As you might be well aware, we’ve been following all the delicious developments of Shondaland and Netflix’s Bridgerton spin-off series, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story. From first clips to sneak-peek photos, to everything we know so far about where the story is headed, needless to say, we are quite excited about what’s to come in this new, original Shonda Rhimes-penned series. And how could we not be? The series chronicles how the young queen ascended the throne and, once atop the monarchy, found herself in a marriage that was as much a love story as it was a union that changed society forever. What’s more, we’ll also be getting the backstories of some of our favorite Bridgerton faces, including Lady Danbury and Lady Violet Bridgerton.
Well, now that we’ve wound you up, it’s our distinct pleasure to bring you a few big announcements regarding Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story. On February 14, 2023 — the most loving day of the year — Netflix held an exclusive fan event in which series creator and executive producer Shonda Rhimes, along with cast members India Amarteifio, Corey Mylchreest, Arsema Thomas, Golda Rosheuvel, Adjoa Andoh, and Ruth Gemmell, served up a veritable trove of Queen Charlotte goodies. While there was a lot to take in (more on that below!) perhaps the juiciest piece of info we got was the premiere date!
We can officially confirm that Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story will premiere on May 4, 2023 on Netflix! So, in just a few short months, get ready to go deeper into the Bridgerverse and learn just how one of the most beloved Bridgerton characters became the Queen we know and adore.
Also announced at the event was information about the next Queen’s Ball: A Bridgerton Experience. After successful runs around the globe, this opulent extravaganza will finally land in New York City! While the date for the next experience hasn’t been announced yet, dust off your corsets and sign up for the waitlist to be the first to know when the Ball lands in NYC this spring. And, in the meantime, if you need a little modern musical inspo to keep you in the Bridgerton mood, check out this Spotify playlist dedicated to Lady Agatha Danbury, courtesy of Arsema Thomas, who plays the young Lady D in Queen Charlotte.
If all of this isn't enough, there’s even more: new series photos!
After the event, eight stunning shots from the six episodes of Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story were unveiled — and, darlings, they’re simply divine. Who knew King G was such a hottie in his heyday? Below, we’ve got the rundown of the images along with some choice tidbits from the amazing actors bringing these characters to life, offering a deeper look into the intricacies of this world.
“George is very capable,” Corey Mylchreest tells Shondaland when asked about his character, King George. “He’s astute, and he’s capable of putting up a front and putting on a smile; at being immediately charming, confident, charismatic, and hiding everything else that’s going on for him, which ends up being the majority of the exploration of George in the rest of the show.”
“A challenging aspect of this show has been building the stamina, skill-wise,” India Amarteifio, our young Queen Charlotte, says. “I’m in scenes pretty much every day, so just being able to come in, do the work, and then not let it have weight on you for the next two or three days is hard. We do some really heavy scenes, and there’s a lot there, and you have to dig really deep, and you have to be feeling these emotions. But you’ve got to let it go after in order to be able to move on. Something that I’ve learned is to give it your all and then go home, forget about it, go to sleep, come back to work, and move on.”
“I really admire his selflessness,” says Sam Clemmett of his character, young Brimsley, Queen Charlotte’s devoted secretary, whom we’ve already met in the original Bridgerton series. “He’s putting other people first. What I found so fascinating about him is that someone who serves one person or an institution for a lifetime, they don’t have their own life — they don’t allow themselves their own personal relationships. And I like to think I kind of have a selfless quality; I like to put other people first, though sometimes that could be a bad thing [laughs], but I really admire that about him. It was definitely a way in for me.”
“[Being a part of this story] is a chance for Violet to realize that she is not just a mother,” says Ruth Gemmell, who plays Lady Violet Bridgerton in the Bridgerton series and in Queen Charlotte. “It’s a chance for her to realize that life goes on and that she still has a lot left. So, there’s kind of an awakening for my character. It’s a very different story.”
For Adjoa Andoh’s part, she says of her character, Lady Danbury, “As one of the older characters in the show, I feel underpinned by the sort of narrative gaze that Shonda puts over the character. And the audiences will see a blossoming of who that person is. Particularly with the Queen, with George, Lady Violet, and Lady Danbury, you will have a sense of ‘Oh, I get it now. I get how we get from there to here.’ And it will deepen and enrich people’s understanding of who they are. When you watch a narrative in Bridgerton now, you will get the motivation.”
“Our jobs as actors are to find the ways that we do or don’t relate to our characters, either through research or spending a lot of time deeply imagining being them,” Mylchreest says, meditating on how he got to know his character. “There are loads of ways that I relate to George — we’ve all felt trapped, felt burdened by responsibility; we’ve all felt love, fear, and abandonment. It doesn’t have to be the exact way that George has felt those things, but there are lots of things like that I can relate to with him.”
A brand-new character in the Bridgerverse is Princess Augusta, King George’s mother, played by Game of Thrones alum Michelle Fairley. Augusta, a formidable and frank woman, has a lot on her plate. She’s desperate to secure her family’s place in line for the throne, and so often reminds her son of this that their relationship is strained.
“[This show helps] to explain the situation of how Bridgerton is even able to be — people are living in a very stratified world where everybody has their labels, and because of that, where your societal role as a Black person is,” Arsema Thomas, who plays the young Lady Danbury, explains about the world we enter into with Queen Charlotte. “Seeing a world where everything was so different, race-wise [in Bridgerton], I needed to know why and how this happens. Queen Charlotte does a really good job of explaining how that happens.”
“We started off creating the character, and I had layers that I understood,” says Golda Rosheuvel, who’s pulling double duty this year by playing Queen Charlotte in both season three of Bridgerton and Queen Charlotte. “Then the spin-off comes along, and you get to find out what Shonda Rhimes thinks of your character and your backstory. And it’s pretty similar, but there are some layers in Queen Charlotte that I’ve kind of taken onboard and carried into this third season of Bridgerton. And maybe the audience [will] never see it, but it is layered in there, which supports me as an actor, which then inevitably supports the character.”
As if these gorgeous photos weren’t enough, our last Queen Charlotte gift comes in the form of a brand-new video teaser! In the minute-long video below, we’re given a much broader look into the world of Queen Charlotte and King George. There’s some steaminess, there’s some scheming, and there’s some damn fine jewelry.
If you’d like to see more tidbits from the upcoming show, you can watch (or rewatch!) Tudum on Netflix’s YouTube channel for more insights. And while there is so much more to come from season three of Bridgerton and the debut season of Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, for now, make sure to catch up on everything we know about season three of Bridgerton, and listen and subscribe to Bridgerton: The Official Podcast, available on Apple, iHeart, and wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Also, be sure to check back here for more information, photos, and inside looks as more is released over the coming months!
Valentina Valentini is a London-based entertainment, travel, and food writer and is also a senior contributor to Shondaland. Elsewhere, she has written for Vanity Fair, Vulture, Variety, Thrillist, Heated, and The Washington Post. Her personal essays can be read in the Los Angeles Times and Longreads, and her tangents and general complaints can be seen on Twitter at @ByValentinaV.
