Meet Newton, Bridgerton's new very good boy

It's a ruff life on the Bridgerton set when you're the handsomest new cast member.

Season 2 of the Shondaland hit introduces a fan favorite character, Newton, Kate Sharma's mischievous corgi. A beloved pup in the pages of Julia Quinn's The Viscount Who Loved Me, Newton makes the season 2 cast complete — and we've got all the poop, er, scoop on the hirsute new star.

"Newton is beloved, and I always wanted to include him in this season," creator Chris Van Dusen teases. "There's a little arc for him that audiences can look forward to."

Lovers of Quinn's novel will already know that Newton loves to insert himself into situations and cause trouble. But it sounds like the fluffy actor behind him, Austin, was much the same. Charithra Chandran (Edwina), Simone Ashley (Kate), and Jonathan Bailey (Anthony) all have stories of Austin's devil-may-care attitude and fondness for treats.

"Austin was not necessarily the best behaved dog," laughs Chandran. "But there were so many hilarious moments. There was a scene where he's outside and you had to get him to sit by feeding him treats. At one point, he was so full on all the treats, he just fell asleep on the set in the middle of his shot."

Bailey was also beholden to Austin's love of snacks. "Austin played Newton and it's a sterling, stunning performance, but do you know what? We didn't get on," he quips. "He just loved the sausage and there's nothing wrong with loving the sausage, but it was more the way we had to hold little crumbs of sausage in my hand to try and get him to jump in my lap."

Sausage and treats weren't all he had a taste for either. "One of the buildings we filmed at, there was pebbles on the driveway," recounts Ashley. "I'd have him on the leash and he'd just be eating the stones and pooping out stones in between takes."

But Ashley still felt she formed a bond with Austin worthy of Kate and Newton's relationship. "I'm really good with dogs, so he responded to me well," she says. "He was a little bit sass and goes off and does his own thing, but I like to think when we were together, he listened to me. Whenever we would do a line run and Newton was there, he would just get in the middle of the circle and roll on his back and be like, 'Hey, what's up?' That was quite cute."

Even if Bailey, like his character Anthony, didn't quite get along with Austin/Newton, he admits he was lucky to share the screen with such a handsome co-star. "It's amazing that I got to work with him because he's obviously going places," he laughs. "But we didn't really click."

For more on Bridgerton, pick up the March issue of Entertainment Weekly on newsstands Feb. 18. Don't forget to subscribe for more exclusive interviews and photos, only in EW.

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