Sophia Soto
One of the most enjoyable aspects of Bridgerton is how each love story utilizes a new romance trope. This season mixes a Cinderella reimagining with reality and forbidden love as viewers follow Benedict Bridgerton’s (Luke Thompson) search to discover the identity of the mysterious Lady in Silver (Yerin Ha), whom he met at his mother’s masquerade ball.
“I mean, even though that she had a massive mask on her face, I think to have a man really chase after her, like already start with a little fib, and that kind of opens doors into being curious as to why this person is so adamant in being so interested in her, which is something that no one has done in her life,” Ha told me. “And so, seeing this genuine interest in someone being interested in her, and also being present and not thinking about other ladies in the ton and seeing which one’s better, like he just kind of is so sucked into her and whisks her away. I think there’s something about energy as well when you just feel like someone is so open and listening to you, you kind of get sucked in, and you want to be able to share more.”
“There’s something about the world of fantasy that it can all happen so quickly. I think that’s what’s so arresting. I think that’s what completely destabilizes both of them is that they are in this almost, not make-believe world, but this sort of bubble outside of reality, and in those bubbles, things can happen so quickly,” Thompson added. “I remember there’s a quote from the book, which didn’t make it to the screen, but actually encapsulates that, I think, which he says something about, ‘Well, let’s cram a lifetime into this night.’ There’s something about that idea of time, sort of completely both stopping and also just like, it’s a whole lifetime in one moment, which is the whole love at first sight trope. But I think it’s to do with that thing of how fantasy, whether it’s wearing a mask at a ball or going outside in the middle of the night and being taken by the moon or whatever, that can sort of, in a moment, just erase all the sort of strictures of reality within a second. And it doesn’t last forever, but it’s amazing when that happens.”
It turns out that the Lady in Silver is actually Sophie Baek, a maid and illegitimate daughter of the late Lord Penwood. Since the two are from different classes, society dictates that she would not be allowed to have any sort of real relationship with the second Bridgerton son.
“Minus the masquerade ball, it feels, to me, like a completely different story. And so, I wasn’t focusing so much about their happy ending or wherever it may go, but genuinely more about what is Sophie’s insecurities and flaws that she carries so closely to her chest that she can’t let somebody in? I think playing with her own flaws is the thing that I focused on more,” she shared. “I know that we do say it’s a Cinderella-inspired story, but to me, it felt like all the scenes post that masquerade ball felt very different. So yeah, it just felt like I was more honoring the present moments and the scenes at any given time, and the obstacles that I had to overcome in those scenes, and then hopefully, feeling like all those jigsaw puzzles will come together.”
Meanwhile, Thompson has starred as Benedict since the show’s first season. The character has become a fan-favorite, with audiences eagerly anticipating his turn in the spotlight for Bridgerton’s adaptation of An Offer from a Gentleman, which is the third novel in Julia Quinn’s series.
“There’s a few moments, I think, in this season where I feel like people will be like, ‘What? No, no, no, no, no, no,’ because the expectation has been led down a certain path,” he expressed. “That’s what’s so strong about the story and the writing, suddenly, you get a complete curveball, or someone says totally the wrong thing, and from an actor’s perspective, that’s really fun to play because it’s quite fun to be able to sort of cut against stuff. But more importantly, I think, it’s also just that’s what the story is. The tension between those two things that you’re talking about is literally what their struggle is, so you just go on that journey. That’s literally, I think, what the Benedict [and] Sophie story is about, is how you tie in fantasy and reality.”
Watch Awards Radar’s full video interview with the actors below, where we talk about the beauty of the kite scene, all of the different elements of Benedict and Sophie’s story, the significance of their first meeting, and much more.
This interview will contain spoilers for Part 1 of Bridgerton season 4, which is now streaming on Netflix. Part 2 will be released on February 26.
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