As it so happens, Chandran actually auditioned to play Kate before landing the role of Edwina!
"I had a few auditions for that, and decided it just didn't work out. And that was fine. By then, I'd had another offer for a TV show. So, in the new year I was like, 'Okay, one door closes; another opens. It just wasn't meant to be. Oh, well,'" she told Shondaland. Of course, that wasn't the end of the "Bridgerton" process for her after all.
"When I first auditioned for 'Bridgerton,' my mom had said — and she's never said this before — 'I think you're going to get this. You're going to be a part of this show '... And then in February, as I was in the makeup chair on the other job, I got a call from my agent telling me that they wanted to see me again for 'Bridgerton' but as the youngest sister. I told him I wanted to think about it; I didn't want to do it as a consolation prize because I wanted to be able to candidly feel passionate about the character rather than just desperately wanting to be on the show. Which I obviously did! So, I read the book again, and I heard what they had planned for Edwina, and I thought that, actually, this is a very important story to be told because so many young women across the world, particularly brown women, are in Edwina's situation. And I thought that I could make a difference with this character and with this story line."