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SpoilersforBridgertonseason three, part two follow.
Theres a commonBridgertonproverb that states its anything but common for a ladyto speak her mind.
Thats what makes the arrival of Lady Tilley Arnold so tantalizing.
Oh yeah, and she loves a good threesome.
We preen and we promenade.
We leave calling cards and we marry.
There is so much in society that is unnatural.
But a feeling between two people, whatever their sex, is the most natural thing in the world.
One particular widowed duchess, she discovered, was almost a direct parallel to Tilley.
Thats a woman from history who we never hear about, New says.
There should be more of them on television.
Your character is the rare addition who was created for the series.
Why was Tilley deemed important enough to write from scratch?
What is her purpose?The writers wanted another strong widow.
Widows are kind of in control of the ton.
Theyre the people who make the matches happen.
But the writers were keen to bring in a widow who wasnt interested in the marriage mart.
Shes just her own independent woman emotionally, financially, and sexually.
She wants to be involved in the arts and sciences.
I think audiences were yearning to see somebody like her.
I didnt get a trauma read from her.
Could you elaborate on that?Grief is a bang out of trauma.
Tilley has gone through those stages and processed them.
Her trauma and grief are what make her such a resilient person.
I like to think she had a genuine love marriage and her husband was much older.
Theres a sense he opened up her world.
I need a bit more of that for myself, too.
I like to base my characters on somebody from history and have them anchor the character.
So when I did my ownBridgertonresearch, this amazing woman popped up named Harriet Mellon.
When he died, she inherited the majority of his fortune, which his extended family wasnt happy about.
But she got absolutely slammed in the press; she was a victim of a Lady Whistledown-esque press.
She gave me life for this character.
I even went on JSTOR.
She wants people to be a little critical.
Benedict comes into the tent and makes that throw in of remark without even seeing her.
Theres a magnetism that goes beyond observing someone.
Theres a sharpness in his expressions.
He surprises you in every single scene.
I have the sense that Tilley had been observing how Benedict moves in a different way from others.
Shes trying to see why people hide and why people arent coming forward.
Luke and I talked about this intensely.
We think theres a meeting of the minds.
Theres a lot of humor between them.
Shes somebody who searches for what brings joy in life, and Benedict is a joyful character.
Thats where their relationship starts to unfold.
She sees that he needs to be coming out of these shadows to fulfill his own desires.
Shes seen that people can live very depressed lives because theyre suppressing these feelings.
Tilley doesnt want that to happen to Benedict.
We have an intimacy coordinator, which is really important theyve changed the game.
But you’re able to only do that when youre in a safe space.
Working with Luke and Lucas Aurelio, who plays Paul, was a beautiful experience.
Every single look and every single move had to function like a line of dialogue.
It had to have a subtext under it.
That created a bubble of safety.
Paying homage to people who live in polyamorous relationships is important.
I did a lot of reading about it, and I feel theres some misunderstanding.
But it was nice to not have the feeling of being left on a cliffhanger with too many questions.
Tilleys final scene was a beautiful summary.
