Bridgerton: Rege-Jean Page Turned Down A Handsome Salary For Second Season, Only To End Up Adding Two Flops To His Filmography! (Photo Credit – IMDb)
Advertisement
Bridgerton Season 3 won hearts when it premiered on Netflix in 2024. The third chapter focuses on the love story of Penelope and Colin, taking center stage. But fans can’t help but look back at the stories of Seasons 1 and 2, which laid the foundation for this successful series.
While Kate and Anthony returned for Season 3, Phoebe Dynevor and Rege-Jean Page, The Duke and Duchess of Season 1 did not. Did you know that Rege-Jean Page said no to £250K ($317K) because he didn’t want to return to Bridgerton?
The news of everyone’s favorite Duke not returning for Season 2 was heartbreaking. Rege-Jean Page, who played the lead in the season, bid his goodbye to the show and even refused to return as a guest star. The news had gone viral at the time, with both Shonda Rimes and Rege maintaining that everything happened at a cordial level. However, only after that did reports suggest that things were not okay with the two of them.
Advertisement
Photo Credit – IMDb
Everyone dreams of making it big in Hollywood, and when you are lucky enough to have that opportunity come to you on a golden platter, you would not pass, it up, something similar happened to Page. The rumor mill spread the news in overdrive.
Why Did Rege-Jean Page Decline Bridgerton Season 2?
According to The Tab, It was reported that Regé-Jean Page turned down a rather astounding £250K ($317k) to star in the show’s second season. A source connected to the production informed a reputed news portal that he was offered the opportunity to return as a guest in three to five episodes of season two.
Still, he declined for “a multitude of reasons.” He was allegedly offered the role for £50K ($67K) per episode, so if he accepted the top offer of participating in five, he would have received a quarter of a million pounds for his appearances. He did so to focus on his flourishing movie career then, for Netflix’s The Gray Man and Dungeons & Dragons.
Photo Credit – IMDb
Rege-Jean Page’s Post-Bridgerton Project’s Received Underwhelming Response
Unfortunately, both these movies performed very underwhelmingly. The Gray Man was made with a $200 million budget. Since the movie was streamed on Netflix, it was hard to judge the metrics. The movie’s reviews were not great, with only a 6.3 out of 10 on IMDB and 45% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Meanwhile, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves received better reviews and ratings. But it did not make a profit at the box office. Thieves only made $205 million worldwide against its reported $150M budget.
So, whether Rege made a good decision to leave Bridgerton when he did is still up for debate. But he did lose out on a big check! Bridgerton Season 3 returned in two parts: Part 1 released on May 16, 2024 and Part 2 released on June 13, 2024. The show is now preparing to return with a fourth season focusing on Benedict Bridgerton and Sophie Beckett’s story.
