British Chinese actor James Phoon, who recently joined the cast of “Bridgerton” Season 3, expressed excitement for the upcoming queer content on the hit show.
Key points:
- Phoon plays Harry Dankworth, the husband of Bessie Carter’s Prudence Featherington.
- The out gay actor is “very excited” about the showrunner’s promise to introduce a queer storyline.
- Phoon highlights the value of having actors from diverse backgrounds play both straight and queer roles.
The details:
- Showrunner Jess Brownell recently confirmed plans to incorporate queer romance into “Bridgerton,” following the successful LGBTQ+ storyline in the prequel, “Queen Charlotte.”
- Phoon recently told Pink News that such content is important for representation.
“I think ‘Bridgerton’ does a lot of work in terms of putting this diversity at the forefront of its stories. Although it’s in this fictional Britain, and the representation we see isn’t exactly the way that Britain was in the 1800s, these people did exist in terms of different races, people of different gender identities, people of different sexualities.”
Trending on NextShark: Interview: Lee Jung-jae on his journey from ‘Star Wars’ fan to Jedi master in ‘The Acolyte’
- He also highlighted the presence of diverse communities in the Regency Era, noting that the first Chinese person gained British citizenship in 1805. “It’s very possible that there were other Chinese people… and there were mixed race children like me… and we don’t hear these stories,” he added.
“It’s really interesting as well because this show is so set around this courting season in London. It’s all about this male-female relationship dynamic, so it’s going to be interesting to explore how a queer relationship fits within that society that is so specifically focused on men and women.”
Tangent:
- Phoon has previously starred in the BBC queer slasher comedy “Wreck” and is currently performing in the play “Underdog: The Other Other Brontë” at the National Theatre in London.
-
Season 3, Part 1 of “Bridgerton” is currently available to stream on Netflix. Part 2 is set to arrive on June 13.
