How Ben Lloyd-Hughes Finally Made it to ‘Sanditon’ (After Missing Out on Season 1)

Sanditon Season 2 reunites Charlotte Heywood (Rose Williams) with the seaside resort of Sanditon, the Parker and Denham families, and bestie Georgiana Lambe (Crystal Clarke). However it also introduces her to some new characters. In the Sanditon Season 2 premiere on Masterpiece on PBS, Charlotte crosses paths with the dashing Colonel Lennox (Tom Weston-Jones) and the reclusive Alexander Colbourne (Ben Lloyd-Hughes). Although Charlotte and Colbourne seem to clash upon meeting, there’s a glimmer that there could be something more between them. Charlotte might just find herself in a classic Jane Austen love triangle in Sanditon Season 2.

Sanditon Season 1 was inspired by Jane Austen’s final, unfinished work. A chance encounter introduces Charlotte Heywood to the Parkers, a family hoping to make bank by transforming the sleepy town of Sanditon into a hot vacation destination. When Charlotte visits Sanditon for the season, she crosses paths with Sidney Parker (Theo James). The two spar at first, but eventually fall in love. However, their happy ending isn’t meant to be. Sidney needs to marry for money to save Sanditon. So the two bid adieu, presumably never to meet again.

Because Theo James opted not to return to Sanditon Seasons 2 and 3, showrunner Justin Young had to create new love interests for Charlotte that felt “Austen-esque.” The first of those characters was Colonel Lennox, a war hero who is meant to evoke the likes of Pride & Prejudice‘s Mr. Wickham or Sense & Sensibility‘s Colonel Brandon. Young told Decider that because Lennox is so “energized,” his rival needed to be the opposite of that.

“The other man had to be really reserved and introverted and a little bit of a hermit so that we could contrast and contradict those two energies,” Young said. “We also thought it’d be interesting to have a character in Alexander Colburne who was also in a state of mind that he’d written off the idea of love because he’s dealing with his own heartache. You know, he’s a widower.”

Young also admitted that he took inspiration for Colbourne from some iconic non-Austen characters. “I think there was a kind of tiny dash of Rochester in there, a little bit,” he said, referring to Charlotte Brontë’s brooding hero. “Maybe a tiny dash of Captain von Trapp [from The Sound of Music]. There’s a couple knowing winks to Captain von Trapp that I put into this season.”

“He had this beautiful soulful quality. He makes you kind of lean towards him which we thought was very very compelling.” – Justin Young

To cast this “very introverted and intellectual and thoughtful” character, Young and company turned to Ben Lloyd-Hughes. “He had this beautiful soulful quality. He makes you kind of lean towards him which we thought was very very compelling.”

Ben Lloyd-Hughes is a British actor who was born and raised in London. He stared acting as a teen, appearing in shows like Skins and Casualty. Since graduating from drama school, he’s also appeared in the Divergent series, Malevolent, and most recently, Industry. Lloyd-Hughes revealed to Decider that he was almost in Sanditon Season 1.

“I auditioned for two different characters two different times for the first series,” Lloyd-Hughes said. “And I was really excited about the idea of the show. It was just a fantastic premise and fantastic characters, and I didn’t get either of those parts, of course.”

“Then when the second series came along, it came along quite quickly and in a really surreal and intense time in my life where I thought I was meant to be doing a different job and then that job for various reasons fell through,” Lloyd-Hughes said. “Sanditon really quickly came along and just was an amazing serendipitous moment that I was hugely excited about the role and the opportunity and I loved every minute of it.”

Charlotte meets Alexander Colbourne when she applies for a job working as his governess. The bereaved Colbourne has been struggling to keep a handle on his rebellious young daughter Leonora, aka Leo (Flora Mitchell) and his mischievous orphaned niece Augusta (Eloise Webb). Charlotte might not have experience as a governess, but her intelligence and empathy stand out when dealing with the girls and Colbourne.

“In my opinion, Colbourne learns way more from Charlotte than Charlotte does from Colbourne,” Lloyd-Hughes told Decider. “And I think the same is probably true of my relationship with Rose.”

“[Rose] was a fantastic sparring partner, both as a character but also as an actor who’s incredibly hardworking,” he said. “She thoroughly read all the scripts and is so clued in on everything and is hugely opinionated on what the scenes should be doing, how they could be better…”

Lloyd-Hughes joked that he would “piss” Williams off by admitting he’d never seen the first season of Sanditon. Initially he refused to watch the first season “out of petulance” because he hadn’t been cast. However, Lloyd-Hughes revealed that when he was cast as Colbourne he “was really tempted to then devour the first series,” but decided not to for character reasons.

“It was about not being influenced by what had already happened, especially to Charlotte’s character. Colbourne is someone who has no idea about all the sound and gossip and he’s a recluse,” Lloyd-Hughes said. “I think I didn’t want that in my head going into scenes about the other character and what’s happened to them.”

But what’s going to happen with Colbourne’s character in Sanditon Season 2? Will he soften towards Charlotte? Is he hiding some scandalous secret? Will he be able to win Charlotte’s broken heart?

“We liked the idea of Colburne as a bit of a slow burn. It takes a while to figure out who he is,” Justin Young said. “I think Ben’s got a naturally quite reserved quality that I think the audience will really go for.” We shall see…

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