Tunji Kasim spoke to MovieWeb about his pivotal role in Queen Charlotte, the highly anticipated Bridgerton spin-off series.
In the words of Lady Whistledown, “Dearest, gentle reader…” thy heart will pound with glorious delight upon tuning into Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, the new Netflix miniseries that drops on May 4th. But first, there is a lot to sift through. Season two of Bridgerton wrapped in spring 2022, tying up the romance between Anthony and Kate (Jonathan Bailey and Simone Ashley) nicely. But we also saw the fallout of the friendship between Penelope and Eloise (Nicola Coughlan and Eloise Crane) after Eloise discovers Penelope’s alter ego is — clutch your pearls! — Lady Whistledown (voiced by Julie Andrews).
There’s much more beyond that, but let’s face it: Wasn’t there always more than just modest intriguing surrounding Queen Charlotte herself, brought to life with exquisite dynamism by Golda Rosheuvel? Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, created by Shonda Rhimes (Grey’s Anatomy) is a worthy companion piece to Bridgerton as it chronicles young Charlotte’s rise to power and her complicated romance with King George III.
India Amarteifio and Corey Mylchreest play the young queen and king here with Rosheuvel reprising her role as Charlotte as an adult. Ruth Gemmell returns as Lady Violet Bridgerton, too, and Adjoa Andoh is back Lady Agatha Danbury, while Arsema Thomas plays young Lady Agatha. Queen Charlotte fills in some gaps between the end of season two and Bridgerton’s upcoming third season. It’s a colorful and passionate romp, to say the least, and Queen Charlotte scene-stealer, Tunji Kasim (Nancy Drew) was enthralled with coming on board the project, playing Charlotte’s pragmatic brother, Adolphus, who escorts her to London and hands her off to King George’s court.
Tunji Kasim, who was born in Scotland and raised in Nigeria, began his acting journey at 17. After impressive theater roles, he went on to star in Good Liar, The Kill Team, and, most recently, as Ned “Nick” Nickerson on CW’s supernatural thriller Nancy Drew. The actor shares more about his role in the highly-anticipate series in this exclusive MovieWeb interview.
Enter: Your Royal Highness, Queen Charlotte
Tunji Kasim: Yes, well, and why will we love Queen Charlotte? Well, it’s very much in the same universe as Bridgerton and of course, it’s its own thing in many ways. I suppose we love it because we’ve always had, especially in the UK, a tradition of carrying on stories about historical dramas. You know, we still have a royal family. So that’s very relevant to us still, and there’s still intriguing about that around the world. I suppose Bridgerton is a brand new, very 2020-ish modern take on that classic genre, especially with diverse casting.
Kasim: Queen Charlotte is particularly relevant, I would say, and a modern comparison to Harry and Meghan. It’s about a woman coming into a rooted establishment, very much set in its ways of not accepting outsiders. That’s the story of Queen Charlotte in many ways — an outsider coming into an established monarchy and finding her place within it.
MW: Adolphus is a great character. Strong-willed. Determined. He hands off his sister to King George’s camp but has no idea of the challenges she’ll face.
Kasim: Adolphus was a funny one to take on in a sense. I like him. And in many ways, I dislike him. Ultimately what I had to do with Adolphus was just a set it up. He is a man of his time, a man that’s in charge of a country, and he has, unfortunately, first and foremost, his duties to these people. His family and personal relationships are secondary to that. He gets put in a very difficult position where he has to essentially give away his sister whom he loves, to what you would call an arranged marriage. You can easily judge him, and go, “He’s a bit of an a-hole for doing that.” But I think he’s a man of his time, and he did what he had to do. As much as he didn’t like it. It was a struggle for him.
MW: A man of his time, for sure.
Kasim: It’s what he needed to do to gain a very powerful ally in the world at the time. I love the conflict in Adolphus, and the diplomat in him. That balancing act he has to carry off. That was very intriguing for me.
