Bridgerton star Luke Thompson has revealed that he trained for sex scenes that never happened after an on-set mix up with his co-star Luke Newton.
Fellow Netflix star Nicola Coughlan detailed the confusion ahead of the premiere of the second season on the streaming platform later this week.
She said that the show's bosses mixed up the two Lukes, who play Bridgerton brothers Benedict and Colin, explaining that Luke Thompson was offered a personal trainer for ‘intimate scenes’.
She said: “We don't get all the scripts at once, so he was like, ‘I wonder what that's going to be?’”
However, when it came to shooting the show, the showrunners realised the confusion as the 33-year-old actor didn't actually have any raunchy scenes to film - but they still allowed him to keep the personal trainer.
This comes amid reports there is noticeably less sex in the show’s second season, as showrunner Chris van Dusen defended the decision and said fans should not be put off.
“It was never about quantity for us,” he explained. “Our approach to intimacy on the show really is the same as season one.
“We use these intimate scenes to tell a story and to push the story forward. We've never done a sex scene for the sake of doing a sex scene, and I don't think we ever will.
“It all serves a larger purpose and it's a different story this season. It's different characters. We're with Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) and Kate (Simone Ashley) most of the season and that's very different from Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) and Simon (Regé-Jean Page).
“And that's really part of the draw to me of a project like this, the ability to tell these close-ended love stories of different characters season after season.”
Lead actress Simone added: “It makes sense for these characters because they're so protective over their families and they're so truthful to their duties and responsibilities – so for them to break that wouldn't have made sense for the characters.
“And as Chris has said, they aren't performative sex scenes or intimate scenes. They have a meaning behind them and I think it's very earned when the fireworks happen.”
Co-star Jonathan echoed Simone, adding: “I think Kate and Anthony feel explicit in the way that they feel naked in front of each other.
“I think that's also a very interesting, cerebral way of exploring that innate sexuality, and I think it bodes really well for the following seasons, to not just be... about sex.
“That is a huge part of it, but there are so many other amazing things that are explored and will be explored going forward.”
The second season of Bridgerton will drop on Netflix on March 25.
