Kelly Valentine Hendry has worked on the series since it debuted on Netflix in 2020
Actresses eager to fill upcoming roles on season 4 of “Bridgerton” have overwhelmed casting director Kelly Valentine Hendry’s inbox with “the most unbelievable videos, unsolicited,” she told the hosts of the “Should I Delete That?” podcast this week. “It’s sex basically, it’s not actual sex but it’s quite punchy. It’s not nudey pictures, but not far off,” Hendry explained.
Her inbox, she continued, is presently about “90 percent” full of such messages. Many of the senders are hoping to be cast as Sophie Beckett, who marries Benedict Bridgerton in “An Offer from a Gentleman.” The role not been confirmed by Netflix.
Elsewhere in the podcast, Hendry and hosts Alex Light and Em Clarkson discussed questions that star Nicola Coughlin has fielded about her body since the release of the show’s third season. Hendry told Light and Clarkson that ideally, we could collective “get to a place where that’s not discussed” and added “it annoys me on her behalf that the questions that are heading towards her about her body shape, she’s a beautiful, sexy woman.”
Hendry also said that “it’s actually difficult to cast bigger actors” due to “the fact that I think that people, if you’re a fuller figure, let’s think about the things that have been written for people. If you’re a fuller figure, you’re always portrayed in a certain way.”
Chemistry is a major factor on the series as well, especially given the nature of many of the relationship and sex scenes. Hendry shared that while conducting chemistry tests ahead of the show’s second season, which focused heavily on the marriage between Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) and Kate (Simone Ashley) Bridgerton, Bailey revealed he’s learned to have chemistry with anyone.
“Johnny was like, ‘I can have chemistry with anyone because as a gay man, as you know, in a straight world on telly, I’ve had to have chemistry,’” she said. The actor also told her, “‘I have chemistry with no one I find that I would ever be with. So it’s just something I’ve had to learn to do.’”
You can listen to the full podcast episode here.
