Daniel Francis on playing Lady Danbury’s estranged brother in ‘Bridgerton’ season 3
|Published
The “Bridgerton” franchise has taken on a life of its own with fans swooning over the series every time a new season drops.
Season three was more of an underdog love story, based on Julia Quinn’s “Romancing Mister Bridgerton” novel.
It centred on the unlikely romance between Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton), the third Bridgerton son, and Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan), the youngest Featherington daughter.
This new instalment ushered in a few new faces, too. Sam Phillips, as Lord Debling, was a potential albeit practical match for Penelope.
The other new faces were Hannah New as Lady Tilley Arnold, an enigmatic badass widow who shows Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) a whole new world, and Daniel Francis as Lady Danbury’s (Adjoa Andoh) womaniser brother, Lord Marcus Anderson.
Suave and charming, Lord Marcus is drawn to Lady Violet (Ruth Gemmell), much to his sister’s annoyance as that is her trusted friend.
In a recent interview with Francis, he revealed how he came to be a part of Shonda Rhimes’s critically acclaimed period drama.
“I was filming another show, ‘The Wheel of Time”, and the insane casting director Kelly Valentine Hendry - she has really looked after and championed me, so deeply grateful to her - suggested it. I was doing this show that couldn’t be further from the world of ‘Bridgerton’. It was a fantasy show, I had prosthetics on.
“And when the tape came through, I was like, God, ‘Bridgerton’, really? That’s not my world. I didn’t see anyone that looked like me. I was in a completely different zone. ‘Bridgerton’ has a lot of beautiful people and my character in ‘The Wheel of Time’ was just not that. I wasn’t in that headspace.”
But on the nudging of a fellow actress, he ended up submitting an audition tape, got a chemistry reading and the rest is history as we now know it to be.
Lord Marcus’s arrival doesn’t sit well with his sister. The two have unfinished business that dates back to the time before Lady Danbury got married.
As such, the tension between the two is palpable.
It is strained further by his flirtatious interactions with Lady Violet. Lady Danbury attempts to distract him by introducing Lord Marcus to other available women at the town. But they don’t catch his interest in the same way.
On stepping onto the set of a period drama, Francis shared: “With ‘Bridgerton’, you have got the period that is different. The social constructs are different. The dress code that are so many shifts from where we are today.
“It was fun immersing myself in the world and the culture of the time. And then, looking at the character specifically: who he is, where he is from, his background and what has shaped him.
“Again, being an actor, the history lesson that you get. The research that you are able to dive into and the discovery of different psychologies is a beautiful thing.”
He continued: “With the script, there are different layers. The actual story and themes are universal and it is why it resonates with the costumes and the aesthetics. It strikes people at a deeper level. That is what struck me at the gate, love and how important it is.”
On working alongside the inimitable Andoh, Francis raved: “Adj is a powerhouse. She is a phenomenal actress. She really gives everything in every scene.”
He added: “Who doesn’t like dressing up? My first job outside of drama school was at the Royal Shakespeare Company and the first play that we did was ‘Twelfth Night’ with John Lithgow and we were in costumes. It was just the most fun.”
Although Francis was unable to confirm whether or not his character would be returning in season four, fans can also catch him as Albert Onwori in the AppleTV+ British-French thriller series, “Liaison”, with Vincent Cassel and Eva Green.
∎ “Bridgerton” 3 is streaming on Netflix.