When it comes to new characters in Bridgerton Season 3, no one has piqued my curiosity more than Lord Marcus Anderson, the estranged brother of Lady Danbury. But it turns out, the actors who portray them, Daniel Francis and Adjoa Andoh, have a history that adds another layer of intrigue to their characters and performances.
Anyone with a Netflix subscription who has watched Bridgerton now knows about Lord Marcus Anderson. His presence has certainly been felt, particularly in his interactions with Violet Bridgerton. However, the past between Lady Danbury and Marcus is far from smooth, setting the stage for intense scenes. I had the chance to speak to Daniel Francis, the actor who brings Marcus to life, and he had nothing but praise for his on-screen sister, Adjoa Andoh. However, he also revealed that he has a history with her, adding to that fun on-screen dynamic. He said:
I mean, Adj is fantastic. I love Adjoa to bits. And I've known Adjoa for years — we were in Young Vic at the same time 14 years ago. It was insane. But I hadn't seen her since. Yeah, I don't think I'd seen her since then. But Adj is the type of actress who is so alive and so giving and so active and doesn't pull up punches and you know that you can really bring everything to it. And I think it shows in those scenes. I remember when we were filming it and we had a few people around going, 'Man, this is a scene. This is a really meaty scene.' So when I watched it back and I said to Adj, I was just watching her performance and she was just so raw, so powerful, just mastered it. I loved it.
Young Vic is a well-known venue in London, so it would only make sense for two of Bridgerton's top talents to have been there together at some point. And mixing that fact with the notion that Bridgerton is one of the best shows to binge on Netflix, it's wild to consider how full-circle this all is.
While there are other captivating romances in Bridgerton Season 3, such as the special love between Penelope and Colin and the quiet charm of Francesca and John Stirling, the prospect of Violet finding love again has captured my heart, especially since we haven’t seen that type of older love on Bridgerton yet. Adding Francis and Andoh's history into this story only makes it even better too, since on-screen they play siblings who also have a past together.
Francis went on to say that he enjoys playing Marcus in those scenes alongside Lady Danbury and the Ton, mainly because it's like an "outsider" coming back into society, almost like he is a curious child exploring the world once more:
I think it is the fact that he is the outsider coming in and rediscovering the tone and rediscovering this world. I found him very mischievous and curious. And it is always fun to play those types of characters, because you have to always be alive as an actor. He's almost like a child. And I think that's the kind of endearing thing about, for me, the endearing thing about him is that childlike state. Although he's a grown-up – he's a man and everything, and he's grown up – but there was this sense of playfulness and this sense of childlike exploration that he brings.
Lord Marcus Anderson had certainly brought that childlike curiosity with him to the Ton for Season 3. However, that curiosity, alongside those intense scenes with Lady Danbury, could either lead to his triumph or his downfall in the second half of Bridgerton Season 3 as his relationship with Violet evolves.
The public has seen four episodes of Bridgerton thus far as part of the 2024 TV schedule, and they've witnessed those iconic pop songs-turned-orchestral pieces and steamy intimate scenes that are different from previous seasons. Plenty of online chatter has arisen about what we can expect next because of all of this too. All I can say is that I have a feeling we're about to experience a lot more drama, especially from Lady Danbury and Lord Marcus Anderson, and knowing the actors' shared history makes all this even better.
