*Warning: This article contains Bridgerton Season 1 spoilers*
Bridgerton might be the only show that’s ever had us dreaming of puff sleeve gowns, peach-hued ribbons, pearl earrings and even towering powdered wigs.
Since its release on Netflix on Christmas Day in 2020, not a day has gone by when we haven’t heard the word ‘Bridgerton’ uttered from the lips of colleagues and friends, collectively enamoured with the show’s stunning set locations and costumes.
At the beginning of January 2021, Netflix stated that in the show’s first four weeks it projects it will ‘court’ more than 63 million households, making it the one of the biggest original series launched to date.
Days later Netflix confirmed the show had become the platform's biggest ever launched series - outranking The Witcher, Stranger Things and The Queen's Gambit - by reaching 82 million households in the show's first 28 days. According to Deadline, this equates to 41% of all of Netflix's subscribers.
Nicola Coughlan, Rege-Jean Page and Phoebe Dynevor all reacted - understandably ecstatic - to the news that the first series of their show had broken the streaming site's records:
A quick recap: Season one is based on the novel The Duke and I by author Julia Quinn and the first show from Shonda Rhimes’ (aka the mastermind producer behind Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal) partnership with Netflix.
Those who watched all eight episodes of the show in one sitting (just us?) will have seen debutante Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) navigate ‘The Season’ in Regency London, rubbing shoulders with the upper crust of high society to nab a marriage proposal from a handsome and wealthy suitor. Daphne soon meets the Duke of Hastings (Regé-Jean Page) – cue many a longing look and heart-raising lustful touch. Oh, and let’s not forget Lady Whistledown – a Regency version of Gossip Girl – who sets the rumour mill alight with her Society Papers, causing drama across the social scene.
At the end of season one, we finally saw what happened to Daphne and the Duke’s budding relationship, Daphne’s older brother Anthony Bridgerton’s relationship implode with opera singer Siena Rosso and Lady Featherington’s true identity revealed.
Now that Bridgerton Season 2 is finally on our screens, here's everything you need to know:
Is Bridgerton Season 2 confirmed?
Look out world, Bridgerton season two is finally out.
To mark the show's anniversary on Christmas Day, Netflix announced that season two would premiere on March 25, 2022. The news came via a clip of the cast reading the update from a Lady Whistledown letter.
Netflix released a first look at the eagerly-awaited second season in late September, which introduced the new lead – Sex Education star Simone Ashley as Kate Sharma.
She's set to be a feisty addition to the cast, delivering - in the short preview - the ultimate burn to Anthony Bridgerton: 'Your character is as deficient as your horsemanship.'
RadioTimes.com revealed the news of a second season on January 21 after receiving written confirmation from Lady Whistledown (I mean, sure Netflix announced it, but let's roll with it).
'The ton are abuzz with the latest gossip, and so it is my honour to impart to you: Bridgerton shall officially return for a second season. I do hope you have stored a bottle of ratafia for this most delightful occasion,' Whistledown wrote.
The publication confirmed that production on the sequel season would begin in the spring of 2021 and, yes, it will focus on Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) looking to find a wife.
'This author has been reliably informed that Lord Anthony Bridgerton intends to dominate the social season. I will have my pen to report on any and all of his romantic activities,' Whistledown continued.
'However, gentle reader, before you set the comments section alight with requests for more sordid details, know that I am disinclined to report on the particulars at this time. Patience, after all, is a virtue.'
On June 14 showrunner Chris Van Dusen shared a photo of a script from episode 201, revealing its title is 'Capital R Rake'.
He tagged the post with the hashtags #Bridgerton #Season2 #ItsComing #ScriptsInTheWild.
Weeks earlier, a Netflix spokesperson told the same publication that a follow up season had not yet been confirmed. That said, the news outlet did report that a production listing for a second series was spotted on Production Weekly in February 2020, with scheduling reportedly to begin last summer on location in Uxbridge and run until May 2021. Unfortunately, the pandemic is believed to have put a spanner in the works on that on, with What’s On Netflix reporting that filming had been pushed back to March 2021.
If that wasn’t enough to have us donning your pearls in anticipation for season two, creator and showrunner Chris Van Dusen then told Cosmopolitan that he would ‘love’ to make a follow-up season.
'Obviously we’re just focused on the first season right now,' he told the outlet. And while that focuses on the eldest Bridgerton daughter Daphne and her love affair with Simon, we know there are eight Bridgerton siblings [and] there are eight Bridgerton books. So in success I would love to be able to explore love stories and romances for all the Bridgerton brothers and sisters, of course.'
Van Dusen then told Collider that he'd love to see the project develop into eight seasons.
'I feel like the first season was primarily about Daphne and her love story with Simon,' he said. 'But, this being a family of eight children and there being eight books, I would love to be able to focus and really tell stories and love stories for all the Bridgerton siblings. For each character, for sure.'
