Rege-Jean Page was our winter bae because of his breakout role in Netflix’s Bridgerton. But now that we are in warmer climes and are moving toward our hot girl summers, we are on the hunt for our Spring bae. Well we don’t need to look any further because Ben Barnes, who plays the Darkling in Netflix’s Shadow and Bone, seems to have won the race. What can I say? I like my men like I like my coffee: dark, mysterious, and hot. Ben is officially spring bae (because I said so). We’re trying to uncover as much as we can about him like we obsessively dug into Rege-Jean’s life. We’ve discovered that Ben was originally tapped by fans of the Shadow and Bones books as their dream casting for the Darkling (he was). Ben loves romcoms and hopes to one day be a leading man in one. And my favorite tidbit about Mr. Barnes is that he can sing. Like the voice of an angel, sing. Ben says he hopes to release some original music soon. Below are a few more highlights from his interview with TmrwxToday:
1. Fans suggested him for the role of General Kirigan as far back as 2013!
Before he actually landed the roll of General Kirigan, fans posting on Tumblr suggested him as a dream casting of the character and it even caught the attention of the author of the book on which the show is based.“I saw old tweets that the author of the book [Leigh Bardugo] approved of in suggesting me to play that role. It definitely peaked my curiosity of the role; as an actor you wonder what you’d like to do next and for me it’s usually based on things in my life. But wondering how other people see you and would like to cast you is something that’s interesting and particularly made me interested,” Barnes shared.
2. He’s planning on releasing original songs in the near future
While we’ve seen Barnes post cover tracks on social media, he’s also getting ready to release his own original works. He’s been taking music so seriously, in fact, that he bought himself a piano at the start of pandemic.“I realized that if we were going to be in lockdown for a bit, I’m going to do this. I’ve been working on songs that have been in the works for a couple of years with producers. I love singing so much. Singing was my first love, starting at 19 with my first-ever job. I played the drums in a production and I’ve done quite a few films with singing in them. Something’s coming … hopefully soon. I’m excited to share that with everybody as soon as I can!”
5. He loves rom-coms
While the actor is often cast in dramatic roles or sci-fi series, he’s a huge fan of romantic-comedies and would love to play the leading man in one. We hope to see it happen soon!
Ben is totes Spring bae because I personally love a multilayered man. I remember when I first discovered that he could sing. One of our lovely Celebitches suggested that I go google “Ben Barnes singing” and I was floored. I would love to see him in a romcom. When I am feeling down, I tend to binge romcoms for their frivolity. And I personally think that Ben has the good looks to be the Hugh Grant or Colin Firth of the 20s. I look forward to see what kind of music Ben writes and produces. It seems he leans towards pop and R&B and I am here for it. I like that Ben says he keeps his romantic life to himself. He said that it is good to keep a part of yourself private and away from public consumption. I agree with him, I think it makes life less messy. I am looking forward to season 2 of Shadow and Bone. Season one’s finale got me crunk. While I wait, I’m gonna go drool over more pictures and videos of Mr. Barnes, because I can.
Photos credit: Netflix and via Instagram
I love that we have seasonal baes now, lol!
I also love that he isn’t afraid to say that he wants to do rom-coms. This ties back into what we were talking about the other day – often male actors don’t want to admit to wanting to try romance movies, because its seen as “less than” serious dramas. (even though I would say romance movies have propelled many a male actor to stardom.)
Love hearing that he can sing – I’m hoping we’re in an age of more movie musicals so maybe he’ll do one. I was surprised on SNL to realize that Rege-jean Page could sing as well as he did, maybe Ben and RJP could be in a musical TOGETHER and then we would all just explode.
From the Narnia movies, I have always thought that he is so hot! My only issue with him was that I didn’t like him as an actor, he was very bland and that idea was further cemented when I saw the Dorian Grey movie. He has gotten so much better and has aged like really fine wine. Can’t wait to see more of him!
If you want to see more of Ben Barnes, you should try The Punisher, also on Netflix. Very good rom-com audition material there as he has a lot of steamy sex scenes. Although it is also extremely violent so YMMV.
I’m quite dissapointed with Shadow and Bone. Why couldn’t they cast Eastern Europeans, at least for a few roles? I’m getting really sick and tired of us constantly playing offensive stereotypes. There is finally a show where we aren’t prostitues and criminals and they cast British people.
I love his voice but watching him sing is a bit cringy. He gets a bit too lounge lizardy with his facial expressions, kind of like when people goof on the song “feelings” singing into a hairbrush.
Hahaha YES. And what was that finger snapping business during the piano intro of Where is the Love? Embarrassing lol.
get onboard the train, we’ve been here since chronicles of narnia! Note that this is an age appropriate crush, lol
I punched my ticket way back then! Also age appropriate.
He was so easy to hate as Logan in Westworld, but DAMN, the shift in gear in the “library” episode really made me pay attention.
Took a little while to get into Shadow & Bone but was disappointed when I realised there were no more episodes!
I would never have watched Shadow and bones if not for Celebitchy. And though it was much more violent than the shows I normally watch, It was a fun romp with two gorgeous leading men.
I didn’t know Ben was in Shadow and Bones, gonna have to watch it now!
How interesting that he was aware of people fancasting him on Tumblr, I wonder if he knows that Harry Potter fans have been thinking of him as a young Sirius Black for more than 10 years.
Oh he’s hot, my goodness. Keep the seasonal bae articles, they are nice.
If I remember correctly, he did a movie several years ago with Katherine Heigl where he sang quite a bit. That movie made me see him as more than the Narnia guy. I liked the soundtrack so much I bought it off Amazon.