The New 'Bridgerton' Heartthrob Looks Vaguely Familiar

Alert Lady Whistledown, because there’s a new nobleman entering the marriage mart—or at least joining the Bridgerton universe. Corey Mylchreest plays the young King George III in the new spinoff series, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, and he’s sure to join the ranks of actors who became heartthrobs thanks to their involvement in the steamy Netflix period drama. (See also: Regé-Jean Page and Jonathan Bailey.)

Queen Charlotte tells the story of how the titular monarch—played as an adult by Golda Rosheuvel here and in the original show, and as a young woman by India Amarteifio—became the formidable presence she is in Bridgerton. Viewers of the flagship series already know that Charlotte is pulling the royal strings as her husband, George III (James Fleet), copes with mental illness, but the new show explores how this unusual arrangement came to be. This is Bridgerton, though, so of course there’s a fair amount of romance involved.

Related: Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story Promises Off-the-Charts Chemistry

Who plays King George on Queen Charlotte?

Corey Mylchreest plays King George on Queen Charlotte, which includes scenes from both Charlotte and George’s early days together as well as the later years we’ve seen on Bridgerton. When Mylchreest auditioned for the series, he wasn’t even totally sure what it was. “At the time, the show was really under wraps, and for the first round they used a scene from the first season of Bridgerton. Then they sent through two scenes from the first episode of Queen Charlotte, when George and Charlotte meet for the first time before their wedding,” he recalled in a Netflix Q&A distributed to press before the show’s premiere.

“At that stage, I knew almost nothing about what the project was, but what was really exciting for me, especially in that first scene, was that I thought it was just really funny, and that George was quite a witty character. That was an immediate pull.”

While Mylchreest liked what he read, nerves nearly got the best of him when it came time to rehearse the show with his new co-stars and crew. “At the first table read, I was genuinely convinced I was going to have a panic attack. I was convinced. I couldn’t open my mouth until it was my scene,” he told Netflix.

“I remember my tongue wasn’t working. And then, you know, the goddess herself, [creator] Shonda Rhimes was there. [Director] Tom [Verica] was there. The entire production and producers were there. All the cast members that I hadn’t been able to meet yet were there. That was just an incredibly terrifying experience, but it was brilliant to see all the people playing the younger characters, and how immediately they were just on it. I was filled with excitement, I was like, ‘Ah, brilliant, I’m going to get to work with these guys.’”

While Bridgerton tends to turn its leading men into screen idols, Mylchreest isn’t so sure that kind of adoration is in the cards for him. “They could put anyone in this role, and they would be a contender for whatever sort of sexy man thing there is,” he joked to People in April 2023. “I don’t think there's any need to mentally prepare for that. Who knows what's going to happen?”

Regé-Jean Page and Jonathan Bailey might beg to differ, but it’s certain that Mylchreest’s role as George is going to catapult him to a different level of fame than he’s previously experienced.

Related: Meet Regé-Jean Page, the Mysterious Man Who Plays Bridgerton's Duke of Hastings

What else has Corey Mylchreest been in?

Mylchreest appeared in one episode of The Sandman in 2022, but Queen Charlotte marks his first major role since graduating from the U.K.’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 2020. As a student, he starred in productions of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Julius Caesar, and Hamlet, and he appeared in plays including Mysterious Bruises and Tales From the Vienna Woods.

“Corey is interesting,” Rhimes told Netflix of Mylchreest ahead of the Queen Charlotte premiere. “I don't think I expected the incredible level of charisma that man brings, but he's such a talented actor and really gave complexity to a role that feels like he has to almost be two characters. He's delightful, but he can also act frightening, which I thought was wonderful.”

How old is Corey Mylchreest?

Mylchreest is only 25, but director Tom Verica said that his acting skill makes him seem wise beyond his years. “Corey as King George is fantastic; he was such a find for us,” Verica told Netflix.

“In some of our earliest rehearsals and work sessions, I was immediately drawn to his commitment—not only to being as honest as possible in his interpretation, but also in his not wanting to be false or stereotypical in any way, particularly as he worked through the challenge of knowing how many actors have previously played King George, and the history behind this character. We came at it from an organic standpoint. What I value most about Corey is that he is so present in every moment, and unpredictable in certain respects.”

How to follow Corey Mylchreest on Instagram

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Corey Mylchreest posts on Instagram under the handle @coreymylchreest, but he’s not super active on the platform. For the past few months, most of his uploads have been related to Queen Charlotte, a fact which some of his co-stars have noticed. “Very wholesome content,” India Amarteifio joked in the comments section of a February 2023 post.

Who does Corey Mylchreest look like?

Corey Mylchreest doesn’t have a lot of film and TV credits on his resume, but he still looks like someone you’ve seen before—possibly because he vaguely resembles several other actors. There’s a little bit of Nicholas Hoult in his jawline, for example, and his eyes are giving serious Jacob Elordi. Fans of the 1994 adaptation of Little Women may also see some young Christian Bale in Mylchreest as well. Those smoldering stares, however, are all his own.

Is Corey Mylchreest’s character based on the real King George III?

Queen Charlotte offers a highly fictionalized take on the Georgian (and later Regency) era of British history, but Mylchreest still did plenty of research on the real-life king. “I think he is criminally misunderstood and misrepresented,” the actor told Esquire Philippines of the former monarch in April 2023. “The man was amazing.”

As hinted in the first two seasons of Bridgerton, George—who became king in 1760—suffered from a mental illness that eventually made it impossible for him to rule. Historians have theorized that he may have had bipolar disorder or suffered from complications caused by the genetic disorder porphyria, which can affect the nervous system. In 1789, Parliament considered passing a law that would have made George and Charlotte’s son George IV the acting regent, but George III recovered from his latest bout of illness before the bill was passed. After the 1810 death of his daughter Amelia, however, George III once again became unable to rule, and Parliament enacted a law that allowed George IV to act in his father’s stead.

In his early years, though, George III’s interest in science, agriculture, and astronomy—seen as eccentric by many—had real benefits for his subjects. Under his reign, the British Agricultural Revolution reached its peak, and he funded the creation of astronomer William Herschel’s 40-foot telescope, then the largest ever built. (When Herschel discovered Uranus in 1781, he initially named it after George.)

George III’s mental health has remained a subject of debate among historians, but Mylchreest wanted to make it clear that it wasn’t the only thing that defined the monarch. “He was so much more than a madman and tried his whole life to do right by himself, by his family, by his people,” Mylchreest told Esquire Philippines, adding that he read some of George’s private journals and letters after taking on the role.

“He really wanted to do the best for everyone involved, and he wasn't the most intelligent person but he was really dedicated to trying. I have such a deep love for him.”

In addition to getting at the conflict behind the real man, Mylchreest wanted to focus on George and Charlotte’s “battle to accept love” for each other, as he told Shondaland in April 2023. As it was in real life, the couple’s marriage on the show is arranged, but each episode finds them figuring out what to do when feelings become involved.

“The meeting of the two is incredible, and the process of them getting to know each other as she realizes she’s married to someone she doesn’t know,” executive producer Betsy Beers teased to Shondaland. “There’s a lot to love.”

For Mylchreest, that includes George’s right-hand man, Reynolds, played in Queen Charlotte by Freddie Dennis. “He’s the real heartthrob of the whole operation,” Mylchreest told People.

Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story premieres on Netflix Thursday, May 4.

Next, Is Queen Charlotte and King George's Relationship Based on a True Story?