When questioned if eight seasons would be his dream, he noted: 'I would love that. In success, I would love that.'
Dynevor also suggested another series could be on the cards, telling Harper’s Bazaar: ‘If we’re sticking to the books, it’s sort of Anthony’s turn now. There’s no such thing as a happy ending, is there? I think love’s always shifting and changing. So who knows? I’d like to see what happens next. And also, I’d like to see Daphne get involved in Anthony’s love life since he was so involved in hers.’
Meanwhile, Page hinted that we might see more of his character's relationship with Daphne, commenting to tvguide.com: ‘They get married very young. They still have a lot of growing to do. They have a lot to do, and I think it’ll always be fun to watch them do that together.’
The cast of the hit Netflix show filmed the series between August and November 2019, long before the words ‘Covid-19’ and ‘pandemic’ entered our vernacular. It was released over Christmas 2020 so if Season 2 were to follow its first season’s production schedule, we have a feeling we won’t be seeing a second season until Christmas 2022.
How was the Bridgerton season two filming process?
The Bridgerton cast filming season two in 2022.
Last year Coughlan announced the sad news that the show's season one hair and make-up stylist Marc Pilcher had sadly passed away.
Taking to Twitter and Instagram on October 4, 2021 the actor shared the news the award winning stylist had seemingly died due to Covid-19, just a month after winning an Emmy for his work on the hit Netflix series.
'So heartbroken by the loss of Marc Pilcher, the brilliant and visionary Hair and Makeup designer for Bridgerton Season One [sic],' she tweeted .'Marc was so passionate about his work and so tremendously talented. Not even a month ago he won his first Emmy award.'
Couhglan's Bridgerton co-stars Phoebe Dynevor and Sabrina Bartlett also shared heart emojis on the actor's post, while RuPaul Drag Race judge Michelle Visage offered her condolences, writing: 'I'm so sorry.'
The star noted that it was a 'tragedy' that Pilcher had passed away at such a young age. 'Please also use this as a reminder that Covid is still a very real and present danger, please get vaccinated and mask up to protect yourself and others,' she added.
'My heart goes out to his friends and family, especially to his wonderful team Lynda, Lou, Adam, Hollie, Tanya and Claire. He loved and cared for you all so much and my heart goes out to you all.'
According to Wayne Fitzsimmons, one of Pilcher's colleagues, the stylist had contracted Covid-19 while in Los Angeles for the Emmys. Pilcher has previously worked on films including Beauty and The Beast and Mary Queen of Scots, the latter of which he was nominated for an Oscar for best make-up and hairstyling.
News of Pilcher's passing comes after a Covid-19 positive result halted filming earlier this year.
Following July 2021's pause, Chris Van Dusen told Variety: 'We are back underway. We had to delay because of COVID, but we're back in it. Right now I'm in post [production], editing our first couple episodes, which are looking great.
'It's everything people love so much about the first season but more,' he said.
Last summer actor Luke Newton (who plays Colin Bridgerton) shared a photo of himself on a horse on the set of the Netflix drama with the caption 'The boys are back in town', which resulted in many fans and news outlets believing that the cast and crew were back on set and filming the second season.
However, Newton's co-star Nicola Coughlan (who plays Penelope Featherington) later took to Twitter to put the rumours that filming had already commented to bed, writing on Twitter: 'Not yet! Wigs and dresses yet to be made but soon!'
Newton later reportedly added the hashtags #THROWBACK #SEASON1 on his original Instagram post to clear up any confusion, according to the Daily Mail.
What is the Bridgerton season 2 plot?
It's worth remembering that the first season took inspiration from Quinn's first book, The Duke and I, which focusses on the relationship between Simon Basset (otherwise known as the Duke of Hastings) and Daphne Bridgerton.
In Quinn’s second book, The Viscount Who Loved Me, Daphne’s brother Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) becomes the focus of the narrative, in addition to his romance with a woman named Edwina and meddling ways of Lady Whistledown and her Society Papers.
Netflix's first look points at the season following a romance between Anthony Bridgerton and Kate Sharma, who initially dislikes him.
Bridgerton creator Chris Van Husen has finally explained why the couple's wedding scene was cut.
'Tonally speaking, we wondered how Kate and Anthony's wedding would compare,' Van Dusen told TVLine. 'The Queen sponsored Edwina and Anthony's wedding, and she wasn't going to do it twice. There is also the Kate and Edwina bond. Her sisterly love story with Kate was just as important as the main love story between Anthony and Kate.'
Golda Rosheuvel, the actor who plays Queen Charlotte on the Netflix series, gave her two cents on what she'd like to see from season two after her character believed she'd found out the true identity of Lady Whistledown at the end of the first season.
