Adjoa Andoh might be high society in the Bridgerton world, but for the British actress there’s only one Lady in scriptwriting – the show’s creator, Shonda Rhimes.
Andoh was full of praise for Rhimes and Bridgerton, as she revealed why she had been attracted to playing Lady Agatha Danbury in the ground-breaking period drama.
“It’s based on an internationally best-selling series, it’s being driven by the queen of long-form narrative Shonda Rhimes and is on this bonkers platform, Netflix, that goes everywhere,” she said to a charmed audience.
She was talking at the Italian Global Series Festival today after receiving her Maximo Excellence Award in Rimini this week. The award closely followed Andoh wrapping filming on Season 4 of Bridgerton, as she revealed on Instagram last week.
Andoh is also set to appear in Season 2 of spin-off series Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story. She didn’t reveal details of the show’s second run when quizzed, but instead praised Rhimes’ writing, noting how she had added Queen Charlotte to the Bridgerton universe and made her Black despite the TV character not existing in Julia Quinn’s book series.
“What Shonda Rhimes does rather brilliantly is she says, ‘What if?’, said Andoh. “You throw a stone into the pond, and see what ripples come from that.”
Responding to an audience question on whether Bridgerton and Queen Charlotte had “rewritten history” with a diverse take on royal British life in the early 19th century, she was sharp and precise.
“It didn’t rewrite history. It amplified a history that already existed,” she said. “When you saw the history of that period – regency representations with no people of color in, that was rewriting history.”
She also rejected the idea that TV series more broadly will become less diverse over time, following a question from the floor noting how many companies’ policies have shifted to align themselves with policies from right-wing governments.
“The shift [to diverse storytelling] has already happened,” she countered. “Look at the way drama is being cast across the world now. People should be free to tell the stories they want to tell, because we are all artists and artists make the work they want to make.
“We’re a global world, for good and bad. That is the fact on the ground and our stories reflect that. Reflect people and they will watch you. Reflect them and they will buy tickets for your show, your cinema or your streaming networks. It’s also about opening up markets, which is something Trump loves,” she quipped.
