Shonda Rhimes: “All the secrets of Bridgerton 2”

Of the second season of Bridgerton which arrives on April 24 on Netflix you can not say anything, apart from what we already know, or that it will revolve around the Earl Anthony Bridgerton and his search for a woman to marry. The directives that come before the interview are quite clear: nothing spoiler. Even though, when asked directly about his philosophical position on a fundamental question like this, Shonda Rhimes he replies: «Years ago I was super anti spoiler. If I happened to get any, I would go crazy, I would get really angry. Now I realize that it doesn’t matter, that even knowing details of the story, the audience continues to watch. And this is because the important thing is also how we get to things, situations. If you’ve invested time and attention in a story, knowing how it ends doesn’t take much away, unless it’s a crazy thriller or something like that. ” Then, after a pause, he adds this sentence which is the one that could encompass his entire career and also the meaning of so much of what we look at, listen to, read: “I think that when you realize that the journey is adventurous, then we undertake, whatever happens ».

Shonda Rhimes has been traveling us for years, sometimes writing, other times just producing, but still giving her stamp – lo “Shonda touch”, as they call it in Hollywood – to TV series that made entertainment history. First in rainy Seattle with Grey’s Anatomythen in the Washington of power with Scandalthen in the courtrooms with The rules of the perfect crime. With Bridgerton the journey is even back in time, to nineteenth-century England, inside a courtyard that looks more like a neighborhood in Manhattan than an English microcosm of two hundred years ago, where dialogues, music, walks, attitudes are very modern, in spite of the crinolines and carriages. Her ability to transport us where we have never been and to make everything contemporary made her become the woman more powerful of American television.

When, in 2017, he left the Abc to move to Netflix with a contract, apparently, of hundreds of millions, it forever changed the fate of the streaming platform. Before the arrival of Squid Gamesin September 2021, Bridgerton was the most watched show, a record obtained in the first 48 hours. The wait for this second season is therefore understandable: the love story between Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) and the Duke of Hastings (the very good Regé-Jean Page), the focus is now on her brother, Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) struggling with the pair of sisters Edwina and Kate Sharma (played respectively by Charithra Chandran and the beautiful Simone Ashley).

New season, new couple, new love story. Has this always been the project?
“The Julia Quinn books from which series eight is taken – one for each Bridgerton sibling – and in my head there have always been eight seasons, each based on a different couple, on a different sibling. That way there’s a chance to tell a closed story from start to finish without having to create some sort of feint, ahem, dramatic stakes as to why a couple can’t be together. For me it is a different and exciting way of working. In my career I have told stories in different ways but I am happy to deal with Bridgerton a different thing, instead of having to invent myself for ten more seasons of torment between Daphne and the Duke of Hastings. ‘

Is it a more fairytale size or am I wrong? After all, we don’t know what happens between the Prince and Cinderella after the happy ending with the slipper, do we?
“True, but there is a difference here: in the way stories are shaped, we always see a little more of what happens after a couple becomes one, they don’t just run off together into the sunset and that’s it. And this seeing a little beyond adds complexity ».

What does he have to say to those who are disappointed that they will not see the Duke of Hastings?
“That the Duke is always there: you can stop the shot, go back, look at him again and again. The Duke is always available. It’s the beauty of Netflix ».

Let’s talk about the two new characters of Edwina and Kate Sharma: in the series they are of South Asian origin, which is not shown in the book. Why this choice?
“It’s something we talked about a lot and it has to do with in terms we wanted to tell the story. In addition to this thought that a piece of our audience that is not represented on TV would have liked to see each other. The final choice then came when we found these two fantastic actresses. At that point we said to each other, but why not? Let’s do it”.

According to you who is watching Bridgerton does he fall in love with individual characters or stories?
“I hope they fall in love with the world as a whole, because that’s exactly what we create. When we build a show, we build a world and then we tell stories inside that inhabit it ».

This project is obviously very different from the others in his career. I was wondering what was exciting for her to tell a story where women play such a different role to heroines like Meredith Gray or Olivia Pope, tough, career women, with responsibility. In Bridgerton the only commitment of women is to marry well.
“But marriage was their power at the time. However small their world was, and however constrained and confined they were within, these were women of power at the time, women who gained status, strength and self-esteem from the person they could marry in parlor games. For me this is the interesting part. The court was their workplace, let’s say. ‘

Is it true that he is writing a prequel about Queen Charlotte?
“I admit I’m a little obsessed with Queen Charlotte and Lady Danbury: the grown-up women in the series are the most fascinating to me. I don’t like to say they’re my favorite characters, but maybe yes, let’s face it: Queen Charlotte is the Beyoncé of the show. I’m having a lot of fun writing about her. ‘

The Beyoncé of the show is a beautiful definition.
“It has a sparkling ferocity. I don’t know how to define it any other way. Is fantastic. Bridgerton it is his catwalk ».

She is famous for her work ethic, however hard she works to get what she wants. What advice do you feel we can give today, after the pandemic, when it seems that our relationship with work has changed and many find it difficult to return to normal?
“I’m struggling to get back to normal too! I don’t think, however, that the work ethic should change, but more the environment, the production. Maybe we need to find a new way to be creative, to get inspiration. It was a very difficult time and obviously I consider myself incredibly lucky, since I have a job. It’s hard for me to give advice, but I think there are several avenues out there now, and we’re all looking for new ways to make room for ourselves and our needs. “

And what good advice have you been given in your career?
«Never enter a negotiation that you are not willing to leave. Always knowing that you belong to every room you are in is another good tip. Besides, my father always told me that the only limit to your success is your imagination. “

Do you watch TV? And if so, what?
“When I write no, I don’t look at it because it just messes with my writing. At most, I look at things I have already seen, familiar things from which I take comfort. At the moment I am watching The Good Place that I have already seen a thousand times ».

Photo Campbell Addy / Netflix © 2022

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