Shondaland says "You're welcome" for Bridgerton star Jonathan Bailey's Wicked success

[TMC]

https://www.shondaland.com/shondalan...nathan-bailey/

"We at Shondaland would like to take the unusual, unprecedented step of apologizing and also saying, 'You’re welcome,' at the same time," says Shondaland's Malcolm Venable of the Bridgerton star. "You see, when the brilliant team of producers behind Shondaland’s hit Netflix series Bridgerton selected Jonathan Bailey to play Anthony — the eldest Bridgerton son and the viscount of their noble house — nobody at Shondaland was quite aware of the new era of unholy thirst that we would go on to usher in. To be fair, yes, season one introduced Bailey as Anthony without his shirt, his abs looking every bit like something Michelangelo might’ve carved. And certainly the team — and especially costume designer Sophie Canale — knew what they were doing in season two when they had him emerge from a lake dripping wet in a white blouson clinging to his body like butter cascading down a stack of hot flapjacks. But now, with Bailey currently part of the worldwide smash hit Wicked, fan appreciation has gone to an entirely different level. And look, we get it. Bridgerton is a romantic drama, and the lead in a rom-dram based on an equally seductive book series has to lean into the, ahem, physicality of his character from time to time. But Bailey is much more than a smoke show. Part of the reason he was cast as Anthony Bridgerton is because he’s a marvelous and highly skilled and trained actor."