- 3 days ago
The stars of 'Bridgerton,' Luke Thompson and Yerin Ha, talk with hosts from Audacy in London about Season 4 Part 2.
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00:00I am so loving this season!
00:02Thank you!
00:04Now, we've seen, we've all seen the final four episodes.
00:07We cannot reveal any of the parts or the endings.
00:12I will say this, guys. Do not tune away during the credits.
00:17That's true.
00:18There's something you have to stay to watch.
00:21But, you know, I know that you guys are familiar with the couple's name that the fans have given you.
00:27And I hear that it's Benofi or Benofi.
00:31Benofi, I think.
00:33I would prefer Benofi because it's Sophie.
00:36Exactly.
00:38Benofi.
00:39Sophie.
00:40Benofi.
00:41Benofi.
00:42Benofi.
00:42You know, we've never had Benofi.
00:44Benofi.
00:45We've had Benofi.
00:46We've had Benofi.
00:47And we've had Soffodict.
00:49But that one didn't fly.
00:53Soffodict takes the cake.
00:55That's all.
00:56We're changing it.
00:57Do you guys love the name, the couple's name the fans have given you?
01:00It's cute.
01:01Yeah, I don't think...
01:02Well, it's better than Soffodict.
01:03So I will take it.
01:05I will say Benofi.
01:08Benofi.
01:08That's it, guys.
01:10Benofi.
01:10Yeah.
01:11Official.
01:11No more of this Benofi business.
01:13Hashtag official.
01:14Hashtag official.
01:15Start the campaign.
01:16The campaign starts now.
01:17Well, obviously the relationship between the two, as many have pointed out, is a take on the Cinderella story.
01:25Yeah.
01:26But my question is, which to you is the bigger fantasy? A Cinderella story or to be able to reform
01:34a rake?
01:35Wow.
01:36Period.
01:38Well, that's interesting, actually, isn't it?
01:39Because that is...
01:41It does use the Cinderella fantasy, really, in terms of like just some...
01:46Certainly in terms of Benedict as someone who can't quite marry fantasy and reality.
01:51You know, that sort of thing about like fantasy being what you want someone to be like and what you
01:55want your life to be like versus what it actually is.
02:00So I don't know. What do you think?
02:01I don't know.
02:02What's the biggest fantasy?
02:03Well, I think...
02:05Well, part of me is like it'd be nice to be able to feel like the credit of being able
02:10to change someone.
02:12But I've learned from experience you can't change anyone unless they want to be changed.
02:15So I am going to say Cinderella story because that's not my responsibility.
02:21Because I low-key have a feeling after watching all these people are going to be with these, you know,
02:25that are with rakes at the moment.
02:26They're like, I have hope, you know.
02:29And maybe they should let go.
02:30Some of my girlfriends are like, these men are not courting us, right?
02:33There needs to be sword fights happening in 2020.
02:35Exactly.
02:36You're not doing enough.
02:37Exactly.
02:37Yeah.
02:38Obviously, from rake to exploring your sexual fluidity, seeing you, Benedict, with another man was so important for having that
02:50diversity and that representation.
02:52Yeah.
02:53And probably a conversation that continues on in later episodes of this season.
02:57Yeah.
02:58Have you experienced even just feedback so far from people within our LGBTQ community sort of thanking you or talking
03:09to you about having that representation?
03:12Because, you know, we talk about bisexual women are sometimes glorified, but bisexual men.
03:17Yeah.
03:18It's rough for, and it was great to see.
03:21Yeah, I mean, I think what's nice also about Benedict as a character, though, is that he, it's quite refreshing
03:29and quite unusual to see a male character not have a lot of angst around sex.
03:36You know, like, I think the thing that makes it rough, I think, is that people, I think we have
03:40this idea of male sexuality as being quite rigid.
03:42You know, you're either one thing or you're the other sort of thing.
03:45And I think it's really refreshing to see a character for whom, you know, sexuality is not, well, sex, I
03:52guess, more generally, doesn't seem to sort of have, like, it's not something he worries about.
03:58Mm.
03:58And it doesn't seem to have, like, a huge bearing on his sense of himself in a way that I
04:04think, you know, it's, you know, we reflect in different experiences.
04:08Like, obviously, there are those stories of, like, repression and coming out and all of that, and that's important as
04:12well.
