Adjoa Andoh and Golda Rosheuvel are taking on a new chapter in Lady Danbury and Queen Charlotte’s lives in Bridgerton Season 4.

Blavity/Shadow and Act’s Managing Editor, Trey Mangum, spoke to Andoh and Rosheuvel about their characters’ emotional storyline this season, involving Lady Danbury (Andoh) wanting to retire from the socialite scene.

Lady Danbury reflects on her past

“I think she wants to do one particular thing and that [is] she wants to go back to her ancestral homeland,” said Andoh. ”So, we know from Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story that she was taken at four from her home and sent to England to be raised to marry this old man, which she does. They have the kids and then she has to kind of… make a life for herself. I think we get to a point in life where we need to reflect on who are we, where are we from, where are we going, what’s going on? And I think when her brother comes back in Season 3, it kind of upends her.”

“We haven’t seen Danbury with kids or family or any of that stuff, you know, since the Bridgerton Story,” Andoh continued. “And so he kind of shakes her world up. He gets in the way of her friendship with Violet Bridgerton. She (Danbury) doesn’t know why he’s here, really. And it discomforts her. I think it starts to make her think about her childhood, her family, who she was, and she gets to the point where she can’t go forward in her life until she goes back and has a sense of what that is. …[I]n order to take care of herself, I don’t think she can carry on doing what she’s doing until she does that.”

Queen Charlotte feels blindsided

Rosheuvel, who plays Queen Charlotte, describes the queen’s reaction to her best friend wanting to leave as emotional and as “a betrayal.” This is especially in light of the fact that Lady Danbury has been the person to keep the queen grounded throughout her marriage to the king, who has been slowly dying from mental illness.

“It’s like every emotion is just one word. You know what I mean?” she says of the queen’s harsh reaction to Lady Danbury’s desire to leave. “And you’re like, no, absolutely not because of this, because of this, because of this. My husband, [etc.] …in that one word, her whole life flashes in front of her.”

“I think it’s all very emotional. You know, I’m not a logical person in real life. I lead with my heart completely, so …I wanted to connect to that part of it,” she added. “You know, it absolutely makes no sense to her emotionally. It is like [a] rollercoaster. The storm is in there and she has to try and find a way to calm all of that. But it’s difficult for her because it’s so painful and it feels like a betrayal.”

Listen to the full interviews with the main cast above.

The first part of Bridgerton Season 4 is now streaming on Netflix.

Adjoa Andoh

Get relevant content delivered to you once a week