'If Chris Van Dusen comes to me and says, "Golda, what would you like to see in the second season if we have a second season?" I would say, "The Queen and Eloise have to get together and form an alliance and find out who Whistledown is",' the star told Insider in January.
'I think it’s the intrigue of meeting her match. I think she’s intrigued by this woman who has the audacity to tread on the Queen’s toes, basically. 'I think there’s a lot of joy in that for Queen Charlotte because she loves a little bit of gossip.'
What has been the fan reaction to Bridgerton season 2?
Understandably the world has been on tenterhooks ever since season two's release and are now in a grave mourning period.
Why?
Because most of the show's fans bingewatched the series in one day, of course, and are now sad.
What have the cast said about Bridgerton season 2?
Bailey (Anthony Bridgerton), whose quest to find a suitable wife will be a prominent storyline in the new season, opened up about the show's sex scenes in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
'There's so many people who will go, "Oh yeah, Bonkerton,"' he said, highlighting that the scenes are about more than just sex.
'But the female gaze is so important because there are many ways people communicate by sex, and what sex means, and what your body means to someone else. It's important that there's an inversion of sexuality and how people are exploited in the storytelling of sex,' he continued.
Elsewhere in the interview, the series' new cast member, Sex Education's Simone Ashley, highlighted that her character Kate Sharma resonates with this idea, unlike last season's protagonist Daphne Bridgerton (played by Phoebe Dynevor), who was naive about sex.
Differentiating her character from Daphne, she explained: 'There's always been a familiarity deep down with what Kate wants.
'That's what I love about shows like Bridgerton and Sex Education; They might be touching on slightly taboo topics, but these characters know what they want."
On the subject of sex Van Dusen recently told numerous news outlets that Anthony and Kate's relationship is an 'incredibly fraught and charged and sexy enemies to lovers love story'.
'I wouldn't necessarily call it a more subdued approach,' he said of the romance compared to that of Daphne and the Duke's.
'I think our approach to intimacy and sex on the show really remained the same from season one,' he added said, noting that the sex scenes (which have been choreographed with an intimacy coordinator) 'serve a much larger purpose'.
'The steamy moments are just as sexy and scandalous as season one, as far as the longing looks across the room and the near finger and grazes and the hand touches,' Van Dusen continued.
'I think all of that adds to the sexual tension that you feel this season and you just see it build, and you feel it build and build from scene to scene, from episode to episode.'
Are there any Easter eggs in Bridgerton season 2?
Bailey teased fans ahead of filming season two of the hit show and warned us all to 'watch out for the bees'.
In an interview, the actor discussed what fans should expect from the sequel.
'Well, I feel like the campy, plush spectacle of the Bridgerton world is only going to get more pronounced in the best way possible. It’s mad, and it’s brilliant,' he told Vogue.
'There are also going to be a lot of brilliant characters introduced in this series–and it’s not just Anthony that we’re going to delve into…The robust universe that’s been set up by Shonda [Rhimes] and Chris [Van Dusen] will just expand and keep pushing boundaries in a way that’s quietly subversive. There’s just going to be more of what everyone loves, I think.'
The star then went and dropped the mother of all bombshells when he noted: 'There’s loads of little Easter eggs for all of the characters…I’ll say this, watch out for the bees.'
We, for one, are keeping our eyes pealed... for those bees.
Is Bridgerton Season 2 cast the same as season 1?
Many of the stars have returned for season two. We couldn't imagine a Bridgerton without the likes of Dynevor and Bailey, could you?
On April 2, Netflix announced - via a letter from Lady Whistledown, of course - that the British actor Regé Jean Page’s character Simon, the Duke of Hastings, won’t feature in season two of the hit show, stating: ‘We will miss Simon's presence onscreen, but he will always be a part of the Bridgerton family.’
Page later took to social media to respond to the news and bid farewell to his fans, describing his role as ‘an absolute pleasure and privilege’, thanking ‘the incredibly creative and generous cast and crew’ and his ‘outstanding fans’.
‘The ride of a life time,’ he wrote on Instagram. ‘It’s been an absolute pleasure and a privilege to be your Duke. Joining this family - not just on screen, but off screen too. Our incredibly creative and generous cast, crew, outstanding fans - it’s all been beyond anything I could have imagined. The love is real and will just keep growing.’
He also commented on the Instagram post announcing he wouldn’t be part of the season two cast, writing: ‘Joining this family - the connection on and off screen, with our cast, our crew, all the incredible fans, has been like nothing I could have ever imagined.’
In an interview with Variety, the star said that he knew he would only be part of the series for one season, noting: ‘It’s a one-season arc. It’s going to have a beginning, middle, end – give us a year.’
However, in a September GQ interview, Page was asked about the possibility of returning for a 'cameo' in the second season of the show where he didn't dispute the possibility entirely.
