The cutest Grosvenor Square pup has arrived! While many diehard Bridgerton fans are looking forward to watching how Lord Anthony Bridgerton’s love story with Kate Sharma will unfold, the duo have some scene-stealing competition from her “somewhat overweight” corgi.
“Newton is beloved, and I always wanted to include him in this season,” showrunner Chris Van Dusen told Entertainment Weekly in an interview published on Wednesday, February 9. “There’s a little arc for him that audiences can look forward to.”
Season 2 of the Regency-era drama, which premieres next month, follows Julia Quinn’s The Viscount Who Loved Me novel and, true to the book, Kate’s devoted pup, Newton, will prominently be featured. Kate (Simone Ashley) and her canine companion have a close bond in the story, which helped the 26-year-old Sex Education alum bond with the pooch.
“I’m really good with dogs, so he responded to me well,” Ashley told EW. “He was a little bit sass and goes off and does his own thing, but I like to think when we were together, he listened to me. Whenever we would do a line run and Newton was there, he would just get in the middle of the circle and roll on his back and be like, ‘Hey, what’s up?’ That was quite cute.”
However, her onscreen love interest — Anthony, played by Jonathan Bailey — did not feel the same kinship to the acting dog.
“Austin played Newton and it’s a sterling, stunning performance, but do you know what? We didn’t get on,” the Olivier winner, 33, joked to the magazine. “He just loved the sausage and there’s nothing wrong with loving the sausage, but it was more the way we had to hold little crumbs of sausage in my hand to try and get him to jump in my lap. … It’s amazing that I got to work with him because he’s obviously going places, but we didn’t really click.”
Fans got a sneak peek at Newton, who often inserts himself — and Kanthony — into precarious situations, via a social media teaser. The official Bridgerton Instagram account shared a photo still last month of Kate and Edwina (Charithra Chandra) perched on an upholstered loveseat alongside Newton.
“One of the buildings we filmed at, there was pebbles on the driveway,” Ashley told the outlet of working with the dog. “I’d have him on the leash and he’d just be eating the stones and pooping out stones in between takes.”
Season 2 is also set to follow sisters Kate and Edwina Sharma (alongside their mother Mary) as they arrive in London for the next social season, with their faithful pup in tow.
New episodes of Bridgerton premiere on Netflix beginning March 25.