Every season, Bridgerton introduces fans to characters — and actors — who are instantly obsession-worthy. (Lady Whistledown would never spill her ink on anyone who wasn’t.) Prepare to open your heart to a whole new cast, as Queen Charlotte takes her throne in 2023. 

The Bridgerton prequel, created by Shonda Rhimes, escorts us into the past, exploring the very beginnings of the love story between Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel) and King George (James Fleet) — a rare presence in the original series. Bridgerton universe newcomers India Amarteifio and Corey Mylchreest portray the royals in the early days of their complicated marriage. Queen Charlotte uncovers the long-held secrets of the fictionalized royals, and also offers glimpses into the early days of other Bridgerton faves — while also checking in on their Regency-era lives. 

So, who exactly will you meet on this romantic journey? And which familiar Bridgerton faces can you expect to see along the way? Just like Lady Whistledown, we’ve got all the answers. 

Who is new in Queen Charlotte? 

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India Amarteifio

Few heads are fit to wear the crown (or the wigs), but Amarteifio is more than worthy. Sex Education fans remember the British actor as Moordale High student Lizzie, and in Queen Charlotte, Amarteifio portrays the real-life queen decades before she becomes the fearless royal we see in Bridgerton. Prepare to see just how young Queen Charlotte comes into the power and poise Bridgerton fans now expect. 

“[Amarteifio] worked really hard to embody the characteristics of Golda Rosheuvel, so that you could understand where Golda started out with her movements and how she became Queen Charlotte in Bridgerton,” creator Rhimes told Netflix. “She found Golda’s cadence, too. But she also did all kinds of things that I never really thought of for the character of Queen Charlotte.”

At a 2023 event for Queen Charlotte, Amarteifio called Rosheuvel’s portrayal of Queen Charlotte her “North Star.” She added, “Because without her, there would be no Queen Charlotte in the end of the day.”  

Amarteifio revealed she went through a five-month process to secure the role of the unforgettable young royal. The project was so “hush-hush,” her audition scene was a moment between Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) and Simon (Regé-Jean Page) pulled from Bridgerton Season 1. 

You can follow Amarteifio on Instagram. 

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Corey Mylchreest

Queen Charlotte has given Mylchreest his first official leading role. In 2022, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art alum appeared in The Sandman as Adonis, a man so handsome he leaves someone capable of actual magic scrambling for words. 

In Queen Charlotte, Mylchreest has the opportunity to put his potential as a romantic hero to good use as young King George III, Queen Charlotte’s besotted husband. Like Amarteifio, Mylchreest is also bringing to life a character inspired by a real-world historical figure. 

Mylchreest put great effort into connecting with King George. As he mentioned during the 2023 FYSEE celebration, he had a character book and music to get into the role. And then there was his research, which made Mylchreest “fall in love” with the royal. 

“Not only did I want to, I needed to do him justice and give him a voice,” he tells Tudum. “It felt very serious. It felt very, very much like a responsibility, a sense of crushing responsibility, which is exactly what George felt with the crown.”  

You can follow Mylchreest on Instagram. 

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Arsema Thomas

Unlike Amarteifio and Mylchreest, Thomas plays a fictional character — albeit a beloved one from both Bridgerton and the Julia Quinn books that inspired the series. Thomas portrays Agatha Danbury, the younger version of Adjoa Andoh’s Lady Danbury, in a way we’ve never seen before: married. At the start of Queen Charlotte, Agatha is a dutiful wife to Lord Danbury (Cyril Nri). 

“She’s also been married off by her parents in a way. For her, it’s very much about how to survive a world in which you have no power,” Rhimes told Netflix. 

Still determined and quick-witted, Agatha is on the path toward becoming the influential figure she is in the Regency era. Fittingly, this is Thomas’ first major role. 

Like Amarteifio, Thomas was very aware of the fact she was playing a version of a character another actor had made famous on Bridgerton. Thomas used that to their advantage, since the Agatha we meet in Queen Charlotte is only just starting to understand her power.

“I don’t know her, and she doesn’t know [herself] either,” Thomas said during the 2023 FYSEE panel. “And that is a really beautiful thing to play because if you play somebody that knows something false about themselves, you can read it immediately … So [I was] sitting in the dark murkiness of her trying to figure herself out.”

You can follow Thomas on Instagram. 

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Cyril Nri 

While you’re used to seeing Lady Danbury as Bridgerton society’s most enviable single woman, get ready to meet her husband, Lord Danbury. He’s much older than his wife, and their significant age gap has led to a deeply complicated relationship. Agatha is both repulsed by her husband and loyal to him. 

