Credit: Netflix

Oh, for heaven’s sake, Netflix! Four seasons we’ve spent listening to Violet Bridgerton go on about love and finding one’s perfect match, and now you tell us we are getting a series about the very man who made her such a hopeless romantic? Hello, where has this announcement been hiding?

Yes, dearest ton, a limited series about young Violet and Viscount Edmund Bridgerton is on the way! After years of hearing about this grand romance, we are finally getting the story behind it, and honestly, it’s about damn time.

Although, hang on. The saddest part of it all is that we know how this ends. Edmund dies before Hyacinth is born, leaving Violet widowed and pregnant, while poor Anthony witnesses his father’s death at 18. So we are meant to smell the sweet essence of their courtship and watch them fall head over heels only to know what dread is coming our way? Yeah, we’re still ready.

Shonda Rhimes is back in the boat alongside Nicholas Nardini, and if Queen Charlotte taught us anything, it’s that Rhimes can make us both have butterflies and suffer. The nerve of the woman! And given how much Violet’s marriage has had a hand in shaping the Bridgerton family, it is going to be a fun ride.

What will the Violet and Edmund spin-off be about?

Netflix says the series will explore Violet’s younger years and her romance with Edmund, the future Viscount Bridgerton and father of eight children. According to the Bridgerton family tree, these two fell in love during childhood. Childhood, how precious!

Which means we might get more than the usual London balls and meddling mothers, and oh, that marriage-market nonsense. We could watch their friendship turn into affection.

Why does Violet and Edmund’s love story matter to Bridgerton?

Because this marriage is responsible for half the family’s issues; that’s why! Violet’s love for Edmund convinced her that marriage should involve affection, while Anthony, having seen his father’s death, became terrified of loving someone enough to lose them. Same marriage, two different lessons. Takes you back straight to that heavy-ass season two.

And with season four seeing Violet develop feelings for Marcus Anderson before choosing not to marry him, revisiting Edmund feels a bit cruel. We have watched her navigate life after losing her great love, and now we are being invited to watch the original, mother of all love stories. Pass the tissues, people; hurry.

Who will play Violet and Edmund, and when will it release?

Ah, Netflix hasn’t announced either a young lead or a release date. So you’ve announced the romance and now expect us to sit around waiting for names? Guess chivalry really is dead.

Netflix, hurry, you naughty streamer, because the tonne has got questions!