Bridgerton is one of Netflix’s biggest successes of recent years and now the universe is growing with a spinoff focusing on an iconic character being greenlit.
Dearest Gentle Reader, there is big news in the Bridgerton universe as the long-anticipated spinoff show has been greenlit by Netflix.
A spinoff from the main show, which has had four highly successful seasons to date, has long been mooted, but it is now confirmed to be happening. The limited series will focus on the early life of Lady Violet Bridgerton. The news was announced on the official Bridgerton Instagram account via an official letter by Lady Whistledown.
Bridgerton is one of the most successful shows on Netflix in recent years, with season one and three still on the streamer’s Most Popular list, so a spinoff was perhaps inevitable.
Here is all we know so far about the Bridgerton spinoff.
How does this fit into the Bridgerton universe?
The spinoff will take viewers back to a time before the main series – roughly to when previous spinoff Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story was set, when Violet was a young woman.
Viewer will know Lady Violet as the matriarch of the Bridgerton family. While she is now a widower, she tries to provide a steady presence and guide her eight children through the highs and lows of adult life, with the hope of getting married. All the while, she carries with her the memory of the love of her life, Edmund.
What will the plot be?
The plot will be based on a short novella, Violet in Bloom, which was written by the creator of the original Bridgerton novels, Julia Quinn. The spinoff will tell the love story of Violet and Viscount Edmund Bridgerton. It will see how she found her ‘happily ever after’ and how she became the woman that believes in happily ever afters that viewers know and love.
This will help to connect the past to the present and provide more context to the character and her motivations.
Who will be starring in the Bridgerton spinoff?
Currently we don’t know as no official announcements have been made about the make up of the cast.
But there are some candidates in the frame. In a previous spinoff, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, which included the beginnings of young Violet’s friendship with Lady Agatha Danbury, Connie Jenkins-Greig played Violet, so she may reprise the role.
Whether Ruth Gemmill, who plays Lady Violet in the main series, will have any role or not has also yet to be announced.
Who is behind the Bridgerton spinoff?
The good news for fans it that most of the team behind the main Bridgerton series are involved with the spinoff.
Shonda Rhimes is on board as writer, showrunner and executive producer for the spinoff. Shonda, who is best known for creating long-running medical drama Grey’s Anatomy, has been an executive producer on all four series of Bridgerton as well as the 2023 spinoff Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story. She is working alongside Nicholas Nardini, who worked with her on Queen Charlotte. Shonda wrote all the Queen Charlotte episodes apart from one, which Nicholas wrote.
In addition, Tom Verica, who is the primary director of Bridgerton, will be behind the camera for this series too, as well as executive producing.
When can we see the Bridgerton spinoff?
No release date has been announced yet as the spinoff has only just been greenlit. It is likely filming will commence in 2027, so the series will possibly be out late next year or early 2028.
However, season five of Bridgerton is in production currently and should be out next year. Season five will focus on Francesca Stirling (Hannah Dodd) and Michaela Stirling (Masali Baduza).
