The new Netflix series Bridgerton might be based on the bestselling novels by Julia Quinn, but it occupies a world all its own. That’s something creator Chris Van Dusen—a veteran of Scandal and Grey’s Anatomy— made sure of.
The series, which premiered December 25, follows the Bridgerton family, a Regency-era London clan thrust into the midst of the upper-crust social swirl when eldest daughter Daphne (played by Phoebe Dynevor) makes a major splash during her debutante season. But Bridgerton isn’t some by-the-books period drama; it plays with ideas of sexuality, race, and gender and, as Van Dusen himself tells T&C, “people talk quickly, the story moves fast, it's funny, and it's really sexy.”
Here, Van Dusen explains how he developed the series, dishes on his own favorite period piece (hi there, Colin Firth!), and spells out what just might shock Bridgerton audiences.
How did you you decided you wanted to make this series? Did it start with Julia Quinn’s books?
I was a writer and producer on Scandal, another Shondaland show, and as that show was coming to an end, I was thinking about what was next for me. I knew I wanted to do something completely different than modern day political intrigue on Capitol Hill, and then Shonda told me about the Bridgerton books. She wanted me to take a look at them and let her know what I thought, and if I would be interested in developing a series based off of them. I took the books home that night after we met and I read the first one—and then I read the second one the next night, then third and fourth and so on. I devoured them. It was pure escapism and that was something I was really looking for at the time. And I think it's something that a lot of people are looking for right now, for obvious reasons.
Fans of the books will still be in for surprises when they watch Bridgerton. Was the plan always to deviate a bit from the known stories?
With any adaptation, there's always going to be differences from the source material. I think that the main elements of what fans loved about these books are things they're going to see on screen. They're going to see the spirit of this amazing Bridgerton family, and they're going to hopefully be charmed by them just as they were in the books. We take some really interesting twists and turns throughout this series because there are new elements. We have new characters—we introduce Her Majesty Queen Charlotte, and she opens up an entirely new world for us—and we're also looking at the kinds of love stories we're telling for other characters that weren't necessarily in the books. Part of the great thing about this series is that you really get to explore those characters and those backstories and uncover things that weren't there before.
You’re playing with the traditional period piece in other ways also—with casting, with music choices, in all sorts of ways that are going to surprise the audience.
The show is for a modern audience, and everything on this show is filtered through a modern lens. People talk quickly, the story moves fast, it's funny, and it's really sexy, which you don't always get with a typical period piece. We're re-imagining this world; it's not a history lesson and it's not a documentary. There weren't actual Bridgertons in 1813, so we took some creative liberties there. The first thing you see is the cast, this amazing diverse cast, everyone from Phoebe Dynevor to Regé-Jean Page to Julie Andrews.
We knew we wanted the show to reflect the world we live in today, and even though it's set in the 19th century, we still wanted modern audiences to relate to it and to see themselves on screen. I feel we did it in a way that makes sense. Working with historians and advisers, there's a lot of evidence to the idea that Queen Charlotte was England's first queen of mixed race, and that idea really resonated with me because it made me wonder what that could have looked like and what would have happened. What could she have done? Could she have elevated other people of color in society?
How much actual history informed the series?
We definitely honor history. I worked with a number of historians and on-set etiquette advisors. Part of the draw for me of this world was there were all kinds of rules that the women and men had to follow. A lady knew that how to act and how not to act, she knew things like she couldn't dance with any one suitor more than two times. All of those real historical elements are very much a part of the show, and I think they provide great texture for the series.
Are there other period pieces that have inspired you?
I love period pieces. I think it was the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice had a white-shirted Colin Firth coming up from the lake—I always go back to that one. We took a lot of inspiration from period pieces, but as much as I love period pieces, they're also considered and just a little conservative. And so, with Bridgerton, I really wanted to make the period piece I hadn't seen before. I want that to kind of put a twist on the genre and create something fresh.