'You know I couldn’t tell you!' he begins before adding: 'Isn’t there something wonderful about being surprised by what you weren’t suspecting?'
However, just hours later Variety cited sources saying Page 'definitely' will not be appearing in the second season... so maybe it was just a tease after all.
During the same GQ interview he also confirmed that he has 'respectfully exited' the Bridgerton cast WhatsApp group since his departure from the show.
'The universe has expanded. So I’m no longer in it.... I respectfully exited. I didn’t want to put them in an awkward situation where they had to kick me out.'
On April 5, Bridgerton announced four new castmates shortly after news of Page's exit sent ripples among Bridger-stans. Two new additions for the Sharma family were added, Charithra Chandran will play Edwina Sharma - the younger sister of Kate (who you can read more about below) - while Shelley Conn will play the mother, Mary Sharma. Chandran is relatively new to the world of TV with no major roles, Conn has appeared in Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, TV series Liar, Heartbeat and Casualty.
The two remaining new castmates are Calam Lynch - who is actually a former co-star of Nicola Coughlan's after appearing in Derry Girls - as well as roles in Dunkirk and Black Beauty, he will portray Theo Sharpe. Rupert Young (Merlin, Dr Who and The Secret Garden) will play a character, announced simply for the time being as 'Jack'.
Prior to the casting news, a new main character for season 2 was confirmed in February 2021 when Netflix announced that Sex Education's Simone Ashley would be joining the Shonda Rhimes production, playing the character of Kate Sharma.
'Kate is a smart, headstrong young woman who suffers no fools - Anthony Bridgerton very much included,' a character description on Instagram read.
In a recent 2022 interview with Buzzfeed, Ashley spoke about the effects wearing a corset had on her during filming of season two.
'On my first day, I was like, "OK, first day as a leading lady, got to eat lots of food, be really energised." So, I had this massive portion of salmon and that's when I needed to be sick, basically because I was wearing the corset,' she said.
She also noted that the corset temporarily changed her body shape.
'I realised when you wear the corset, you just don’t eat,' the actor explained. 'It changes your body. I had a smaller waist very momentarily. Then the minute you stop wearing it, you're just back to how your body is. I had a lot of pain with the corset, too, I think I tore my shoulder at one point!'
Sex Education fans will recognise Ashley for portraying Olivia in the show, a high school student at Moordale in the clique of popular girls ('the untouchables'), who progresses in the second season to seek Otis' help at the clinic. She also builds some allegiances with her fellow female students beyond her clique, including Maeve, Aimee, Ola, Lily and Viv.
As for the rest of the season one cast, we expect to see Anthony step into the spotlight, and if we’re honest, we’d also love to see more of actress Nicola Coughlan (who plays Penelope Featherington) thanks to her quick witted reactions. The actress also recently delivered the perfect response to anyone criticising the show for its casting of Black actors in a period drama set in 1813.
'Remember people were trying to downvote the show on IMDB cos it was so diverse?’ she asked rhetorically on Twitter on January 5. 'You can’t downvote us being Netflix['s] fifth biggest original release ever.'
Is there a Bridgerton season 2 trailer?
Yes, and you can watch it above.
On Valentine's Day 2022, Netflix released a trailer for season two, ahead of season two being streamed on March 25.
The trailer is introduced with words from the voice of Lady Whistledown (narrated by Julia Andrews and played by former ELLE UK cover star Nicola Coughlan), the shows notorious gossip columnist, who says: 'Dearest gentle reader, did you miss me?
'As the members of our ton questioned my identity and means, this author has been doing but one thing.
'Honing my skills. No, even better. I've been sharpening my knives. For all of you.'
The video clip also teases the romance between Anthony Bridgerton (Bailey) and this season's new character Kate Sharma (Ashley).
Of course, the fashion is also as fabulous as ever, if the trailer is anything to go by, and shows an array of colour and standout costumes similar to those seen in the first season.
In January 2022, Coughlan shared some never-before-seen photos from season from the second season on Instagram with the caption: 'Lady Whistledown has some things to say...'
In the photos Kate Sharma leads a party of hunters in the woods, which includes her rumoured beau Anthony (Jonathan Bailey). In another Eloise Bridgerton seemingly turns to her friend Penelope Featherington for help and Daphne Bridgerton consults her brother Anthony on a serious matter.
Ashley captioned her post: The Viscount who loved me 🐝 ✨ Season 2! [sic]'
On September 27, 2021 Netflix also released three new photos:
We’ll continue to update this article as more information comes in.
The Bridgerton Fan's Ultimate Gift Guide
Bridgerton Spiral Notebook
£1262
I Burn For You Chocolate Match Box
CastleCrewCompany Lady Whistledown Bridgerton Society Papers Mug Netflix
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CharlieLunnArt Bridgerton inspired Digital Art Print Poster
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Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.
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