”