Netflix dropped teases and trailers for several of its biggest shows and films during Saturday’s Tudum event, but among those big reveals was our first look at Bridgerton’s second season.
Bridgerton season 1 revolved around the romance between Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) and Duke Simon Basset (Regé-Jean Page), the Duke of Hastings, but season 2 is going in a new direction. For one, star Regé-Jean Page isn’t returning to the series, but season 2 will be centered around a new relationship entirely: While season 1 followed the plot of The Duke & I, which is Daphne’s book, season 2 will be based on The Viscount Who Loved Me, which is Anthony’s book.
As the first clip from season 2 demonstrates, it’s Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) and Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley) who are in the hot seat as Kate confronts Anthony about the ridiculous demands he’s looking for in a wife.
“The Viscount has no idea what he’s in for…” showrunner Chris Van Dusen tweeted along with a bee emoji, a nod to book readers.
For both show viewers and readers alike, a meet-cute involving a verbal smackdown was like instant catnip.
And some compared their interactions with one another to Pride and Prejudice, which began with one woman overhearing a man speak about how he views the other women in the room. And we know just how that relationship ended.
On Monday, Netflix dropped the first official photos from Bridgerton season 2, which included a closer look at Anthony and Kate’s confrontation as well as close-ups of the Bridgertons (Violet, Eloise, Anthony, and Benedict) and the Sharmas (Kate, her sister Edwina, and their stepmother Mary) alongside Lady Danbury.
An extended video of Bridgerton’s panel also dropped online Monday, where star Nicola Coughlan, who plays Penelope Featherington—and as viewers learned at the end of season 1, is also Lady Whistledown—revealed that at one point, the writers were considering making another character be the show’s witty gossip columnist.
Bridgerton (and Lady Whistledown’s piercing pen) will debut on Netflix in 2022.