Nri has been acting on-screen since the ’80s, with guest roles in EastEnders, Law & Order: UK and Midsomer Murders.  

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Michelle Fairley

If anyone has experience playing a formidable mother and royal, it’s Michelle Fairley. The UK-born actor scored two ensemble SAG nominations for her portrayal of Game of Thrones’ Catelyn Stark, the oft-concerned mom of would-be King in the North Robb Stark (Bodyguard’s Richard Madden). 

In Queen Charlotte, Fairley ditches the Stark family’s drab black capes and furs for the finery of Princess Augusta, the de facto head of the monarchy and King George’s very, let’s say, involved mother. 

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Sam Clemmett

Bridgerton fans know that Queen Charlotte is never seen without her trusty butler, Brimsley (Hugh Sachs). Sam Clemmett gets to explore the very start of this integral relationship as young Brimsley. 

Clemmett, Sachs, and director and executive producer Tom Verica spent a lot of time discussing Brimsley’s backstory. “He’s meticulous. He’s so precise. He knows the job inside out,” Clemmett tells Tudum. “So he had to have grown up in the court and his parents would’ve grown up within the court. They would have served in some capacity.” 

Clemmett previously appeared in The Musketeers, Cherry and the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, in which he played Albus Potter on London’s West End and Broadway. 

You can follow Clemmett on Instagram.

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Freddie Dennis

If young Queen Charlotte gets a devoted butler, so does young King George. Freddie Dennis portrays the fictional valet, who will do anything for his king. 

Dennis describes his character as “deeply sensitive, compassionate and empathetic.” You may just get to see Reynolds’ softer side as he finds himself in an exciting Queen Charlotte romance. 

You can follow Dennis on Instagram. 

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Tunji Kasim

Nancy Drew viewers may know Kasim better as Ned “Nick” Nickerson, the eponymous detective’s football-playing former love interest. In Queen Charlotte, Kasim trades his Nancy Drew-approved T-shirt-and-jeans for an ensemble befitting royalty as Adolphus, Queen Charlotte’s caring brother with only the highest aspirations for his sister. 

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Connie Jenkins-Greig

Before Violet Bridgerton became the Regency era’s most loving mama, she was the precocious and openhearted Violet Ledger. Violet is a dutiful daughter on the cusp of her own debut into society. 

While Jenkins-Grieg has previously appeared in period piece Mr Selfridge and medieval-flavored movie The Kid Who Would Be King, Queen Charlotte is her first major television role.  

You can follow Jenkins-Greig on Instagram.

Keir Charles as Lord Ledger (right) in Season 1 of Queen Charlotte.

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Keir Charles 

Although Lord Ledger doesn’t appear in Bridgerton, we have his legacy to thank for all the love on display in the Bridgerton family during the Regency era. As Violet’s kind and supportive father, he’s her model for what a man should be. 

“We really get to show Violet’s relationship with her father, and I think that’s wonderful because you get to explore how she became a woman who was searching for somebody like Edmund, and how she realized that love was really important in a marriage,” Rhimes told Netflix. 

Queen Charlotte is Charles’s second major Netflix debut in 2023. You may have also spotted him in Shadow and Bone Season 2 as Colonel Raevsky, a leader in the Ravkan army who welcomes home Prince Nikolai (Patrick Gibson).

You can follow Charles on Instagram.

Liam Daniel/Netflix

Katie Brayben 

Lady Vivian Ledger taught Violet what it means to be a mother. A narrow-minded member of the ton, Lady Ledger is a traditionalist watching the world change before her eyes. 

Brayben is no stranger to historical dramas filled with powerful people. She previously played Princess Diana in King Charles III and Edith Roosevelt in The Alienist.

You can follow Brayben on Instagram.

Richard Cunningham as Lord Bute (center) in Season 1 of Queen Charlotte.

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Richard Cunningham 

While Queen Charlotte often relies on the counsel of Lady Danbury (Andoh) in the Regency era, Princess Augusta gets her advice from some very different sources. First, there is Lord Bute, a conservative aristocrat prone to alarm.

Cunningham has already portrayed one fictional nobleman: Lord Westcott in the soapy drama The Royals. He also appeared in The Witcher Season 2 as Crazy Man. 

Neil Edmond as Earl Harcourt (right) in Season 1 of Queen Charlotte.

