The creative team behind Bridgerton has big plans to offer more LGBTQIA+ inclusion on screen.
Showrunner Jess Brownell, who took over for creator Chris Van Dusen, opened up about the representation fans can expect moving forward.
“This is a show about love in its many forms, and I think that it’s only right for us to foreground queer love and to tell queer stories,” Brownell told Pride in an interview published on Thursday, April 18. “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.”
Brownell remained tight-lipped on which characters might learn more about their sexualities, adding, “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.”
Meanwhile, season 3 lead Nicola Coughlan showed her support for more onscreen representation.
“I’m desperate for it. I cannot wait. I think it will be so beautiful,” Coughlan, 37, who plays Penelope Featherington, told the outlet. “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 colors, 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.”
Coughlan continued: “I hope that in time we get a leading queer love story in this show.”
Bridgerton, which premiered on Netflix in 2020, is based on Julia Quinn‘s novels of the same name. So far, the show has largely not wavered from the plot lines featured in the book series. The Queen Charlotte spinoff, which premiered in 2023, is the first time fans got to see LGBTQIA+ characters explored prominently through Brimsley (Sam Clemmett) and Reynolds (Freddie Dennis).
Executive producer Shonda Rhimes, however, has previously hinted that the writers’ room wouldn’t rule out straying from the books. The changes started when season 3 shook up the order by having Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) as the next lead instead of Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson).
“There’s eight Bridgerton siblings so there are eight books. We are definitely planning on following each one of their romantic stories,” Rhimes shared with Entertainment Tonight in March 2022. “We are not necessarily going in order. But we are going to be seeing each of the siblings and their story.”
Brownell later clarified why Benedict’s story was put on hold, telling Variety in May 2022, “Well, we already differ from the books a little bit because we’re an ensemble show. The books really focus on one on one romantic pair at a time and maybe the siblings have a little cameo here and there but they don’t have full stories.”
The first half of Bridgerton season 3 premieres on Netflix Thursday, May 16. The remaining episodes drop on Thursday, June 13.
