'Bridgerton's Jonathan Bailey Says He Ensured Co-Star Simone Ashley 'Felt Safe' During Sex Scenes

The second season of the Netflix series premieres on March 25.

Jonathan Bailey is sharing how Bridgerton's cast and crew work hard to ensure everyone feels safe during sex scenes. 

In an interview with The Sunday Times, the actor detailed how things go down when filming the show's intimate scenes, which includes the presence of intimacy coordinators on set, who ensured that "no one goes into a scene quaking, worrying about how it will go."

"If you are concerned, you can talk to them," he explained, adding that actors were also given consent forms to sign before each scene that detailed "which bit of skin we are going to show in each scene and where we will be touched and how."

"It turns sex scenes into a choreographed dance," he added.

For his part, the actor shared how he ensured that his frequent scene partner, Simone Ashley, always felt comfortable when they were shooting intimate scenes together. 

Bailey plays Lord Anthony Bridgerton, who takes the reigns as the leading character during the show's second season focusing on his quest for love. Although Anthony sets his sights on Edwina Sharma (Charithra Chandran), he is told that he must "tame her sister," Kate Sharma (Ashley). This turns out to be a dangerous course of action as Anthony tries to get in Kate's good graces only to find himself in a bit of a steamy love triangle. 

Ashley and Chandran are both new to the Bridgerton cast, and so Bailey told the outlet that he set out to make sure Simone "felt safe as a newcomer on set."

Even though the show's loves scenes are generally shot by "the female gaze," which means it's portrayed from the woman's point of view, the 33-year-old actor noted that the experience can still be overwhelming. 

"For a man, it is less exposing," he admitted. 

Bailey spoke with ET in January of last year to offer a preview of what's to come for Anthony on his road to find love.

"It's just going to get more exciting and convoluted and sexier, I think," the actor said, adding the series will surely "be pushing boundaries every single way" and "that the story is going to be really exciting."

"I think Chris Van Dusen has got this amazing ability to take Julia Quinn’s extraordinary books and her amazing worlds that she delicately filled with excitement and sexiness. And he takes it to a whole other level," Bailey said, when asked how much the new season will parallel the narrative in the books. "So the fact that we’re following Anthony’s pursuit for love shows that you know there’s definitely going to be some similarities."

Bridgerton season 2 hits Netflix on March 25. 

RELATED CONTENT

Latest News