Hannah Dodd and her Bridgerton onscreen mother, Ruth Gemmell, visited the press day for the The RHS Chelsea Flower Show in London yesterday, May 20th. Hannah and Ruth specifically visited ‘The Bridgerton Garden’, a garden that is inspired by Penelope’s journey from overlooked wallflower to someone who defiantly embraces their true self. You can check the pictures in our gallery:
Hannah Dodd is on the digital cover of the summer edition of Elle Nederland! In the interview, Hannah talks about her role in Bridgerton, as well how she felt accepting the part, her hobbies and more. You can check the photoshoot in our gallery and the interview bellow. PS: Since the interview is in dutch and I don’t speak it, I had to translate it on google translate. So, I’m sorry if there are any errors!
When it is announced in May 2022 that Hannah Dodd would take over the role of Francesca Bridgerton from Ruby Stokes, she shared the news on Instagram with the caption: ‘Terrified. I’m going to do my best, I promise.’ Almost two years later, she seems to have made the role completely her own and she plays the piano as easily and moves as effortlessly in Regency dresses as she skips carefree through the lawn of Parc Broekhuizen during the shoot.
Do you still find it as scary as it was two years ago?
‘I remember being so nervous when I got the part. But as soon as I walked onto the set, I noticed that everyone was very warm and welcomed me. You keep that nervousness a bit, but that helps too. It keeps you on your toes. We shot the scene where you see Francesca for the first time in season 3 on the second day. The whole family looks for her while she quietly plays the piano in Bridgerton House, and Johnny (Jonathan Bailey, ed) had to fight back from laughing when he heard me play and at the same time had to say how good it sounded. The ice was broken immediately.’So you’re not a piano virtuoso like Francesca?
“Not even a little. I did take piano lessons, but I only learned the pieces, rather than actually learning to read and play music. My piano teacher didn’t understand how I played without looking at the music, but it’s kind of like dancing with your fingers. I expected to remember those dances as a fun party trick, but as soon as we finished the scene I forgot about the piece again.’You are a trained dancer. Are we going to see you in your element on screen?
‘Bridgerton wouldn’t be Bridgerton without a big ball or two. We discussed whether Francesca is a good dancer or not. I see her as a very diligent student, someone who works hard to be good. Whether that’s dancing or playing the piano, or when she enters the marriage market and has to find a husband.’
Hannah Dodd gave an interview recently to Elle Magazine where she talks about playing Francesca in the third season of Bridgerton, her relationship with Ruby Stokes and much more. Check the interview bellow as well a new promotional photoshoot for Netflix:
Hannah Dodd likes to say that she shares Francesca Bridgerton with Ruby Stokes. After Stokes originated the character in the first two seasons of the hit Regency-era romantic drama Bridgerton, Dodd has taken over the coveted role of the sixth Bridgerton sibling for the show’s highly anticipated third installment, the first half of which is now streaming on Netflix.
“Francesca is such a gorgeous character that it takes two people to get to tell her story, but I’m not trying to erase the fact that Ruby played her first,” Dodd tells ELLE.com on a recent video call from her flat in London. “I think we had a little chat when [my casting] announcement came out, and we were always liking each other’s stuff [on Instagram]. I congratulated her on her job; she congratulated me on my job. So it’s really lovely to share this with her.”
Dodd, by her own admission, was not expecting to audition again for Bridgerton. In the spring of 2022, Dodd—who had been in the running three years earlier to play Phoebe Dynevor’s character, Daphne Bridgerton—responded to a confidential casting call. The title and character name were clearly being kept a secret, but Dodd remembers self-taping a scene about a maiden at a ball.
It wasn’t until months later that Dodd learned, on the day of her Zoom meeting with Bridgerton producers, that she was a frontrunner to play Francesca. “I had no time to prepare in any way, so I just had to listen to what it was that they wanted and respond. It meant that I didn’t go in with any sort of preconceived ideas, which is a completely different way of working. Normally, I like to prep and really be ready,” she says, admitting that the experience was oddly “freeing,” if a little intimidating.
Dodd learned that she had landed the part at a family party, the day after her father’s wedding. “My agent had lied to me. He had said that I was going to go in again the week after because he knew that I was at a wedding, and I’d [otherwise] be thinking about it the whole time,” she recalls. Her agent decided to call only if there was even more cause for celebration—and indeed, there was. “I had loads of family and friends there, and it was the last day before my sister went back to Australia, so it meant that we got to have that moment [together], which was really nice.”
