\n<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been five years<\/a> since Reg\u00e9-Jean Page played Simon, the dashing Duke of Hastings, in Bridgerton <\/em>Season 1. His pitch-perfect performance established the Regency romance as the bona fide hit fans yearn for year after year. And while Page only appeared for one season, he still keeps up with the ton \u2014 and recently weighed in on his on-screen brother-in-law\u2019s polarizing proposal<\/a> in Season 4.<\/p>\n \u201cI check in every now and then [on Bridgerton<\/em>] because I have a lot of friends there and people I love, and they do wonderful work,\u201d Page told DuJour<\/a> <\/em>while promoting his new rom-com You, Me, & Tuscany<\/em>. \u201cI\u2019m not fully up to date, but I know enough not to be running around asking anyone to be my mistress any time soon.\u201d<\/p>\n Page is, of course, referring to Benedict asking Sophie to be his mistress in Season 4 \u2014 a clumsy if well-intentioned move that fans weren\u2019t thrilled about. (As Luke Thompson, who plays Benedict, told Bustle<\/a>: \u201cIt\u2019s a classic thing of someone feeling a push to change but getting it absolutely wrong.\u201d)<\/p>\n Of course, Page has been open about the fact that Simon was far from a perfect gentleman himself. As he told Variety<\/a> <\/em>in 2022, \u201cI think we did so well on that redemptive arc, people forget that Simon was kind of horrific for most of that series. He was the best example of a Regency f*ckboy that any of us have come across.\u201d<\/p>\n Because of that growth, he said, \u201cyou\u2019re left with this great feeling. And I think you really do have to be brave about ending stories like that.\u201d<\/p>\n Even so, Daphne and Simon\u2019s absence from future Bridgerton <\/em>stories \u2014 save Phoebe Dynevor\u2019s solo return<\/a> in Season 2 \u2014 has had fans pining for the show\u2019s debut couple to return. Dynevor, for her part, has expressed her readiness to come back. As she told Bustle<\/a> last year, \u201cI\u2019m waiting for it. I\u2019m not sure how Daphne would appear now, but I loved playing her.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Page has said<\/a> that he\u2019d be fine with his role being recast \u2014 but showrunner Jess Brownell has said that\u2019s not in the cards. \u201cWe are not interested in recasting the characters,\u201d she recently told Variety<\/a>. <\/em>\u201cI think it would feel like a disservice to everything Reg\u00e9 and Phoebe set up in Season 1, and all the beautiful work they put into those characters.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, she added, a cameo for the sake of it wouldn\u2019t work: bringing them back \u201cjust to say a line at a funeral… wouldn\u2019t feel right.\u201d<\/p>\n If they can return for something \u201creally meaty,\u201d Brownell continued, she would \u201clove to potentially have them back at some point.\u201d However, bringing them back \u201cjust to say a line at a funeral… wouldn\u2019t feel right.\u201d<\/p>\nFrom One Reformed Rake To Another…<\/h2>\n
The Duke\u2019s Future In The Ton<\/h2>\n