Bridgerton Season 2 is officially happening, folks! Netflix announced today that the wildly popular original series has been renewed for a second season, which was not entirely unexpected given how well the show has done since it debuted over Christmas. Based on the Julia Quinn novels of the same name, the romantic drama series is set in the competitive world of Regency-era London’s Ton, during which debutantes are presented to the court and find their match.
Season 1 was a mix of Gossip Girl and Downton Abbey as it focused on the budding relationship of Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) and Simon Basset (Regé-Jean Page), but each of Quinn’s novels focuses on a different character and Season 2 will indeed be shifting its point of view — although burning questions remain.
In a letter written by Lady Whistledown herself announcing the renewal, it’s revealed that Bridgerton Season 2 will focus on Lord Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey), who is the focus of the second book in Quinn’s series. But the Netflix series as adapted by Chris Van Dusen expanded certain roles and invented others, so don’t expect a full 1:1 adaptation when Season 2 rolls around.
Speaking of which, Netflix confirmed today that Bridgerton Season 2 filming will begin in the U.K. in Spring 2021. A release date has not been revealed, but that likely means the second season won’t premiere on Netflix until 2022 – and it’ll be incredibly interesting to see how such a steamy show moves forward with production during COVID. Rumors swirled that Season 2 was originally supposed to start filming at the end of 2020, but obviously that didn’t happen.
When Collider’s TV editor Liz Miller spoke with Bailey late last eyar about the series, she asked if he was ready to take center stage in a potential Bridgerton Season 2, and he seemed more than up to the challenge:
“I think I'm really ready — the thing that I had known from the books, obviously, is that there is a future for Anthony, and so it allowed me in Season 1 to challenge the viewer to like him, because I think the trauma that he's experienced and the trauma of being a man in that world and not wanting any of it really, and not being emotionally equipped to deal with that level of responsibility, meant that knowing that possibly in season two might be about him, that you could really go, really far one way in order to give him as much room to grow. I know that Claudia [Jessie], in playing Eloise, and obviously, Phoebe's story, is so intricately portrayed and it's very quick in her season, but yeah, all the Bridgertons are going to grow up.”
You can read the full formal Bridgerton Season 2 announcement below:
