"Bridgerton" season 3 is soon to come — the first four episodes of the new season will drop on Netflix on May 16, with four more to follow on June 13, so mark your calendars — and a fourth edition of the show is already in the works. But what about the future of the beloved franchise? Will we get eight seasons of the period drama, to coincide with the eight books of Julia Quinn's novel series on which the show is based? If everything goes to plan, yes, says producing juggernaut Shonda Rhimes.
Rhimes — who already cemented her TV greatness as showrunner of the medical drama "Grey's Anatomy," its spin-off "Private Practice" and the political thriller "Scandal" — is an executive producer on both "Bridgerton" and its prequel "Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story" as part of an overall deal between Netflix and her production company Shondaland. So it's safe to say that the woman has some sway when it comes to whether we'll be seeing more from the Bridgerton family in future installments of the romance series.
And in a recent interview with Variety, Rhimes assures "Bridgerton" diehards that she and her producing partner Betsy Beers are committed to bringing all eight of Julia Quinn’s novels to the screen. “I’ll be a granny gumming my food,” Beers joked of how long each season takes to make. "But we want to make sure that there’s ‘Bridgerton’ for all of us who love it.”
Each season of "Bridgerton" has followed a given sibling from the close-knit Bridgerton family as they try to find love in Regency-era England. The first season centered on eldest Bridgerton daughter Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) and the Duke of Hastings (Regé-Jean Page), while the second followed the illicit romance between Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) and his intended's sister, Kate (Simone Ashley).
While its predecessors closely followed what author Julia Quinn wrote on the page in the first and second "Bridgerton" books, the show's upcoming third season skews from the novel order by jumping over Benedict Bridgerton's story from book three and instead focusing on the friends-to-lovers relationship between Colin (Luke Newton) and Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan), which actually plays out in the fourth book, "Romancing Mister Bridgerton."
However, Benedict and the rest of the Bridgerton siblings will have their time in the spotlight if Rhimes's plans for the series materialize. And given how popular "Bridgerton" has been for Netflix — Variety reported back in 2022 that season 2 had knocked out season 1 for the top spot of the streamer's most popular English-language TV series of all time — we'd be surprised if the streaming platform doesn't greenlight future seasons of the series.
As for the future of that "Queen Charlotte" prequel, Rhimes also gave an update on that show as well to the outlet: "I’m trying to figure it out still. I don’t want to tell a story that doesn’t need to be told — do you know what I mean? I don’t want to make a second season of 'Queen Charlotte,' and you’re going to be, like, 'Well, that was not that great.'"
Tom's Guide will keep you posted on all future editions of both "Bridgerton" and "Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story." In the meantime, you can revisit the romantic franchise by rewatching the first two seasons of "Bridgerton" as well as the prequel series on Netflix.
