Dear Reader, this piece of news will not shock nor perplex you — Bridgerton has become Netflix’s biggest series ever.
According to internal viewer ratings released by the streaming platform, 82 million accounts chose to sit down and watch the period drama. And if you’re thinking that number comes from multiple views in one place, you’d be sorely mistaken, because it actually only counts one household view. Incredible.
“The show has made the top 10 in every country except Japan — hitting number one in 83 countries including the U.S., U.K., Brazil, France, India, and South Africa,” Netflix announced on their website. Australia also had the series at number one for almost four weeks since its launch on December 25, 2020.
“Indeed, the success of Bridgerton propelled the books into The New York Times bestseller lists for the first time, and 18 years after they were first published.”
Bridgerton is the first scripted Shondaland series after Shonda Rhimes signed a deal with the platform and due to his huge success, a second season is already on the way.
Adapted from the first novel in Julia Quinn’s hugely popular series, season one follows Daphne, the eldest daughter of the powerful Bridgerton family, as she enters Regency London’s competitive marriage market.
Season two will take its cues from Quinn’s second written installment: The Viscount Who Loved Me, with the next book in the series shifting its focus away from Daphne to her eldest brother, Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) who decides to marry, setting his sights on the young Edwina Sheffield to become his wife. Naturally, things get complicated for Anthony when Edwina’s sister attempts to thwart the marriage with the two developing a spark of their own.
It is expected that much of the season one cast, including Bailey, Dynevor and Page, will return for the second along with yet-to-be-announced new additions.
Filming for the second season is scheduled to commence in March 2021, but could potentially be impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.