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You’ve Heard About The Queen’s Ball — Now Go Inside the Stunning ‘Bridgerton’ Experience

The World of 'Bridgerton' Video Series: Love and Marriage

The World of 'Bridgerton' Video Series: Family

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(upbeat string music) - I think one of the presumptions, we often carry about history in general, but particularly the kind of Regency past is that women have no opportunities, that until we reach some modern moments and women get the vote that there's nothing available to women of any kind, that they're completely constrained. And most historians would now recognize that you know, women's history is complex and varied. That there's many moments in history where women have all kinds of opportunities and sometimes those opportunities are taken away before they're restored again. And really the kind of you know, the 18th century, the early 19th century is a time of new opportunity for women. And Bridgerton encapsulates some of that opportunity, some of that diverse range of experiences that women might have. It's nice that these characters have space and they're given the difference in the authority that they're due. They do drive our world in really important ways. (upbeat wind music) - You know, it's set in a time where women weren't really allowed to be independent. So I think seeing that juxtaposition with all these brilliant female roles is really fun to watch. And also how they're navigating the patriarchy makes it quite interesting because they're sort of, a lot of the characters are going against it in some ways. So I think that's quite fun watching that. - I think what I love about season two and Eloise is that it's not a joke. Like Eloise, isn't a joke. It's not a novelty. She's like, "This is who I am and I'm not Daphne." And she feels like... Can I swear? She feels like a fuck up. 'Cause she's not gonna be able to do it in the same way that Daphne did, she can't, she's not built that way. - Like I was never particularly drawn to period drama as a genre because I thought you know, women are so monosyllabic and you know, they are just all facsimiles of one another. And they just sort of sit around and do needle work. And you know, with the odd exception, obviously Jane Austen's amazing. But a lot of other stuff where the women are just such afterthoughts. I go, "Well, that's not appealing to me. I wanna play someone with depth and layers." And then when this script came through, I thought, "This doesn't read like a period drama at all. It's like really let them be fully rounded human beings and with flaws", that you know. It's like some people were like very furious with Penelope because of how she treated her cousin Marina. And I think, "Yeah, 'cause what she did was terrible but that's good because they haven't made her this like perfect." People go, "She's really sweet." And I go, "Yeah, of course." I think she's genuinely very, very sweet but she's also got a whole bunch of other stuff going on. She makes really bad choices sometimes and she's selfish and she's naive and all of this. And I think we have to also remember that people in 1814, still people. - What is a powerful woman? Does a powerful woman behave like a man or can a powerful woman be whatever is considered feminine? I think those questions are still being asked. There's still an exploration of what even is an independent, powerful woman. As we've seen in Bridgerton, there are many types of women who can be described in that way. And they themselves are multifaceted and rounded and not always good, but that's the point that they have... There's just so much exploration to do. And I think anybody who watches this has to have some sort of sense of enjoyment of uncovering what it is to be a woman. (upbeat piano music) (set members chatter faintly) - There's a scene that I really love where Lady Danbury has gone to see the queen. Everything is not going as well as it should be. The wheels are coming off the marriage plans and the queen is in a mighty huff. And basically says, "Fix it, Agatha!" Lady Bridgerton finds her hiding and saying, "What on earth you doing?" She says, "I'm hiding." "Why are you hiding?" "Because for the first time in my life, I don't know what to do." And for me that's really interesting because I think we can get locked into these narratives that say, "Well, she's a strong, independent woman. And she always knows what to do." (vocalizes) Sometimes you just don't. And for me what's interesting, is how you dig yourself out of the sometimes you just don't know what to do. - Seeing Edwina's progression from believing herself that her only purpose was to marry and to be a good mother and wife, to finding out that actually no, she is a person of her own, I think is really inspiring. And I hope a lot of young girls see that and recognize that there's more to their lives than just being a good mom and wife. There's more to their lives than their relationship to other people. It's a relationship with oneself. I also think I've never ever seen romantic leads like this who are Indian. And that's really exciting. - Hopefully cut to enough time, we'll be in a world where that doesn't even have to be commented on it. It doesn't have to be so celebratory that we're representing that. You know, women are independent and it's also a choice to be dependent, whatever you want to do. - In all honesty, I didn't come away from the show being like, "Now that's some good women." Like, because it's just good writing. It's really good writing. And I'm concerned with good writing. And it is, it's brilliant. I loved reading the script. And then I get to play one of those people. In season one, obviously when I came away from it, everyone was like, "Oh you know, she's real the feminist narrative of that, of the piece." And I was like, "I think she's probably the most explicit example of that." Daphne's her version of a feminist narrative. She wants real love and she wants what her parents had. - There's definitely a sense of a lot of the women knowing their path and knowing themselves. And there's a self assurance with a lot of the characters, which I think is very fun to play. - It's hugely female driven, isn't it? And the celebration of that I think is really, really phenomenal. Not only for elder statesmen like myself, but for the younger generation as well. There's some amazing young actresses that we've got in the show. And that marriage of knowledge and experience with youth and vitality and energy, I think makes this show what it is. You know, and the beauty in all of that for the female characters and for the female actors as well. - [Stage Hand] And cut! It's quiet still. - He's cute. (set crew laughs) (slow string music) - As a Shondaland show, you can't very much have you know, a bunch of simpering women sort of going like, "Oh I have nothing to say, ask my husband." Like that's not gonna work. And the thing I really love about it is, of course the diversity, but also the diversity in the ages of the women we have in this show. It's not just about young women living their lives. You get to explore women at totally different stages of life. And you really don't see that very often. I often think the show is quite revolutionary, in a lot of really quiet ways. That you look around and go, "Oh, you really, you don't see that everywhere." And it shouldn't be revolutionary, it should be totally normal. But yeah, I'm very proud of that. - Unless we see ourselves reflected in society, in today's viewing, we don't behave like them. So we need to see it. You could say that across the board of anything. About color, about race, about women, it's all the same, about homosexuality. Unless we see it and it's accepted and it's a norm, we don't behave like that. - We look at them as just they're women who know what they want like anyone else who has clear ideas and clear goals in what they want. And I think people really enjoy that and feel it's accessible because it's what they desire their own lives. These characters happen to be women, but they're people who have passions, who have strengths and opinions of their own mind. - The world I'm interested in, is one in which a person gets to shine with the gifts that they've been blessed with regardless of their gender. It's about the gift. - I actually just think it's important to see great examples of humanism. Of human behavior, of altruism of mistakes, of faulters, like you know, flaws and victories so that we know that all of those things are possible in all of us. - [Man in Mask] Mark. (marker clicks) (set members chatter faintly) (lighthearted piano music) Reset.

The cast of Bridgerton celebrates the multi-layered representation of women and feminist themes throughout season two.