‘Bridgerton’ Casting Director Says She Gets Tons of “Unsolicited” Fan Audition Tapes: “It’s Sex Basically”

(L to R) Luke Newton as Colin Bridgerton, Nicola Coughlan as Penelope Featherington in season 3 of ‘Bridgerton.’

Liam Daniel/Netflix

Bridgerton casting director Kelly Valentine Hendry revealed that she gets tons of “unsolicited” emails with fan auditions for the hit Netflix series.

Hendry said in a recent episode of the Should I Delete That? podcast that she is constantly having to go through and delete messages in her inbox, noting that it’s always “90 percent” full of spam from fans.

“It’s every day…I get the most unbelievable videos, unsolicited,” she said. “It’s sex, basically. It’s not actual sex but it’s quite punchy, the stuff that comes through to me. It’s not nude pictures, but not far off. It’s a bit sad, really.”

At the moment, the casting director added that many fans are aiming for the role of Sophie Beckett, the love interest of Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) in Julia Quinn’s books, which inspired the Netflix romance series. However, the Bridgerton team has yet to confirm which love story will be the focus of season four.

Elsewhere in the podcast, Hendry even recalled one audition tape she received included a “heavy-duty” banner of a woman dressed in a period costume large enough to hang off “scaffolding.”

Bridgerton, which is known for its steamy sex scenes, recently debuted its third season on Netflix. Its storyline centered on Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and Colin Bridgerton’s (Luke Newton) friends-to-lovers trope.

In May, Coughlan told Stylist that she took some creative control over her intimate scenes in season three, specifically asking to be naked on screen as a “fuck you” to critics of her body and appearance.

“I specifically asked for certain lines and moments to be included,” the actress said at the time. “There’s one scene where I’m very naked on camera, and that was my idea, my choice. It just felt like the biggest ‘fuck you’ to all the conversation surrounding my body; it was amazingly empowering. I felt beautiful in the moment, and I thought: ‘When I’m 80, I want to look back on this and remember how fucking hot I looked!’”

The first three seasons of Bridgerton are currently streaming on Netflix.