Shonda Rhimes isn't angry about Regé-Jean Page leaving ‘Bridgerton’
Shonda Rhimes at the Elle Women in Television Dinner
The showrunner of the hit Netflix period drama totally understands why the 31-year-old actor - who played The Duke of Hastings in the first season of the show.
Shonda explained it does not make "any sense" for him to linger in the background of the scenes, with future seasons of the show focusing on different characters.
She said of the actor: "He's an enormous star now. As I like to say, the idea that we would write Regé to stand around in the background doesn't make any sense at all to me. 'What would he do?' is what I like to say."
Regé's scenes with Phoebe Dynevor's Daphne Bridgerton set pulses racing and made the series one of the streaming giant's most popular shows and Shonda admitted that when “everybody lost their minds” at Regé’s decision to leave the show she attempted - and failed - to lure him back.
Rhimes explained: "Rightfully, he said, 'I signed up to do this one lovely story, this closed-ended storyline. I'm good!'"
"And I don't blame him for that. I think that he was really smart to leave the perfection as the perfection."
In April, the sexy smash hit was renewed up until a fourth series, however Shonda saw no limit to how far it can go as there is a variety of characters to focus on.
The ‘Scandal’ writer said: “There are eight Bridgerton siblings, and as far as I’m concerned, there are eight ‘Bridgerton’ seasons and maybe more.”
Regé-Jean has a number of other projects lined up since leaving the show, including movies 'Dungeons and Dragons', based on the game of the same name, and the spy thriller 'The Gray Man'.
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