04:12But I think it's also quite striking to have a character who, you know, is sort of, and I do
04:17think, like, he probably could have ended up with either a man or a woman.
04:22Yeah.
04:22But I think, yeah, love is where it falls.
04:25And it was Sophie, you know, and I think, I just think that's very refreshing to see that.
04:31Yeah, it was very normalized.
04:32Yeah, yeah.
04:33It was great.
04:33Good.
04:34You clearly are, like, a free spirit.
04:36You do what you want, with who you want, when you want.
04:39Yeah.
04:39That being said, if Benedict had an Instagram in the 1800s, what would he be posting?
04:51You, as in, like, give me a bit more Instagram, what sort of, like, what do you post on Instagram?
05:00Do you think he'd be doing, like, TikTok dances?
05:03I know that's not Instagram, but yeah.
05:04No, I think he'd be a bit, like, influency.
05:07Yeah, yeah, yeah.
05:07Like, you would be like, I'm taking this today.
05:10Yeah.
05:12He's got, like, a skipper too.
05:14Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
05:15Yeah.
05:15Here's my tequila.
05:17That's a good one.
05:18You would be an alcohol ambassador.
05:21There we go!
05:22An alcohol ambassador influencer.
05:24Yeah.
05:25Yeah, gin.
05:26Gin.
05:26Mostly focusing on gin.
05:27Yeah, yeah.
05:28Honestly, maybe you should make one, like, a Finstrap, just like Benedict doing all of these influencing things.
05:33Yeah, absolutely.
05:34Oh, that would be adorable.
05:36And then attempting to do a TikTok dance after you've had some of the gin.
05:39Absolutely.
05:40Yeah, yeah.
05:40Absolutely, yeah, prime content.
05:42Do you want to find it interesting, you were born in England, but grew up, you were raised in France.
05:48That's right.
05:49And you speak French fluently.
05:50Yes.
05:50There was a scene in the, what is it, the My Cottage scene?
05:53Yeah, it is.
05:54In episode three.
05:54Where Sophie's trying to teach you how to speak or pronounce the French words properly.
06:00Yeah.
06:00How hilarious was that behind the scenes?
06:01It was so stressful.
06:02I won't lie.
06:03You're doing a fluent-ish French accent in front of someone who's fluent.
06:08You had a great accent.
06:09You did, you did.
06:10But also, like, I think it's nice because I think it speaks to the character.
06:14Like, I think he's someone who, you know, dabbles in things but doesn't fully commit to anything.
06:21It's quite difficult to sort of...
06:23We kept having to calibrate it.
06:24Like, I think we redid the sound for it because I was like, you're too...
06:27It's too bad.
06:28Yeah.
06:28Or it's not quite bad enough.
06:31So, yeah, it's hard to calibrate.
06:32It's a bit like asking someone who can sing to sing out of tune.
06:35Yeah.
06:36Actually, weirdly, it's much more difficult to sort of trick yourself into not knowing.
06:40Yeah.
06:40Speaking of the My Cottage episode, this, of course, where that relationship strengthens
06:47and you guys kind of really fall in love.
06:50I heard somewhere that that was actually the first scene you guys had shot together?
06:55Mm-hmm.
06:55Yeah, we shot the kite scene for the first time, on the first time, the first day.
07:00Oh, wow.
07:02So I always think it was really nice because that's where Sophie, I think, really lets her walls down.
07:07And that was a good thing for me to be like, I can let my walls down and stop having
07:13preconceived notions about how the shoot's going to go,
07:15what Luke's going to be like to work with.
07:17And actually, we just had a really fun time.
07:19It was. It's a beautiful scene.
07:20Yeah.
07:20And I think it's quite a nice sort of, in a strange kind of way, like a sort of sum
07:26up of their relationship.
07:27You know, like I think Sophie sort of grounds Benedict and he allows her to sort of fly and dream
07:34a little bit and play.
07:34Yeah, exactly.
07:35And there's something like quite, like, I think it's nice because it's very innocent and a bit childlike.
07:39And I think a lot of, you know, the love stories can often feel a little bit more, I don't
07:47know, there's just something,
07:48there's a nice innocence, I think, about Benedict and Sophie, certainly in the early parts.
07:53So it's nice.
07:54It's nice to sort of see that as well.
07:56Yeah.
