It looks like Sex Education's very own Simone Ashley has been confirmed to play Kate Sharma in Bridgerton season two, and we couldn't be more excited to welcome her onto the hit Netflix show!
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Simone confirmed the very exciting news by sharing an article about the casting on her own Instagram account. According to Deadline, the show will change the book character's name from Kate Sheffield to Kate Sharma, and she and her family "were conceived by the series’ producing team as being of Indian descent in a continuation of the reimagined, multi-racial world of 1880s London’s high society".
WATCH: Bridgerton season two is on the way!
Kate is set to play the main love interest of Anthony Bridgerton, as season two will focus on his desire to find a wife despite being determined not to marry for love. However, he will get more than he planned after the headstrong Kate.
SImone plays Olivia in Sex Education
Speaking about what to expect from the second season, Julia Quinn told The Sun: "Anthony is going to get it bad. Jonathan Bailey played him so well; you still love him, but he needs to be taken down a peg, and he is going to be taken down so many pegs. It's awesome."
Anthony will meet his match in season two
So what does this mean for season one's leading couple, Rege Jean Page and Phoebe Dveynor? According to Julia, they will still be in season two. She said: "They do show up in the [second] book. The series doesn't follow the book word for word - and I don't think [it] should. So I hope so, for no other reason than Daphne has the right to interfere with Anthony's life. To deny her that chance would be criminal. I think it would be lovely to see."
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Nicola Coughlan, who plays Penelope Featherington, previously opened up about expecting to see Kate's character on set after reading the novels out of order. She told Decider: "I started annoying everybody because I started being like, 'What about Kate?' And they’re like, 'Kate doesn’t exist yet! Stop.'"
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