Bridgerton season 2 on Netflix promises more glamour, scandal and corsets
- Bridgerton was streamed in 82 million households after its Christmas 2020 launch, making it Netflix’s best-performing show until Squid Game came along
- This time the seriest set in the Regency era follows the oldest Bridgerton sibling, Anthony, played by Jonathan Bailey, as he sets out to find a suitable wife
Viewers are no longer trapped at home, but Netflix is betting big that the opulent sets and elaborate costumes of its Regency-era hit show Bridgerton will lure them back inside for a second round.
This time around, the show follows oldest Bridgerton sibling Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) as he sets out to find a suitable wife.
He trains his sights on Edwina Sharma (Charithra Chandran), a newcomer to London, but his plans are hampered by her older sister Kate (Simone Ashley). Bailey and Ashley have the chemistry of a love story like Pride and Prejudice, and the duo carry the season.
In the Julia Quinn novels that Bridgerton is based on, the Sharma sisters have the last name Sheffield, but the show changed it.
Visit stunning period locations from Netflix’s Bridgerton
Showrunner Chris Van Dusen says that “from the beginning, I wanted to make the period piece that I’ve always wanted to see. And that was very much an inclusive, multihued, multiethnic world where anyone watching at home could see themselves reflected on screen.”
But what does it take to create a glammed-up Regency universe for the show? The production design and costume teams are critical.
Every episode of Bridgerton averages about 90 costumes. Episode 1, “Capital R Rake”, features 146 costumes alone – and the team makes every item of clothing for the principal cast. A crew of buyers source fabrics for the designers, who create the individual looks.
It’s all about the details, according to costume designer Sophie Canale. “Each button is thought about – you’ll see the Bridgertons have silver buttons, the Featheringtons have gold buttons. All the men have watch fobs, and each ribbon is chosen to match their colour palette. There are just endless details, and so much thought and craft goes into every piece.”
To create a dress for Philipa Featherington (Harriet Cains) in a pivotal ball scene, the team used over 14,000 crystals in four shades of gold.
“We’re not historically accurate, we are a pastiche of the period. And therefore, when it comes to the production design, we look at our historical references and then dial it up a few notches,” says production designer Will Hughes-Jones.
Part of that process included filming on location at grand English country estates. Scenes set at the Bridgertons’ ancestral family home of Aubrey Hall were filmed at Wrotham Park.
In January, Netflix forecast adding just 2.5 million subscribers this quarter, which would mark the slowest start to a new year for the company in at least a decade. The company raised prices in the US and Canada in January as well.
Netflix paid US$100 million to Rhimes to join the streamer, and Bridgerton was her debut on the service.
“We’ve done a couple of extra-special, amazing things that I think fans will be excited about this season, but the reality of it is the glamour of the balls, the beauty of the world, the stunning hair and make-up – all the things that everybody has come to expect from the show,” she says.
“The design, the gowns – it’s all still there. But we’ve upped our game a little bit in terms of how we’re telling this story.”
Bridgerton returns March 25 on Netflix.