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Neil Edmond

Earl Harcourt is Princess Augusta’s other councilor. He is also loyal to tradition and tends toward concern.

Aside from decades working on British titles including Peep Show and Mount Pleasant, Edmond has also popped up in two American sitcoms: Parks and Recreation and Speechless.

Nick Wall/Netflix

Guy Henry 

This mysterious doctor is brought into the palace to treat Prince George.

Henry has made a career out of appearing in major franchises with roles in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and Part 2. 

Nick Wall/Netflix

Peyvand Sadeghian 

While young Queen Charlotte and young King George have Brimsley and Reynolds, Agatha can turn to Coral, her convivial lady’s maid and closest confidante.

Queen Charlotte is Sadeghian’s second high profile show debut this spring. She also stars in The Power, a sci-fi series based on the New York Times bestseller of the same name. 

You can follow Sadeghian on Instagram and Twitter.

Can the Bridgerton Cast Correctly Guess These Regency Terms?

Which Bridgerton cast members are in Queen Charlotte?

Golda Rosheuvel as Queen Charlotte (right) in Season 1 of Queen Charlotte.

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Golda Rosheuvel

Rosheuvel has become the embodiment of taste and glamour for her turn as the Bridgerton universe’s discerning royal, Queen Charlotte. Prior to slipping into her character’s petticoats, she appeared in the series Luther and EastEnders, as well as the Florence Pugh-starring film Lady Macbeth. 

Expect to get even more insight into Regency era Queen Charlotte, as the new series explores its titular monarch’s love story past and present. “My part of Queen Charlotte is set between Season 2 and 3 of Bridgerton. And how I describe it is that it’s the backstage stuff that you don’t [normally] see in Bridgerton,” Rosheuvel says. “It’s a kind of behind-the-scenes look into my timeline.” 

You can follow Rosheuvel on Instagram. 

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Adjoa Andoh

Andoh has created the ton’s most formidable matron with Lady Danbury. She’ll reprise her role in Queen Charlotte, giving us a glimpse into the high society lady’s life in between busy social seasons. 

“What we discover in Queen Charlotte is [Agatha and Violet’s] different marital histories, and what that has done to their sense of what is valuable in marriage,” Andoh says. “Whether it be love, or whether it be safety or security through alliances, or how you stay authentic in your own heart whilst in the middle of something that seems transactional.” 

Outside of the sumptuous Bridgerton world, Andoh has made a name for herself in the fantasy realm. She is a longtime member of the Doctor Who universe, and stopped by The Witcher Season 2 for a memorable appearance as the sage-like Nenneke. 

You can follow Andoh on Instagram and Twitter. 

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Ruth Gemmell

You can’t have Bridgerton without Violet Bridgerton, the proud mama of the ton’s eight most exciting siblings. Like Lady Agatha and Queen Charlotte, Violet appears in Queen Charlotte to give viewers a deeper look into what matriarch fans may think they already know inside and out. 

“What’s really lovely for me is that you get to see that life is not over for Violet, and that there is more to this woman than being solely the mother,” Gemmell teases. 

While Gemmell is clearly at home in the glitzy balls of the Bridgerton universe’s Regency parties, she can fit into any part of history on camera. You can spot her in the World War II drama Home Fires, the 1930s jazz mini series Dancing on the Edge, and the Victorian horror gothic Penny Dreadful. 

Nick Wall/Netflix

Hugh Sachs

Queen Charlotte truly can’t go anywhere without Brimsley — including Queen Charlotte. Benidorm comedy alum Hugh Sachs appears in the series, always just a few paces behind his clever queen. 

Sachs and Clemmett, who play Brimsley at different times in his life, would chat often during production about their shared character. “Whether it was new bits of backstory, or a new piece of information that’s come through on a script, we would go, ‘Oh, that’s really interesting. How might this manifest for him in the future and in the younger version of him?’ ” Clemmett says. 

Dame Julie Andrews

It wouldn’t be the Bridgerton universe without Lady Whistledown’s dulcet tones narrating all the romance and drama. Andrews lends her Oscar-winning voice to Queen Charlotte, as the series bounces between the Regency era and the Regency period. 

You can follow Andrews on Instagram.

Additional reporting by Chris McPherson.

How India Amarteifio Was Cast in ‘Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story’India Amarteifio is joined by castmates Golda Rosheuvel, Arsema Thomas, and Corey Mylchreest to discuss how she was cast and became the perfect younger version of Queen Charlotte.