07:56Your character, Sophie, has gone through so much from losing her father,
08:00then becoming, as we compared it to the Cinderella of the family,
08:05and it seems like you're just yearning for love but were scared to kind of jump into love,
08:10especially when you don't feel worthy of.
08:13But at the same time, through all that pain, I feel like you were, you had so much strength.
08:18Where do you think your character got that strength from if you didn't have a mom or a good stepmom
08:22or people to lean on?
08:24Well, I think it's interesting because there's another layer of the class disparity and I think for Sophie so much
08:29of her life has been survival and made to feel invisible.
08:35But yet she fits in this weird position because she kind of grew up having a taste of nobility but
08:42also not.
08:43But I think probably her father instilled in her a sense of strength and also to treat people with kindness
08:53and I think that is strength.
08:55And I think she doesn't know it yet but there is strength in softness and I do think Sophie is
09:00soft at her core.
09:02But it's just about showing, yeah, that side of her.
09:06It's so complex because on the one hand there is this sort of overlying question of worthiness because of the
09:15class conflict.
09:16But then in that moment when we, ugh, we all, when it was like, will you be my mistress?
09:22No!
09:26But that she has enough self-worth in that moment to, it's like...
09:32Yeah, I love that moment that Sophie just walks away.
09:36Because essentially for maids, like if they were offered that, technically it would be an easier life.
09:42It would be so much easier, yet she doesn't pick the easy path and she doesn't go that route.
09:47There's so much self-respect for her still, you know, and there's still a sense of morals and values.
09:52But also because that word is so triggering for her and does take her back to a time where I
09:56think brings a lot of betrayal for her and things.
10:01But yeah, I just love how resilient she is in that moment, yeah.
10:04Me and my girlfriends have watched parties and obviously they adore you.
10:08And when you said mistress, they were like, boo!
10:11I just want to take that to her!
10:13I think women and just viewers have really fallen in love with you and your character for all of these
10:19reasons.
10:19I asked your castmates earlier, but I think that in the writing, Bridgerton has such a wonderful, humorous way of
10:26tackling, you know, relationship and family traumas and taboo topics, even like male sexual fluidity.
10:33And it does hold a mirror up to the audience for us to sort of take a look at ourselves
10:38and answer hard questions.
10:40It sort of really holds us accountable as well.
10:43Off screen, how has sort of the messaging and the writing and playing these characters changed you overall as a
10:51human?
10:51I see myself a lot in Sophie and I think a lot of women do too, or at least the
10:57ones that have reached out or have written letters, which has been so sweet.
11:00But I think it's always a reminder to be kind to myself and know that a journey of self-discovery
11:08is ongoing and that I am worthy and I am deserving of love and everyone is.
11:15And so I think it's just a good reminder constantly that, yeah, because I probably suffer from imposter syndrome and
11:22a bit of that as well.
11:23So it's always a good reminder to live that journey as Sophie and then for me to be reminded of
11:32those things.
11:33Yeah, I think also, you know, I've played Benedict now for five years, so I guess it's sort of that
11:40mysterious thing where you sort of grow, you know, six years is a long time.
11:45So you sort of grow up with the character, you develop. I think that's what's nice about playing a part
11:51like that is that it's strange because you look at it and you're like, parts is just like, it's just
11:55words on a page.
11:56But the fact that that can actually engage different parts of your brain or make you think differently about yourself
12:02or things, it's kind of amazing that that can happen.
12:05Sort of like the magic of acting, really, isn't it? That it's just words on a page and yet it
12:10can open up like chambers in yourself that you didn't even know you had.
12:14Yeah, and in others. And in others, yeah, exactly.
12:18Can I just say for me, I feel like Bridgerton just keeps getting better every single time.
12:22You think it can't, but how are they going to top that and they do? To your point though, sorry.
12:27No, no, no, I was going to say, I think there's a secret for me when I watch it is
12:30I think it doesn't try to top.
12:32I think like if it was trying every time to sort of write, how do we beat this moment or
12:36this scene or whatever, I think it really does take each story just on its own.
12:41And I think it lets, you know, Benedict and Sophie's love story be, you know, different and not sort of
12:48comparable in any way to any of the ones that come before.
12:51Like I think it really trusts that like, no, we're going to, you know, we're going to not, we're not
12:55trying to create like a sort of factory here.
12:57You know, we're trying to sort of give each story its individuality and I think they, yeah.