Hello everyone, sorry for being MIA! I’ve finally updated the gallery with the missing photoshoots of Hannah for the Brigerton S3 Part 1 release. They include ones from different magazines, as well portraits and an ad campaign for the Bridgerton x Libert collaboration. You can check all of them bellow:
Hannah attended today alongside her co-stars Jonathan Bailey and Jessica Madsen the Bridgerton Promenade Season 3 Event in New York City. You can check the photos in our gallery:
Hannah Dodd is the cover of the new edition of YOU Magazine where she talks about getting her role in Bridgerton, life before acting and more! You can check the interview bellow and the photos in our gallery:
Imagine doing audition after audition for a role in Bridgerton, only to lose out in a gut-wrenching final round. Imagine watching it turn into one of Netflix’s biggest shows while you remain stuck in an admin job, juggling spreadsheets.And then finding out there’s a juicy part waiting for you in the third season after all. You could say it’s all been a lot for Hannah Dodd to take in.‘I felt like a competition winner being taken around the set,’ the 28-year-old actress says about joining the period drama as Francesca, the shyest of the aristocratic Bridgerton siblings. ‘I thought I’d stepped into my TV screen.’ With her wide almond eyes, Dodd reminds me of a young Kate Moss, albeit from sleepy Colchester instead of gritty Croydon.She twirls around the photo studio in bright yellow Louis Vuitton (she’s had dance training since the age of two). ‘Oh yeah, get that ballet out,’ she says, stretching her leg at an extraordinary angle while poised on a chair in huge heels. She winces. ‘My muscles are like, “Ain’t done this in a while!’’’These are Dodd’s first steps inside the Bridgerton hit factory. The series is made by Shonda Rhimes, the American creator of Grey’s Anatomy, who signed up to make shows exclusively for Netflix for a reported £115 million in 2017. But Bridgerton still surprised everyone when it smashed the streaming giant’s record in 2020 for its most watched English-language drama.Two years later, it broke its own record. Season three is out this month.The show is also a star maker. Set in the 19th-century court of the fictional English Queen Charlotte, it is based on the novels by Julia Quinn and focuses on the eight Bridgerton siblings as they enter a London society dominated by Lady Whistledown, the anonymous gossip columnist.The racy first season transformed the lives of Regé-Jean Page, who played the Duke of Hastings, and Phoebe Dynevor, who was Daphne Bridgerton, his love interest. Both were relatively unknown, two alumni of BBC One’s teen drama Waterloo Road. However, 12 sex scenes and 113 million viewers later, both became global names.The same Bridgerton magic was sprinkled on the careers of Simone Ashley (Kate Sharma) and Jonathan Bailey (Anthony, Viscount Bridgerton) in the second season. This third season centres on Nicola Coughlan (Penelope Featherington), but the guaranteed fan favourite? Hannah Dodd.
With only 6 days until the release of the first part of ‘Bridgerton’ Season 3, numerous of interviews of Hannah and her castmates have been released! You can check all of them, so far, bellow:
The first interview for the Bridgerton Season 3 press tour is here! Hannah Dodd, alongside Claudia Jessie and Jessica Madsen talk with People Magazine en Español about their characters in the show’s new season. Check it out:
I’ve been finally able to find HQ pictures of Hannah Dodd’s photoshoot for the #10 issue of The Glass Magazine. You can check all of them in our gallery:
Hannah Dodd is as versatile as she is specific. The actor’s portfolio is impressively vast. From her major role as Sarah Chapman in Enola Holmes 2 to Francesca in Bridgerton season 3, her other credits include Anatomy of a Scandal, Eternals and Fighting With My Family, her trajectory is ever exciting. Having found comfort in the stage through dancing, which she excelled in from the mere age of two, Dodd graduated with a BA in theatre dance at the London Studio Centre in 2017 and just a year later, made her television debut as ballet student Thea Raphael in Find Me in Paris.
The determination and endurance required for a career in dance has built Dodd’s into the ideal candidate to navigate the complex landscape of a career in acting too. “Dancers and actors need a lot of strength and grit. Yet we’re also hyper-vulnerable people… Because we’ve seen rejection and hardship, we’re not afraid to show love and our emotional side. Living in tension of opposites,” she explains to Glass.
The physicality demanded from the dance profession has become a steering guide when approaching her role as the pianoforte-playing Francesca in Bridgerton. Dodd tapped into the technical aspects of dance and transposed them into learning to play the piano. “I just learned, essentially, hand choreography,” she curtails.
The embrace of the technical aspects of acting is what makes her so brilliant, but for Dodd, it can often be a hindrance. “We dance in mirrors to be able to see what we need to improve on. That doesn’t work on a film set. So, I find it difficult watching myself as an actor because I can’t go in and change the finished product.”
Regardless, Dodd is quick to reflect the fluctuating rhythm that comes with seeking perfection. “You have to do things time and time again until you land it right… You don’t suddenly get it perfect.”
New promotional stills from the third season of ‘Bridgerton’ have been released earlier today, including tons of our Hannah as Francesca Bridgerton! You can check all of them in our gallery:
