“Why settle for a Duke when you can have a Prince?”
Flowy dresses and tight corsets, beautiful mansions and parlours, plenty of balls and match-making, dashing young men and beautiful young women vying for each other’s attention coupled with steamy romance scenes- the lives of upper echelons of Regency-era London is all fun and frolic galore. To add a dash of spice and royalty to our drab and dreary lives amidst the never-ending pandemic, Netflix released the first season of Bridgerton on Christmas last year — and our lives have not been the same ever since.
From using Regency-era vocab to gushing over the hunky-dory rakes and lovable scoundrels, from being left shocked by the scandalous lives of the character as well as drooling over the picture-perfect dresses, we have been in love with the show. The period drama, which is based on Julia Quinn’s The Duke & I, is supposed to follow the course of the subsequent novels, focusing on the lives of each of the Bridgerton siblings. The London elite is only interested in forging marital relations to elevate their position in society. They would go to the extent of fitting their daughters in the tightest of unbreathable corsets so that the slimmest waist gets the most attention.
Bridgerton has received a lot of flak for a controversial rape scene between this season’s leads Simon Bassett (played by Rege-Jean Page) and Daphne Bridgerton (played by Phoebe Dynevor) where the scene involves the non-consensual, rather forced insemination on part of Daphne who was eager to have kids. However, the show has gained a massive fan following and has ended on a cliff-hanger. Despite teasing the identity of the town’s gossip queen Lady Whistledown, they have left a lot of open-ended questions. For example, one cannot simply fathom what might happen to the Bridgerton brothers or what the significance of bees is in the show.
Fans have been waiting with bated breath for a follow-up season to get a concrete answer to these burning questions. To quench your thirst, we delved deep into all things Bridgerton to find out all that we could about the new season.
Let’s get promenading!
When will Bridgerton Season 2 filming start?
Shondaland released a press release on Instagram talking about how “the incomparable cast of Bridgerton will return to production in Spring of 2021.” The release also mentions how “Lord Anthony Bridgerton (played by Jonathan Bailey) intends to dominate the social season”.
This confirms our suspicion about Anthony being the main focus of the season with the previous season leads Simon and Daphne taking a backseat and leading a quiet and happy family life with their newborn.
When can we expect Bridgerton Season 2 to be released?
Since filming begins in Spring 2021, it is expected that the series should stream on Netflix soon.
Although there is no official premiere date, we can only hope to get another Christmas surprise towards the end of 2021 with the second season which might also appease our questions and doubts regarding the events about to follow.
Who are the cast members on Bridgerton Season 2?
All the original cast members shall return but the spotlight shall be on the rakish, brutishly handsome and lion-hearted Anthony Bridgerton and his love life which shall see the entry of the haughty Kate Sheffield. Although the casting for Kate Sheffield has not yet been announced, fans are already excited to see which talented actor shall be assigned this layered role.
As Rege Jean-Page confirmed, there are a “plethora of characters” who have innumerable relations that add depth to the show. There are too many good stories to tell but too little time, so one can only hope for this show to continue as long as possible to recount all the character histories with poise and grandeur.
Who is Kate Sheffield?
The first season ends on a joyous note with Daphne birthing a beautiful baby son. Although Anthony’s heart is broken by Siena, one can only imagine that the handsome Viscount must not have any qualms finding himself a new woman- ladies fawn over his charming and enigmatic self. The second season shall be based on Julia Quinn’s The Viscount Who Loved Me and his love life shall become of the gossip of the town via the mysterious bee.
Kate Sheffield shall be Anthony’s soulmate. According to Quinn’s books, she is a “spirited” and scheming “meddlesome woman” who shall resist Anthony’s charms quite surprisingly due to her preconceived notions about rakes never being good husbands. Fans are excited to see Winston, her plump and haughty Corgi, who never leaves her side.
Their love story shall begin on a complicated premise with Anthony trying to woo her beautiful and pleasant half-sister. With both the characters being fiercely loyal to their respective families, it shall be interesting to see how it turns out. As creator Chris van Dusen already said, Anthony’s story is “going to be as sweeping and as beautiful as viewers have come to expect from the show”.
What about the rest of the cast members?
Van Dusen is ambitious about this project. Each of Quinn’s books focuses on one of the Bridgerton siblings and he wants to focus on every character including interesting ones like the Featheringtons, Lady Danbury, marina, Queen Charlotte and more. It shall be interesting to know more about the mysterious gossip Lady Whistledown as well whose expose pushes the plotline forward. Fans are eager to know if Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton ever find love. If the show is loyal to the original text, spoiler alert, they end up together. We are worried about Marina as well. Poor girl, she was the sacrificial lamb of the show as she tried hiding and then ruining her pregnancy, almost risking her life, before being tainted by her activities and later promising to marry her lover’s younger brother after learning of his death to avoid a social lynching.
However, the one that fans are most excited about is the spirited Eloise Bridgerton. What shall happen to this feisty, stubborn, independent and smart girl? According to Quinn’s book, she, too, finds love but it is not before she lives quite a free girl as a spinster. Besides Queen Charlotte, she is extremely curious to uncover the identity of Lady Whistledown and given her crazy wit, fans cannot wait to see what the talented Claudia Jessie as Eloise has to offer.
Till Bridgerton releases its second season, read all 8 Julia Quinn books to have a fair idea about what to expect from each character. Worry not, the series will seem even more intriguing then!
