‘Bridgerton’ Just Released a Clip of Season 2 & It Shows Anthony’s New Love Interest
One social season, many corset dresses, and 63 million viewers later, fans are eager to know everything they can about Bridgerton season 2. While we can expect all the pomp and circumstance that high-society Regency London promises, we still have questions about the future of one of Netflix’s most popular shows to date.
After season 1 of Bridgerton on Netflix, fans had the following questions: When, exactly, is Bridgerton season 2? Will Eloise find out about the real identity of Lady Whistledown? Will Anthony ever find love? And what about our lovebirds: Daphne and Simon—is theirs really a story of happily ever after?
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Well, the good news is there are already answers to all of those questions and more; they just haven’t made their way to Netflix yet. The Shonda Rhimes-produced Bridgerton is based on a series of books by Julia Quinn that follows the Bridgerton siblings we’ve come to know and love thus far. Season 1 of the show is based on the first novel of the series, The Duke and I. Like the first season of Bridgerton, Quinn’s The Duke and I follows Daphne Bridgerton on her journey to find a love match, which lands her in a ruse-turned-relationship with none other than the Duke of Hastings himself.
While their love story gets a perfectly gift-wrapped ending by the season’s close, so many other affairs—in love, sex, or otherwise—remain unresolved. That’s where waiting for Bridgerton season 2 gets difficult! For now, all we can do is read up and prepare—so, without any further ado, find everything we know about Bridgerton season 2 below.
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The Duke and I by Julia Quinn
Buy: ‘The Duke and I’ by Julia Quinn $12.69
When is Bridgerton Season 2’s release date?
Netflix announced in January 2021 that Bridgerton was renewed for season 2 with a fictional statement from Lady Whistledown.“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.
Netflix confirmed that Bridgerton season 2 started filming in spring 2021 and will follow the second Bridgerton book, The Viscount Who Loved me, which focuses on Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) and his quest for love. “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’s statement 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.”
Netflix confirmed in September 2021 that Bridgerton season 2 will be released in early 2022. According to Elle, Netflix filmed season 1 of Bridgerton between August and November 2019. Bridgerton season 2 was set to start filming in the summer of 2020 on location in Uxbridge and run until May 2021. However, due to the current health crisis, production on Bridgerton season 2 was pushed back. The timeline was delayed again when production shut down in July 17 due to health concerns.
Before Bridgerton season 2 was confirmed creator and series showrunner Chris Van Dusen told Cosmopolitan in December 2020 that “of course” he’d be game for Bridgerton season 2. “Obviously we’re just focused on the first season right now,” he said at the time, “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.”
What is the Bridgerton season 2 about?
Bridgerton season 1 was based on the first novel in Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton book series, The Duke and I, which means that season 2 will follow the second novel: The Viscount Who Loved Me, which focuses on the love life of Anthony Bridgerton—unlike season 1 which centered on his sister, Daphne Bridgerton, and her romance with Simon Bassett a.k.a. the Duke of Hastings. “If we’re sticking to the books, it’s sort of Anthony’s turn now,” Phoebe Dynevor told Harper’s Bazaar about Bridgerton season 2. “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.” She went on to note that she’d “like to see Daphne get involved in Anthony’s love life since he was so involved in hers.”
In September 2021, Netflix released a first look at Brigerton season 2, which saw Anthony meet Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley), a smart and headstrong young woman who is his new love interest. “I never got your name. I was wondering if we’d meet again,” Anthony tells Kate, who responds, “So you might discern is my wit is acceptable. My manners genteel?”
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight in January 2021, Jonathan Bailey, who plays Anthony Bridgerton, teased that Bridgerton season 2 will be even “sexier” than the first, especially for Anthony. “It’s just going to get more exciting and convoluted and sexier, I think,” he said. “[Bridgerton will] be pushing boundaries every single way…the story is going to be really exciting.” He also revealed that the second season won’t be 100 percent a direct adaption of The Viscount Who Loved Me.
