KUALA LUMPUR: Korean-Australian actress Yerin Ha has been identified as the new leading lady of Netflix's period romance series Bridgerton.
Hollywood entertainment portal Variety reported recently that Bridgerton, which began in 2020 and will kick off its fourth season soon, has picked Ha as Benedict Bridgerton's love interest.
The fourth season will centre on the romance of Benedict, played by British actor Luke Thompson, and 29-year-old Ha's character Sophie.
According to the official logline for the new season, Benedict is reluctant to settle down, despite his elder and younger brothers being happily married.
But he changes his mind after meeting Sophie at his mother's masquerade ball.
Sophie is a mysterious woman with a Cinderella-like backstory. She is the illegitimate daughter of an earl who is raised as a maid and suffered abuse at the hands of her stepmother.
Ha is the grand daughter of South Korean actress Son Sook of The Glory fame.
She is set to appear in the science-fiction series Dune: Prophecy, a prequel to Dune (2021), based on the novel of the same name by Frank Herbert in November.
Ha is not the first Asian in Bridgerton. British actress Simone Ashley who is of Indian descent starred in the second season.
Bridgerton has been one of Netflix's most popular series.
Its third season garnered more than 103 million views in its three months, while the first season garnered over 113 million views and the second season more than 93 million views.
The drama, set in a stylised version of the Regency era, is based on American author Julia Quinn's Bridgerton novels, which follows the romantic lives of the eight siblings from the Bridgerton family.