Any Bridgerton fans still holding out for a possible return of Regé-Jean Page to the Netflix series might want to look away now.
Just a month after the actor shut down rumours that he was set to return to the period drama for its upcoming third series, Regé-Jean has now doubled down on those comments, even declaring that he’d have no qualms if his character Simon Basset was recast.
*clutches pearls, starts furiously fanning self*
Regé-Jean played one of the romantic leads in the first season but did not return for the second, which was released earlier this year.
In an interview with Variety at the LA premiere of his new film, The Gray Man (above), Regé-Jean insisted his days of playing the “Regency fuckboy” (his words) are definitely over.
“They’re free to do as they like,” he said. “Shonda [Rhimes, executive producer on Bridgerton] and I had a wonderful conversation at the end of Season 1. We were quite happy with how we stuck the landing on that one.”
He continued: “We did so well on that redemptive arc that people forget that Simon was kind of horrific.
“He was the best example of a Regency fuckboy that any of us had come across. And so, because we came around full circle so well, because we stuck that landing, you’re left with this great feeling.
“You really do have to be brave about ending stories like that.”
Regé-Jean also admitted that he still hasn’t tuned into the second series of Bridgerton, which debuted on Netflix in March.
After hanging out with former co-star Jonathan Bailey, who plays Anthony Bridgerton, at Milan Fashion Week last month, Regé-Jean posted some snaps on Instagram.
“The boys are back in town (No, I’m not going back to the show btw – the papers made that one up), he captioned the pics.
“But we had the best, and most stylish, catch up I’ve had in a while over some truly excellent Italian coffee and sunshine.”
Bridgerton series 1 and 2 are streaming on Netflix now.