He continued, “I think [creator] Chris Van Dusen has got this amazing ability to take Julia Quinn’s extraordinary books and her amazing worlds that she delicately filled with excitement and sexiness. And he takes it to a whole other level. So the fact that we’re following Anthony’s pursuit for love shows that you know there’s definitely going to be some similarities [to the book].” Having read the second book, if Anthony gets to meet anyone half as brilliant as Kate Sheffield is, then he’s going to be a very lucky man.” (Kate is who Anthony marries in the second book.)
In an interview on Netflix’s Afterparty, Bailey also said that he hopes that Anthony will be happier in season 2. “He wasn’t smiling that much. He’s not a very happy man,” he said of Anthony’s first season. “He sort of seems to be the embodiment of how society is really sort of messed up, like the patriarchal society for men and women and so, it’s good to show how bad men can be and how controlling they can be and specifically with Daphne, as a cockblocker.”
The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn
Buy: ‘The Viscount Who Loved Me’ by Julia Quinn $8.99
Adjoa Andoh, who plays Lady Danbury, also told Entertainment Tonight in March 2021 that Bridgerton season 2 will be somewhat inspired by Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. “I really can’t say too much nor would you expect me to, but I guess what we do know absolutely is that they’re married now. It’s a new married life and they have the baby, so there are all the vagaries of what that is like for young people with a new baby,” she said. “I mean Harry and Meghan, what’s it like when you have a new baby? How does it affect you when [you are] a young couple with a new baby?”
She continued, “I just think we’re going to see how Phoebe and Rege’s characters, Daphne and Simon, navigate being in love, very in lust still, but with a new baby in their lives. Having to navigate and negotiate that between each other, between their families, and between their wider social circles. Yeah, it’s going to be interesting…[And with Simon], how do you father when you haven’t even fathered [or had a father]?”
Who’s in the Bridgerton season 2 cast?
Many cast members in Bridgerton season 1 are set to return for season 2: Nicola Coughlan (Penelope Featherington), Phoebe Dynevor (Daphne Bridgerton), Golda Rosheuvel (Queen Charlotte) and Jonathan Bailey (Anthony Bridgerton), who will lead the season. In February 2021, Netflix announced that Simone Ashley had been cast as Anthony’s love interest, Kate Sharma. The show described Kate as “a smart, headstrong young woman who suffers no fools—Anthony Bridgerton very much included.” Fans may also recognize Ashley from Netflix’s other hit TV show, Sex Education, in which she played Olivia in seasons 1, 2 and 3. “Quite the juicy bit of gossip, dear readers… This author is certainly looking forward to many a column covering Miss Kate Sharma,” the Bridgerton Twitter account wrote.
One main cast member from season 1 who won’t be in Bridgerton season 2 is Regé-Jean Page, who plays Simon Bassett, a.k.a. the Duke of Hastings. Netflix confirmed the news via statement from Lady Whistledown in April 2021. “Dear Readers, while all eyes turn to Lord Anthony Bridgerton’s quest to find a Viscountess, we bid adieu to Regé-Jean Page, who so triumphantly played the Duke of Hastings,” the message read. “We’ll miss Simon’s presence onscreen, but he will always be a part of the Bridgerton family,” the statement continued. continued. “Daphne will remain a devoted wife and sister, helping her brother navigate the upcoming social season and what it has to offer – more intrigue and romance than my readers may be able to bear.”
In an interview with Variety, Page explained that his role on Bridgerton was written as a one-season arc, which is why he won’t be in season 2. “It’s a one-season arc. It’s going to have a beginning, middle, end – give us a year,” he said. “[I thought] ‘That’s interesting,’ because then it felt like a limited series. I get to come in, I get to contribute my bit and then the Bridgerton family rolls on.” He continued, “One of the things that is different about this [romance] genre is that the audience knows the arc completes. They come in knowing that, so you can tie people in emotional knots because they have that reassurance that we’re going to come out and we’re going to have the marriage and the baby.” Though he won’t be on season 2, Page has no ill will toward his former cast members. He said, “I have nothing but excitement for Bridgerton continuing to steam train off and conquer the globe,” he says. “But there is also value in completing these arcs and sticking the landing.”
Bridgerton is available to stream on Netflix. The Bridgerton book series by Julia Quinn is available on Amazon. Here’s how to read them for free.
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