Bridgerton Showrunner Hints At ‘Queer Narratives’ in Upcoming Seasons
Image: Season 3 still of Bridgerton, via Instagram @bridgertonnetflix
Bridgerton is returning for a third season and the showrunner has hinted that a queer love story will be coming the audience’s way.
The American historical romance television series has been a popular hit with fans worldwide, winning two Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards, and a nomination for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media in 2022.
In an interview with Pride, Bridgerton’s new showrunner Jess Brownell shared that a queer love story is on the horizon for viewers.
“This is a show about love in its many forms”
Brownell chose to keep details under wraps regarding which characters might explore their sexualities further.
“How exactly that plays out over this season and the next couple seasons, I can’t say specifically, but I will say I’m excited for fans to see that” she stated.
“This is a show about love in its many forms and it’s only right for us to foreground queer love and to tell queer stories,” she said.
“I want to see more queer joy on my screens and that was definitely a priority for me when I stepped into the showrunner role.”
The writer declined to comment on whether the queer storyline will be introduced through new characters or if an existing character will embark on a journey of sexual exploration.
“How exactly that plays out over this season and the next couple seasons, I can’t say specifically, but I will say I’m excited for fans to see that,” she said.
Nicola Coughlan Eager For Queer Storyline
Nicola Coughlan, who plays Penelope Featherington expressed her excitement about the show’s inclusion of a queer storyline, telling Pride she could not wait.
“I think it will be so beautiful. The wonderful thing about Bridgerton is it’s an invented world that has never existed.”
“It’s a Regency London in which we wear all these mad bright colours, it’s really diverse, there’s glitter eyeshadow. So I think there’s so much space there for queer love stories and I think all love stories deserve to be celebrated”, she said.
“I hope that in time we get a leading queer love story”, she added.
Bridgerton was adapted from Julia Quinn’s novels and premiered on Netflix in 2020.
The Queen Charlotte spinoff, debuting in 2023, featured LGBTQIA+ characters, including Brimsley (Sam Clemmett) and Reynolds (Freddie Dennis).
Julia Quinn’s Advocacy for LGBTQ+ Representation in Bridgerton
Quinn has previously suggested that incorporating LGBTQ+ characters into the storyline would be a positive move.
In a 2021 interview with Cosmopolitan Spain, Quinn mentioned there was a gay character in the series, Henry Granville. However, the author described him as ‘secondary’.
“It would be great if there was a protagonist. One of the things the series has done amazingly well is to perfectly mimic the kind of emotions you feel when you read a romance novel, which is why people read those novels” she explained.
“They make you feel good and the main reason is because they show a world in which anyone has the right to be happy.”
“Being more inclusive, casting without racial prejudice, all of that contributes to that feeling.”
“I am grateful to the Shondaland team for showing me what I could do with my books. The team of the series is huge, but I am a single person.”
“Imagining a gay protagonist in ‘The Bridgertons’ seems like a good idea to me because the goal of the saga has always been to show that all people deserve a happy ending”, she told the outlet.
The first half of Bridgerton season 3 will debut on Netflix on May 16, with the remaining episodes scheduled for release on June 13.
