After signing an enormous deal in 2017, Shonda Rhimes has finally released her first project
for Netflix with Bridgerton. Adapted from Julia Quinn's novels, Bridgerton is a soapy, steamy,
spectacle set in Regency-era London's high society. Here's everything you
might not have known about one of 2020's biggest hits. But before we get going,
there’s some big time spoilers coming up! So if you haven’t watched Season One yet,
just save this video and come back to it later. We’ll be waiting for you.
Shonda Rhimes first joined forces with Netflix back in 2017, and clearly, she considered her
first move at the service very carefully. As it turns out, Bridgerton was a long time in the
making, and the hard work between Rhimes and her longtime protege Chris Van Dusen clearly paid off.
According to a feature in Shondaland, the online publication crafted by Rhimes' team, Rhimes
herself gave copies of Julia Quinn's best-selling book series to Van Dusen, and the duo was
enthralled by Quinn's stories and the world she'd created. Van Dusen was hooked right away, saying,
"I've always loved period shows — the sets, the costumes, the rules — they're so rife with
conflict. But at the same time, I think they're considered a bit traditional and conservative.
With Bridgerton, I wanted to take everything I loved about a period
show and turn it into something fresh, topical, and relatable."
Bridgerton is full of amazing characters, but one of the most exciting parts of the series
for most of its fans is a character who never even appears on screen.
Throughout the show, a mysterious gossipmonger named Lady Whistledown shakes up London's
high society with a scandalous, semi-regular publication made in secret. Nobody knows who
Lady Whistledown is, but clearly, she knows all of London's wealthiest families exceptionally well.
The identity of Lady Whistledown is revealed at the end of the show's first season,
but she's not voiced by anyone we see. Instead,
the character is voiced by the legendary Dame Julie Andrews, who plays the role to perfection.
During a Q&A on Twitter, Van Dusen revealed that Julie Andrews recorded all of her
voiceover work remotely, in sessions that he described as "a total riot." Unfortunately
for the Bridgerton cast, most of them haven't gotten the chance to meet Andrews in person.
"They were saying, 'We're gonna fly her over to visit set.' So then every day I
was like a child at Christmas being like 'Is it today? Is today Julie Day? She's coming!"
Here's hoping that Mary Poppins herself might be able to make an on-set appearance going forward.
Bridgerton might look like a breezy, glamorous good time for everybody involved,
but as it turns out, creating that world took a ton of work. In an interview with
Harper's Bazaar, Phoebe Dynevor , who plays the Bridgerton "family diamond" Daphne,
revealed that the cast attended a boot camp to learn about every facet of Regency-era life.
After getting cast in 2019, Dynevor and Regé-Jean Page , who plays Simon,
the Duke of Hastings and Daphne's eventual husband, were thrown directly into the
fray. The two went through six weeks of costume fittings and training for their leading roles,
with lessons in horse riding, piano, and etiquette on their busy schedules.
Dynevor and Page definitely seem right at home in their roles as Daphne and Simon, but a lot
of work went into making their characters feel like real people, and not just fancy costumes.
Bridgerton has its fair share of steamy romance scenes. While these scenes tend to feel
spontaneous, they're also carefully planned and choreographed by the show's intimacy coordinator,
Lizzy Talbot, who opened up to Vulture about some
of the unexpected difficulties during her work on Bridgerton.
One of her biggest challenges simply had to do with the size of the beds,
which, in an attempt to stay grounded in the Regency era, were quite small. Talbot revealed,
"These beds were not built for someone as tall as Rege, and he'd be hanging off the bed.
That's honestly where some of the key choreography comes from,
is positioning people on beds, and working out, 'Okay, if there's a roll-off here,
how do we make it so he's not rolling onto the floor or his feet aren't hanging off?'"
As Bridgerton's first season draws to a close, the series
revealed a huge secret — specifically, the real identity of Lady Whistledown.
Despite Eloise Bridgerton's best efforts to unmask the gossipmonger, only viewers know that meek,
sweet Penelope Featherington — Eloise's close friend and the frequently overlooked
daughter of the wealthy Featheringtons — is responsible for Lady Whistledown's missives.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly,
Coughlan revealed that she had some advance notice for this twist. While
perusing online fan forums centered on the books, she discovered that Penelope was Lady
Whistledown and confirmed that that plotline would be kept intact in the show. She said,
"For me to know that was really important because it changes everything about her. It means that
she's this crazy active listener all the time. She's the most low-status character in any room,
but she's the most high-status as well, like she controls all of London society while being
looked down on as this total wallflower. It hugely informed how I played the part."
