Shonda Rhimes Explains Why ‘Bridgerton’ Season 3 Took So Long — and Whether ‘Queen Charlotte’ Might Return
variety.comKate Aurthur administrator Dearest gentle reader, have you missed “Bridgerton”? Surely the answer is yes, since the second season dropped in March 2022, more than two years ago.
But at long last, with Part 1 of Season 3 premiering on May 16, the show’s many fans will see the events depicted in Julia Quinn’s novel “Romancing Mister Bridgerton” — a.k.a., the love story between Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton).
Season 3 of “Bridgerton” — from executive producers Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers, and new showrunner, Jess Brownell (who took over from Chris Van Dusen) — represents the show’s first deviation from the order of the books: Quinn’s third novel is “An Offer From a Gentleman,” which focuses on Benedict Bridgerton.
During an interview for a Variety Power of Women cover story, Rhimes says that because of the revelation in the Season 1 finale that Penelope is, in fact, the writer behind the Lady Whistledown scandal sheet, the series had to speed up the timeline of the story. “It was very clear that if we were going to reveal that Penelope was Lady Whistledown at the end of Season 1, we really only had a season when that could work as a secret that she carried — and then we got to see Eloise discover it,” Rhimes says of Colin’s sister, played by Claudia Jessie, who learned of her best friend’s betrayal in the second season’s finale.
Read more on variety.com