13:02I thought when they announced that Regé-Jean wasn't coming back, I'm like, I'm not going to like this anymore.
13:07And then they came back and I love this next season even more.
13:10And then I love Penelope and Colin's season even more.
13:12And then you guys, you guys, I mean, I love your season so much.
13:19I love, I love Penelope so much.
13:23That's right.
13:24I think I really feel like I was trying to decide who I felt like was my favorite character.
13:29And I think that Benedict is my favorite Bridgerton character.
13:32And I think it's because you're always exploring and not settling for what someone else wants you to do and
13:40just trying to find out who you are and live your own life story.
13:46And I relate to that.
13:49I always feel like, you know, although I'm, you know, I have a popular job and, you know, but I
13:55never, I always feel like a square peg trying to fit into a round.
13:59I always feel like I don't fit.
14:02And I feel like that's what, what your character actually essentially feels maybe.
14:07Yeah, no, no.
14:08And I'm wondering if maybe his character is so attracted to Sophie because she is also in a world that
14:15she really doesn't fit in.
14:16Although he doesn't realize it, but maybe their spirits are connected. Am I reading too much into this?
14:22There's no such thing as reading too much into something like that.
14:25No, I think that's, that's bang on.
14:26Like, I think, yeah, he's definitely, it's funny because I think they're in some ways quite different.
14:34They're, they're complementary in quite a nice way, Benedict and Sophie.
14:37Like, I think they're very different, but there's a part, there's a small part of Sophie that sort of calls
14:42to Benedict.
14:43And there's a small part, like the, of similarity.
14:45You know, I love the fact that, you know, the first time they meet the thing that Benedict really notices
14:50is Sophie's sort of awe and wonder at this like chandelier.
14:55And I think like, it's lovely because actually that's more, that's a side of Sophie that maybe is more so
15:00like in the mind, you know, in the background of her character.
15:02But it's a very big, you know, the dreaming part is a very big part of Benedict's character.
15:07And so it's like they call to each other like that.
15:09And in the same way, I think, you know, there is part of Benedict, I think, that is aware of,
15:15you know, that there is a serious side to him.
15:19I think he's avoiding it, but there is a sort of more serious side.
15:22And I think Sophie brings that out and makes that grow, which I think is the best form of love,
15:27isn't it?
15:27When you're sort of both allowing the person to be who they are, but also stretching them outside of themselves
15:33a little bit and moving stuff within them that hasn't been moved for years.
15:39You know, like stuff that's sort of calcified over years and you get to sort of, sometimes you meet someone
15:43and they'll slowly just sort of start to melt all of that.
15:47And then you, you change, you know, I think it's because it is, it's a funny thing with Benedict because
15:51I think he, yes, I think there is, it's a very appealing that side of him that is sort of
15:56like, you know, a bit of an outsider and sort of not really knowing, you know, sort of like valuing
16:00his freedom like that.
16:01But it's also a flaw because I think that stopped him from really, I think he's terrified of giving someone
16:08everything.
16:09And I think that's partly maybe where the whole be my mistress thing comes from, I think.
16:15Like, I think he's...
16:16Non-committal.
16:17Well, yeah, I think like when you...
16:19It wasn't just the society thing, it was like him not wanting to fully...
16:22Well, that's what I love about the season, I think, is that yes, there's an awful lot about the exterior
16:27pressures of society and like, you know, the fact that they're from different social classes.
16:31But I think the story is also interested in how you internalize those things as characters and how it makes
16:39you different psychologically as well, that there's big barriers inside as well as outside, I think.
17:12Okay.
17:15How would you describe your friendship off screen and how that helps you do what you do in the show?
17:23Wow.
17:23It's sort of infused with the show.
17:25It's so difficult, isn't it?
17:26Because we met and got to know each other through doing scenes together, first and foremost.
17:32You know, like, and obviously now obviously we've done, had a lot of time doing, you know, doing this press
17:36tour together and just like seeing each other outside.
17:37But to actually, it's such a funny thing, isn't it? Because I feel like you, it's so bizarre, isn't it?
17:47To sort of create that sort of familiarity through pretending to be other people.
17:52Yeah.
17:52That's so strange.
17:54Yeah.
17:54And be actually more intimate and get to know someone more through work.
17:58Yeah.
17:59Than actually getting to know someone outside of work.
18:02Yeah.