As for whether or not her co-stars were in on the secret,
Coughlan said that she didn't want to ruin the fun for anyone who didn't want to know.
But when people guessed correctly, she would confess pretty quickly.
Bridgerton's first season ends with one huge question. What happened to Mr. Bridgerton?
Violet frequently references her husband, and it's clear that the two shared a
loving relationship and enjoyed a happy marriage before his death.
However, the first season finale's very last moments may contain not just a huge
clue about Mr. Bridgerton but also what could be coming up next on Bridgerton. As Simon and
Daphne bask in their shared glow after Daphne gives birth to their first, as yet unnamed,
child, the camera pans to their mansion's windowsill, where a bumblebee takes flight.
This bumblebee seems to be a direct reference to one of Quinn's books, The Viscount Who Loved
Me , where readers discover that Mr. Bridgerton's death was caused by a fatal allergic reaction
after a bee sting, making his oldest son, Anthony, the new viscount with brand new responsibilities.
While Mr. Bridgerton's cause of death isn't in the first season, Anthony's reluctance to lead
the Bridgerton family plays a huge role, so perhaps this bee indicates that Anthony will
take center stage going forward. Whether or not Van Dusen folds this plotline into future seasons
of Bridgerton remains to be seen, but book fans likely knew exactly what that bumblebee meant.
Part of the overall magic of Bridgerton is the attention to detail and world-building,
created and crafted by talented production and costume designers
working behind the scenes. In a featurette released by Netflix, costume designer Ellen
Mirojnick reveals that while she tried to maintain historical accuracy overall,
she also wanted to include some modern touches that no one would have seen in 1813.
Mirojnick left no stone unturned. Sharp-eyed viewers will notice that
the Bridgertons always don subtle, soft pastels,
while the flashy Featheringtons can be found in bright, eye-catching colors as a contrast.
Meanwhile, Bessie Carter, who plays Prudence Featherington,
says that Mirojnick showed her a lookbook for the season,
illustrating how Bridgerton's take on period clothing would be different,
eye-catching, and less than historically accurate. True-to-life or not, the costumes are a vital
part of the show, and it's clear that the work that went into them was well worth the effort.
"We want it to be a period drama like you've never seen before."
The world of Bridgerton seems effortlessly elegant at all times,
but according to star Nicola Coughlan , the on-set
experience had some fairly messy moments. In an interview with Good Morning America,
Coughlan revealed that her diminutive stature caused some actual injuries on the Bridgerton set.
Since Coughlan is quite a bit shorter than pretty much all of her co-stars,
the crew of Bridgerton tried to even things out by putting her in very tall heels.
However, this presented an unexpected issue, as Coughlan, who's just 5'1",
isn't the best at walking in them, and fell over no less than three times on her first day at work.
The heels ended up having some pretty dire consequences,
and according to Coughlan, they didn't stick around very long..
"Once was holding a dog and once was holding a parasol, which -- I fell and stabbed Claudia
Jessie, who plays Eloise, right in the hand and drew blood. So they got rid of the heels."
Clearly, Coughlan's height difference wasn't more important than minimizing
blood loss on set. Who knew the set of Bridgerton could be so dangerous?
Throughout Bridgerton's first season, each member of the title family gets some time
in the spotlight, including Luke Thompson's Benedict, the second-born son. Benedict's
storyline is pretty interesting, as he doesn't have Anthony's heady responsibilities, preferring
to spend his time at illicit parties in the company of decidedly lower-class men and women.
"You are a Bridgerton, yes?"
"I see my reputation precedes me."
Benedict also displays a serious artistic talent, using these parties to find live
models to sketch. As it turns out, Thompson and Benedict have that talent in common.
In an Instagram post thanking and appreciating everyone in front of and behind the camera,
the on-screen duke of Hasting himself, Regé-Jean Page, included a perfectly sketched drawing of
the leading man laughing. At the beginning of the caption, Page confirmed that the sketch came from
Thompson, who drew several cast members portraits as gifts for the end of the show's first season.
Thompson is clearly a talented actor and artist,
and the fact that he thoughtfully sketched his co-stars makes him even more endearing.
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