Regé-Jean Page clears up Bridgerton confusion: ‘I’ll take it as a compliment’

Frustrated actor has clearly been wanting to get this off his chest

Regé-Jean Page has cleared up the confusion surrounding a Bridgerton controversy.

The actor won fans as Simon, the Duke of Hastings in the first season of the Netflix series. In the show, his character began a love affair with Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) whom he married in episode five.

It was announced in April that their relationship won’t be fleshed out in the second season as Page has left the series. The series’ next run will instead focus on Lord Anthony Bridgerton, who is played by Jonathan Bailey, for an adaptation of Julia Quinn’s novel The Viscount Who Loved Me.

Page is more than happy to revisit his time on Bridgerton, though – and, during an appearance onVariety‘s Making a Scene, used the opportunity to get a frustration about the first season off his chest.

The actor corrected fans who have misattributed a line of dialogue to his character – despite the fact it was spoken by Phoebe. It arrives in episode five during the “burn” speech, which takes place on their wedding night.

“I do not say, ‘I burn for you.’ It’s not my line,” he said, describing it as a “Mandela effect” due to the fact that more and more people now believe it was him who said it.

“Everyone clearly was feeling very burned for, which I’ll take as a compliment,” he quipped.

Dynevor added: “You have no idea what lines people are going to care about. That was surprising to me. It wasn’t like I saw ‘I burn for you’ in the script and was like, ‘This is what people are going to talk about.’”

Regé-Jean Page and Phoebe Dynevor in ‘Bridgerton’ (Netflix)

Announcing Page’s departure from the show, the official Twitter page for Bridgerton wrote: “Daphne will remain a devoted wife and sister, helping her brother navigate the upcoming social season and what it has to offer – more intrigue and romance than my readers may be able to bear.”

Dynevor herself previously described the news as a “spanner” in the works for season two, revealing she was given the heads up about the news before it was officially announced.

Bridgerton is expected to return to Netflix later this year.