18:02But, yeah, I don't know.
18:04But it's funny, like, as I say, that you guys are saying like, oh, you can see like, you know,
18:08us looking at each other maybe like those characters.
18:11Her eyes are powerful.
18:11Yeah.
18:12No, her eyes are powerful.
18:13She can look at you and say so much.
18:15And I think we can say the same for all women because we just give the eye and you know
18:18exactly what we need.
18:19Yeah.
18:19Yeah.
18:21It's respect and admiration and all that stuff.
18:24That's awesome.
18:25Yeah.
18:25Well, we admire the show.
18:27Most of the time.
18:28We all the times.
18:29He annoys me.
18:30Something to Sophie's character and her relationship with her family and her sisters.
18:36And it feels like there's almost a longing there.
18:41Like, Sophie would absolutely, you know, want to be brought into the fold or a longing for love for them.
18:49Yeah.
18:49I was like, am I reading into this?
18:51Am I projecting?
18:52Am I reading into that or is that there?
18:54Yeah.
18:54No, I think, like, especially when Sophie meets, in the flashback scene, when Sophie meets Araminta, she's so hopeful that
19:00there's going to be this mother figure for her.
19:02And I think she longs for that and she longs for her family, which is why when she sees the
19:07Bridgerton family so be the image that she hoped for for herself, it pains her, which is probably why she
19:15can't, doesn't want Benedict to sacrifice that because she thinks family is so important.
19:21But yeah, she longs for that and I think it'd be silly to say that nobody wants a mother and
19:28a father figure in their life.
19:30But what's interesting is then to see how that affects her continuously to her adulthood and how much she can't
19:39let love in.
19:40Yeah.
19:41Yeah.
19:42I feel like you bring so much vulnerability.
19:44I would say when we were getting on the flight, I was nervous just to come here to talk to
19:48you to see the girls.
19:49Like, you just get nervous as a human.
19:50Yeah, of course.
19:51And I was like, be brave, be brave, like getting on the plane.
19:53Are there like, and then you get here and you're like, oh, it's great.
19:56It's fine.
19:57Yeah.
19:57Do you get that sort of anxiety, fear?
20:01Do you have mantras or things you tell yourself before you get out there and you're like, here I am?
20:05Yeah.
20:06And it's funny, isn't it?
20:07The time, the anticipation is always the worst bit, you know, like I think it is usually always fine, isn't
20:14it?
20:14In the end.
20:15It's always fine.
20:16It always ends up being fine.
20:18Yeah.
20:19I mean, I often think that the thing I tend to tell myself both like professionally, I think, in terms
20:25of like, the struggle is the thing.
20:30Like, no one wants to watch you be perfect.
20:31Yeah.
20:32Like, it's what you're able to do in spite of your nerves.
20:35I think, and like, and actually sometimes like particularly in acting, I think nerves are useful.
20:39Often, if you ask someone to do a scene that's very difficult, they'll feel nerves.
20:43And that's often like in a strange kind of way, your body telling you, okay, you're gonna, you're gonna go
20:48somewhere quite intense.
20:49So like, the nerves are the thing, like no, particularly in this age where like, we're sort of obsessed with
20:56perfection and AI is floating around.
20:57Like actually, you want to watch people do things in spite of being nervous.
21:03Yeah.
21:04And I think, and like work with that rather than sort of like, we shouldn't aspire to be, I mean,
21:10I think if we were not nervous, we'd be terribly boring, I think.
21:13Yeah.
21:13Yeah.
21:14It also just means you care.
21:16And also I think the thing that scares me is the thing that I know is going to stretch me
21:19and make me grow.
21:20So I do, strangely enough, as though it causes me a lot of anxiety, I do search for things that
21:27make me frightened in a good way.
21:29Yeah.
21:29We never heard you speak your French.
21:32Can we wrap up the interview?
21:34What do you want me to say?
21:35Yeah.
21:36Tell me something.
21:37What can I say?
21:39Let everyone know why, in French, why they should be watching part two of season four.
21:45The second part will be full of emotions and will bring Bridgerton into an emotional place we haven't seen.
22:02Yes.
22:06That's hilarious.
22:08Thank you guys.
22:08Thank you so much.
22:10We'll see you next time.
22:10Bye.
22:11Bye.
22:11Bye.
22:11Bye.
22:13Bye.
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