After roughly a year-long wait, the PBS drama, Sanditon, has finally returned for Season 3. While this will be the final set of episodes for the Regency romance, it’s already gone a long way toward setting up the challenges that all of our favorite characters will be facing as the season rolls along, with the premiere bringing up lots of thoughts for me as Charlotte returned to town with her new fiance in tow.
As anyone who watched the first episode will know, this season has seen several new faces (and a couple of faces we’ve barely seen on the show before) come to the small but intrigue-filled seaside town. So, if you’re wondering where you may have seen these new Sanditon cast members before, let’s take a look at some of the things they’re all known for!
Edward Davis (Lord Harry Montrose)
Playing the recently arrived Lord Harry Montrose (who the season premiere showed is keeping quite a secret, which saw him and his family abandon another town after he caused a bit of a scandal) we have Edward Davis. The actor is likely best known for his recent appearance in Season 2 of the Netflix fantasy hit, Shadow and Bone, where he portrayed Prince Vasily in the fourth episode, but the talent has also been seen in 2018’s TV mini-series, The Little Drummer Girl, and big screen efforts like Emma. and Pokémon: Detective Pikachu.
Emma Fielding (Lady Montrose)
Portraying Lady Montrose, a mother who wants her adult children to finally marry so their fortunes will be set and they can stay away from scandal, is Emma Fielding. She’s been a fixture on TV in the U.K. since getting her start on screen in the early ‘90s, and may be most recognizable for her time in series such as Cranford, Van der Valk, Unforgotten, Silent Witness, and DCI Banks, and also played Nicolette in the 2018 Les Misérables mini-series. She’s also voiced characters in video games like Steelrising, Call of Cthulhu, and Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III.
Liam Garrigan (Samuel Colbourne)
As Alexander’s brother, Samuel, who comes to Sanditon to provide some much needed assistance to Georgiana (and was nearly a new love interest for Charlotte), we have Liam Garrigan. He will almost certainly be a familiar face to lovers of fantasy dramas, as he portrayed King Arthur in the ABC hit, Once Upon a Time from 2015-2016. He also starred as Ian Al-Harazi in 24: Live Another Day, and Sgt. Liam Baxter in Strike Back, along with roles in shows like The Terror and Alex Rider, and films like Cherry and Transformers: The Last Knight.
Alice Orr-Ewing (Lydia Montrose)
Alice Orr-Ewing plays Harry’s sister, Lydia, who is in no mood to marry simply for money as her mother wishes. The actress was recently seen as Senator Vivyn in Andor, and has also appeared in series and mini-series like This Is Going to Hurt, A Very English Scandal, Settling, Victoria, Endeavour, and Poirot. She’s also been in films such as The Last Letter from Your Lover, The Theory of Everything, and Atonement.
James Bolam (Rowleigh Pryce)
Playing cantankerous town investor Rowleigh Pryce this season is James Bolam, who is probably best known for his 10 years as Jack Halford on the British police dramedy, New Tricks. In his over 60 years on screen, he’s also appeared in shows like Born and Bred, Grandpa in My Pocket, and Cold Feet.
Cai Brigden (Ralph Starling) And Sophie Winkleman (Lady Susan)
Technically, we have seen both Cai Brigden and Sophie Winkleman on Sanditon before, but the former only appeared briefly in the Season 2 finale (when Charlotte announced her major decision), while the latter had a guest role in two episodes of Season 1, and this season marks their first time as official members of the main cast.
Brigden has been on shows like Chewing Gum, Doctors, Street Fighter: Resurrection, and Doctor Foster. Winkleman has appeared in films like The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (where she played an older version of Pevensie daughter, Susan), and portrayed Zoey for 18 episodes on Two and a Half Men, Big Suze on Peep Show, and Kinvara on C.B. Strike, among many other credits.
All in all, I’d say it’s incredibly likely that you’ve seen or heard the new cast members on Sanditon before, but if you haven’t, now you know where else you can find them.
