Imagine: it's the last week of 2020, your TV screen, your brain, and your social media feeds are completely taken over by the swooning period romance that is Season 1 of Bridgerton, and the horrors of that terrible year have all but disappeared. The steamy relationship between Daphne Bridgerton and Simon Bassett (opens in new tab), played by Phoebe Dinnever and Ledger-Jean Page, has provided much-needed relief from the barrage of increasingly awful news.

Bridgerton returns this week for a second season, and while season two has no shortage of Regency-era scandals, fluffy-sleeved gowns (opens in new tab), and enough impure glances and hand gestures to shame Jane Austen, sadly the most important element of the first season, the Duke of Hastings, is missing. Yes, Page did not renew his contract for the second season of the Netflix series (opens in new tab). Here's everything we know about his absence and how the show is casually faking it.

No need to worry: By all accounts, Page's departure from Bridgton was completely amicable. Last April, after Lady Whistledown herself revealed that Simon would not be returning for additional episodes (opens in new tab), in an Instagram post he shared (opens in new tab), Paige called her time on the show a "life time ride."

"It was an absolute pleasure and privilege to be your duke," he wrote.

He added: "I am so grateful for all of the support.

In an interview with Variety (opens in new tab), Page said that the "limited" aspect of the role was actually a big draw for him. He recalled the producer's initial offer to play the Duke, saying, "I was very excited about it. There is a beginning, a middle, and an end, and that means a year."

Peige said that he was "very excited about the idea of playing the Duke," and that he was "very excited about it.

Page also said: "One of the things that is different in this [romance] genre is that the audience knows that the arc will be complete. The audience comes in knowing that, so you can tie them up emotionally.

Producer Shonda Rhimes is also in favor of his one-time appearance - although she, too, tried to bring him back to Regency Breeches after the furor sparked by his dropout announcement (open in new tab).

"Of course, he said, 'I signed on to do this wonderful story, this closed-ended story. And I don't blame him. ' I don't blame him. I think he's really smart to keep perfection perfect.' The idea of writing Ledger standing around in the background, as I often do, just doesn't make any sense to me at all. What would he do?

Simon and his spoon-licking antics may no longer be on screen, but they are still in Mayfair in spirit. Daphne returns regularly to her parents' home to witness her sister's social debut, give her brother some much-needed advice on his marriage, and help her mother plan the family's lavish party. In the first few episodes of season two, an exasperated Daphne says to Eloise, "I'm not sure I'm going to be able to do this.

Simon and Daphne's baby son's name begins with an "A" (no spoilers).

Critic Nicole Vassell, arguing in The Independent that the show's second season and its central romance was stronger without Simon, wrote: "Bridgerton wouldn't be the same without the central relationship between the Duke and Daphne. In Bridgerton's first season, the reasons for Daphne and Simon's initial reluctance to get together were flimsy at best. In the case of Anthony and Kate, not only are their strong personalities getting in the way, but there is an added layer of betrayal if they act on their feelings.

Just because Simon Bassett became an invisible presence in Bridgerton does not mean that Paige became equally quiet. Rather, the opposite is true. He will next be seen in The Gray Man, an action thriller that promises to be another big Netflix phenomenon, opposite Hollywood favorites Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, and Ana de Armas. And in 2023, he will be back on the big screen in the film adaptation of the video game "Dungeons & Dragons," starring Chris Pine, Hugh Grant, and Michelle Rodriguez.

But if you're still at a loss after Paige's absence in the new episode of "Bridgeman," there's nothing better than Rimes' own advice (open in new tab): "The Duke is never gone. The Duke is never gone.