Yerin Ha is ready to be the object of Benedict Bridgerton’s desire.
Just a month after Netflix confirmed that Luke Thompson’s fan-favorite second Bridgerton brother would be the focus of season four in July, Yerin was cast as female lead Sophie Baek. And as the 29-year-old actress recalls, the process was a dizzying experience.
“The funny thing is that it all happened so fast,” Yerin told E! News exclusively at the Dune: Prophecy premiere on Oct. 30 in New York City. “It was like 10 days from my first audition to hearing that I got the part.”
The Dune: Prophecy star added, “So emotionally, it was a roller coaster.”
Season four of Bridgerton is based on Julia Quinn’s An Offer From a Gentleman—the third book in the series—and follows Benedict as he meets the mysterious Lady in Silver, only to see her again two years later, unaware that she’s the woman he’s spent years pining after.
But while the Netflix series isn’t afraid to take some liberties with the books in the past three seasons, Yerin teased one key element that will be making its way to the small screen. As she put it, “You’re going to see the Lady in Silver, and you’re going to see a love story!”
Yerin isn’t the only new addition to the ever-expanding Bridgerton family in season four. She’ll be joined by Harry Potter alum Katie Leung, who will play Sophie’s boss, Araminta Gun, a twice-married, twice-widowed mother of two who’s launching her two daughters — Rosamund Li (played by Michelle Mao) and Posy Li (played by Isabella Wei) — into the marriage business.
While viewers won’t see the love story unfold on screen for a while, as the season is still in production, Yerin and Luke have teased what fans can expect.
“The thing about season four is the struggle between a very old-school fairy tale,” Luke previously told Netflix’s Tudum. “The romance of it, and the actual reality of the world. And both are true. You have to hold both of those things—the romance and the reality—in your hands. In the best version of it, ‘true love’ happens in the middle of that.”