Brace yourself... Bridgerton’s back
NEW YORK TIMES best-selling author Julia Quinn was sipping coffee in her local Starbucks when she heard that Shonda Rhimes was interested in the rights to her book series. Fast-forward five years and Bridgerton is a cultural phenomenon. The first series was streamed by 82 million households in its first month alone, and this week fans eagerly await the second series, which lands on Netflix on 25 March.
‘It’s been a like a dream,’ marvels Julia, speaking from her home in Seattle, ‘both as a viewer and as a writer, seeing everything I imagined come to life.’
Season one launched the careers of its leads – Phoebe Dynevor, who played Daphne Bridgerton, and Regé-jean Page, the Duke of Hastings, who will, whether he likes it or not, forever be remembered for that spoon-licking scene. ‘Like every other woman in the world, and quite a few men, I find him ridiculously attractive,’ says Julia. ‘That moment was not in the book but I was happy to see it added to the script.’ And not just for its entertainment value, she points out. ‘It was symbolic of how much the production moved into the female gaze. Men have had their spoon-licking moments for a really long time; straight women and gay men finally got theirs. We deserved it.’
Regé-jean is notably absent from the second series. ‘Viewers who hadn’t read the books freaked out when he left,’ says Julia, ‘thinking the show would fall apart without him, but we knew it would be OK.’
Bridgerton’s second season follows Julia’s novel The Viscount Who Loved Me. The story centres on Anthony Bridgerton ( Jonathan Bailey) and his love-hate relationship with Simone Ashley’s Kate Sharma. ‘The enemiesto-lovers story is a big trope in romance fiction,’ explains Julia. ‘This antagonistic
courtship is something we didn’t have in season one, so it’s a very different vibe.’
There’s fuel for spoon-scene fans, though. An on-set image showed Jonathan hauling himself out of the Serpentine, all breeches and wet shirt. ‘Netflix Book Club with Uzo Aduba showed me clips of five or six
Bridgerton superfans watching that scene,’ laughs Julia. ‘It was the perfect cut.’
One constant that Julia can’t deny is the presence of a gutsy female lead. ‘She’s so strong,’ she says of Simone’s Kate, ‘but also vulnerable.’ Was Julia conscious of that feminist thread when she wrote the books? ‘I didn’t do it on purpose,’ she says, ‘it’s just who I am. It’s the way I look at the world, my principles and my values.’
There’s no denying that romance is undergoing a revival. Later this year Dakota Johnson will star in Netflix’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, while Succession’s Sarah Snook will take the lead in a bigscreen version, and Emma Corrin will headline a Netflix adaptation of Lady Chatterley’s Lover. ‘The thing with romance is that it’s so universal,’ says Julia. ‘It speaks to a set of emotions that bring happiness and joy.’ And boy could we all do with a bit of that right now.
‘Bridgerton’ season two is on Netflix from 25 March. The new edition of ‘The Viscount Who Loved Me’ is out in paperback now