Introducing Masali Baduza: Actress Joins Bridgerton Universe in Season 3 Part 2
In the season 3 finale of Bridgerton, actress Masali Baduza joins the cast as Michaela Stirling, John Stirling’s cousin, who is married to Francesca Bridgerton. While Michaela’s character doesn’t appear in Julia Quinn’s books, her role seems inspired by Michael, John’s cousin, from When He Was Wicked.
In the novel, John dies, and his cousin Michael later falls in love with and marries Francesca. Baduza’s portrayal suggests a plot twist, possibly involving a queer narrative. This addition expands the world of Bridgerton, deviating from the original source material while providing exciting opportunities for character development and storytelling.
Deadline reports that Jess Brownell, the showrunner for Bridgerton, has disclosed that she had always imagined a queer narrative for Francesca’s character. As a queer woman, Brownell said that she related deeply to Francesca’s experience of feeling different from her family and the world around her despite not knowing why.
Although the book blames introversion for this, Brownell thinks that a lot of queer people can connect to the sense of being different from an early age. She decided to gender-bend a character for the show, Michaela Stirling, as a result of this understanding.
Baduza was raised in South Africa
The actress revealed that she was raised in East London, a suburb of Cape Town, South Africa. Baduza told The Independent that she was born “shortly after apartheid ended” in the 1990s.
According to Baduza, laws and attitudes from the apartheid era persisted during her time in school. She said that there were regulations governing what they could and could not do with their hair, one of which forbade Black girls from sporting their natural afros because it was viewed as disheveled and unprofessional.
She continued by saying that growing up with such a mindset as a young Black girl was traumatizing because it left them with the impression that their core identity was inadequate.
She has appeared in shows like Noughts + Crosses and The Woman King
Baduza graduated from the Los Angeles-based New York Film Academy in 2016. In 2019, she made her big screen debut in the Bollywood-inspired film Bhai’s Café. Her career took off after she was cast in the 2020–2022 season of Noughts + Crosses. Baduza played Sephy, the lead character in the BBC drama series based on Malorie Blackman’s 2001 book series of the same name.
The narrative is reversed to reflect the possibility that Africa colonized Europe. According to Baduza, the story’s goal is to challenge white supremacy by using African culture to show what it’s like to be a person in a world where the majority culture is white. Baduza provided this description to British Vogue.
She revealed to British Vogue how much fun it was to enter the Noughts + Crosses world, where African culture was celebrated with pride. Her words, “It was a lot of fun.”
Furthermore, in a Glamour interview, showrunner Jess Brownell revealed that they flew Hannah out as soon as they saw her tape for a chemistry read with Bridgerton.
ALSO READ: Bridgerton Season 3: 10 Biggest Changes From The Books