Bridgerton's Corey Mylchreest Loves Being Your New Favorite Rom-Com Lead

Corey Mylchreest is more than happy to be your new favorite romantic lead.

“In [terms of] storytelling, I think [romantic films are] quite fulfilling,” Mylchreest, 27, exclusively told Us Weekly while discussing his new film, My Oxford Year. “I think a lot of the time, rom-coms can be a bit like medicine. They can give a lot of escapism, especially right now. The world’s not a very cohesive and happy place. And in times like that, stories that are containing ‘com’ of the rom-com, can give you a bit of a break from everything. Alongside as an actor, challenging yourself and learning, you have a chance to give people a bit of a break from everything.”

In the past few years, Mychreest has begun to cement his name in the romance genre, first starring as a young King George on the Bridgerton spinoff Queen Charlotte in 2023 before being cast as Jamie in another Netflix project, the film adaptation of Julia Whelan’s My Oxford Year.

Warning: Spoilers below for My Oxford Year. 

While both projects are filled with their own beats of comedy and levity, they also share a fair amount of tragedy, with Mylchreest at the center of the heartbreak. Queen Charlotte follows the early life of the royal (played by India Amarteifio) and her marriage to Mylchreest’s George as they navigate through a blossoming romance and his developing illness. My Oxford Year, meanwhile, sees Mylchreest as a bright young professor who meets the love of his life while battling a terminal illness.

Mylchreest loves infusing comedy into his roles, but, as an actor, there’s a fulfilling part of playing out a tragedy on screen as well.

“[They] tend to give you lots to do. I mean the characters of George and the character of Jamie, they’re both complex people,” he explained. “And as an actor, you get the scope to do lots of stuff. There’s comedy in both. There’s tragedy in both. There’s everything in between.”

Mylchreest noted that he’s gotten the chance to “explore lots of different” relationships through the projects he’s chosen. “Parental, familiar relationships, romantic, platonic, the whole spectrum,” he said. “There’s just so much to do and flex your muscles and challenge yourself and learn. If anything, the tragic love story gives you a scope to do that as an actor.”

Of course, there’s another important factor in any romance film: chemistry. It’s another aspect of the genre that Mylchreest excels in — fans went wild over his on screen dynamic with Amarteifio — but not something he’s sure there’s an exact science for. (Editor’s note: Yes, we asked if Mylchreest would return to Bridgerton. The answer? “I don’t know!”)

“Commitment to the role, commitment to the project, meeting each other with similar levels of passion and commitment is definitely a joining thing,” he said of what’s necessary when creating sparks between costars. “It’s a very vulnerable thing to turn up and give your best, because if your best isn’t good enough, then you’re very exposed. So I think holding each other’s hands metaphorically with that is a very vulnerable thing to do. And I think it’s also a very bonding thing to do.”

Mylchreest added that getting along with each other also “doesn’t hurt” — but then again, he’s never actually been put in a position where someone gets under his skin.

“I’m very lucky in that I haven’t had an experience where I don’t get on with my scene partner,” he confessed. “It makes the day a lot easier.”

If fans loved what he had going with Amarteifio, they’re sure to be just as elated by the romance between his character and Sofia Carson’s in My Oxford Year. But despite the electricity that’s clearly between them in scenes, Mylchreest admitted that the duo don’t exactly see chemistry the same way.

“Sophia is much more in the camp that [chemistry] is this intangible thing. And I think I find it to be more about commitment to the role independently and your willingness to jump in and discover what their relationship is,” he said. “And be specific about what it is that those two people  find attractive in each other and get drawn towards each other. Whether it’s their shared passion for poetry, a shared willingness to escape their surroundings, whatever it is.”

Mychreest and Carson, 32, also had the benefit of an intimacy coordinator on set, something the British actor calls “priceless.”

“It’s such an amazing privilege to be working in the industry in a time where we have the unprecedented introduction of intimacy coordinators,” he told Us, noting that as a man, he’s “already’ in a “position where I feel more comfortable” in some situations. “And I find it really important. So it’s clearly very, very important.”

Mylchreest teamed up with intimacy coordinator Lucy Fennell for My Oxford Year, who also worked with him on Queen Charlotte. The Bridgerton world, fans know, is famous for its love scenes. “She was amazing,” he said. “It’s like having a fight coordinator or a dance coordinator. It’s a really skillful job what they do.”

He noted that finding the right level of intimacy is a balance between “reading what’s on the page” and “turning that into something that is physical and tangible” while also “allowing space for the actors to give both their interpretations to what the characters would do.”

“And [discussing] what their boundaries are and finding a space in between that blends everyone’s comfort levels and creative instincts,” he continued. “And then working alongside the director as well, often the producers. It’s a really difficult thing that they do. And I’m so glad that they do it.”

Like so many of the films Netflix has become known for in recent years, My Oxford Year promises to deliver on all levels of intimacy — romantic or otherwise — but there is so much more to the story than just that. Mylchreest, for one, hopes the movie does what all successful romance films set out to do: help people “lose themselves” for just a little while.

“Experience all the lightness of the com and the rom, and hopefully go on the journey of the characters enough to feel something at the end,” he told Us, joking viewers will also get a surprise gift of learning more about Victorian poetry, even if against their will.  “And I guess an awareness of the importance and the pleasure of the present moment. How amazing and how much of an improvement that it can make in your life to become more present and embrace the messiness at times.”

My Oxford Year is streaming on Netflix now.