Bridgerton has been renewed for a Season 2! The announcement was made today in Lady Whistledown’s Society Papers. Netflix has so confirmed the hit series will return. The show continues to loom near the top of Netflix’s top-10 most-watch rankings and it is projected “to court” more than 63 million households, which would make it the streaming platform’s fifth-biggest original series launched to date.
The show tens of millions of households binged over Christmas has been renewed for a second season.
The incredibly popular Netflix series has been watched by an estimated 63 million households across the globe and blends the prestige of Downton Abbey with the must-binge flavour of Gossip Girl.
The series is adapted from Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton novels, and season two will be based on the book The Viscount Who Loved Me. Filming for the second season will commence in the “Spring of 2021” (Autumn in the Southern Hemisphere). Production of the show’s first season wrapped in February 2020 ahead of the Covid-19 pandemic impacting filming. Due to the intimate and romantic nature of the show, plus the lavish ball scenes requiring hundreds of extras, it could prove challenging for the production to stay on schedule.
Talking about the series, Jinny Howe, the Netflix executive who nurtured Bridgerton, explains how a bold bet has turned into their biggest series ever. Howe explains how during her Netflix interviews she was asked several times: “If you could do a show, what kind would it be and why?”. And she dared to tell the truth: in a world of pop culture dominated by science fiction and fantasy, she has always loved beautiful and lush novels. “Being paid directly, albeit little, I figured the first project I would help Netflix would be Bridgerton. And to be able to announce that Bridgerton is now the greatest series ever seen on Netflix is a dream come true.”
A record 82 million households around the world chose to watch Bridgerton in its first 28 days. And the show has made the top 10 in every country except Japan – hitting number one in 83 countries including the US, UK, Brazil, France, India and South Africa. Indeed, the success of Bridgerton propelled the books into The New York Times best seller lists for the first time, and 18 years after they were first published.
“There are many lessons that I learned along the way, but these are the three most important”, said Jinny Howe.
All kinds of audiences love romance
Romance books have always sold incredibly well. But these stories have rarely made it onto the screen. Daphne and Simon’s “will they/won’t they” love affair, combined with the opulent costumes and settings, created a world into which members of all backgrounds and ages could escape. Bridgerton has shown that romance can be smart, dynamic, bold and yes – universally appealing.
It pays to be bold and to take creative “risks”
Bridgerton, like The Queen’s Gambit, defies tradition, and demonstrates that period dramas are not limited in scope or audience. The show is a fictional portrayal of London in 1813 that lifts the facade of Regency life. Chris Van Dusen and Shondaland’s Regency reimagined isn’t meant to be history. It’s designed to be more lavish, sexier and funnier than the standard period drama – and that’s what so surprised and delighted our members.
More people want to see themselves reflected on the screen
Shondaland’s fans have come to expect diversity in all her shows. Bridgerton took a seed of truth about Queen Charlotte’s background to reimagine her as a Black monarch using her power to affect broader change in British society. The empowerment of people of color and women made Bridgerton feel accessible and contemporary, resonating with audiences all around the world. Like The Queen’s Gambit and Emily in Paris – two other hugely popular Netflix series – Bridgerton draws upon themes that are universal yet speak directly to women because they feature independent-minded female protagonists in lead roles.
