“Bridgerton” officially confirms Yerin Ha as Benedict's season 4 love interest Sophie as rehearsals begin
The "Halo" star has already hit the dance floor with Luke Thompson to prepare for the Cinderella-inspired season.
Dearest gentle reader, Netflix has at long last confirmed that Yerin Ha has joined the ton as love interest Sophie in Bridgerton season 4.
The announcement comes as the Korean-Australian star, best known for her roles on series Halo and miniseries Bad Behaviour, has begun dance rehearsals with costar Luke Thompson, who is set to headline the new season. Adapted from the Julia Quinn novels, the Cinderella-inspired season 4 will center on Thompson's second eldest Bridgerton son Benedict as he meets and falls in love with a mysterious masked woman (Ha) at his mother's masquerade ball.
Related: Bridgerton season 4 is finally Benedict's moment, what will that mean?
The source material's Sophie Beckett is now Sophie Baek, who "has been forced to spend much of her life working as a maid for the most demanding employer in the ton," reads the synopsis. "But the resourceful Sophie always finds a way to persevere through her circumstances, which will drastically change" after she meets Benedict.
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"We had a dance rehearsal today. I’ve only stepped on Yerin’s toes once, which is good," Thompson quipped to Netflix's Tudum in a new interview published Wednesday to coincide with the casting confirmation.
Ha added that the dance lessons have been "really special and very vulnerable," adding, "The dancing is like an extension of their emotions, and a way for them to connect."
As for the Baek name change — the series followed a similar route with the casting of Simone Ashley's season 2 love interest Kate Sharma, originally Kate Sheffield, to reflect Ashley's Indian heritage — Ha worked with showrunner Jess Brownell to figure out the best Korean moniker.
“It’s a really nice way for me to feel like the role is fit for me, rather than me having to fit a certain mold,” Ha told Tudum. “It’s amazing what it can do just in a psychological sense. So it means a lot that Jess did that for me.”
Related: Bridgerton finally addresses Benedict's sexuality, but what does it mean?
Season 3 of the record-shattering Netflix hit centered on the love story between Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) and Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan), the latter of whom reveals to her longtime crush and husband her secret identity as Lady Whistledown. The Newton and Coughlan-led season quickly became the series' biggest debut ever with a staggering 45.1 million views on opening weekend.
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