Dearest gentle reader, we are now only a few months away from boarding the time-travelling carriage prepared by Shonda Rhimes to take us back to the origins of our favorite TV monarch, Queen Charlotte. Netflix announced a few days ago that the Bridgerton prequel is on its way to us and will be arriving this Spring. As buzz continues to grow around the prequel, creator, Rhimes is continuing to tease fans on what to expect from our titular queen's love story with King George and all the complexities that saw it herald a new societal change in the ton.
We do know that Queen Charlotte will center on the queen's younger years exploring her rise to prominence and power and the role her pre-determined marriage to a young King George played in that ascent. Rhimes had earlier teased in a separate interview that the queen's journey to the throne was a bumpy ride revealing that despite her elegance she is "suffering underneath.” Now in a recent interview with Netflix, Rhimes is a lot more generous with details explaining what inspired her to want to tell the queen's love story despite fans already knowing how it ends up in Bridgerton.
The on-screen adaptation of the Bridgerton universe has so far covered two major love stories with a third one focusing on Colin Bridgerton and Lady Whistledown herself, Penelope Fetherington in the works. Both have mirrored classic fantasy romances with a fairy tale happy ending for both Daphne and Simon in Season 1 and Kate and Anthony in Season 2. However, with the upcoming prequel, it seems things will be a lot more grounded in reality according to Rhimes who said of the upcoming prequel:
"It's very much about how do you survive in a world in which you have no power. Where do you find the power in that? When I think about this series and what I want audiences to take away from it, I think the most important thing is I want people to feel like this is what happens with real love, love is hard love is difficult, love has many layers, and I also want them to take away the idea that the happy ending that we always talk about for characters doesn't have to be the obvious one. Marriages can be complex and the endings can be complex and you can understand that in very real ways. I loved delving into the romance between charlotte and king George, I thought that was really fascinating and I really wanted to be able to show people what that kind of love is like, even though they already know how it ends up. I thought that was a challenge and thought that'd be exciting."
As fans already know, Queen Charlotte will equally explore the relationship dynamics between young Queen Charlotte and young Lady Danbury and the Bridgerton matriarch, Lady Violet. Rhimes equally touched on this adding that the prequel will figure out how Lady Danbury came to evolve into the sharp-witted Bridgerton version "that we all know and love." Queen Charlotte's prequel story will be further detailed in a new book by Julia Quin, author of the Bridgerton books and Rhimes. The book is expected to be released alongside the prequel.
India Amarteifio, Arsema Thomas, and Connie Jenkins-Greig have been cast to bring to live the younger versions of the Queen, and ladies Danbury and Violet respectively. The prequel it seems will also track the lives of its cast in present times as Bridgerton stars Golda Rosheuvel, Adjoa Andoh and Ruth Gemmell will be back to play the older versions of the characters. Also cast are Corey Mylchreest as young King George Michelle Fairely as Princess Augusta, Sam Clemmett as a young Brimsley, Richard Cunningham as Lord Bute, Tunji Kasim as Adolphus, Rob Maloney as the Royal Doctor and Cyril Nri as Lord Danbury.
Though Netflix is yet to set an exact premiere date for Queen Charlotte, the streamer has announced that fans should expect the show this Spring. Check out a first teaser from Netflix below: