11 Shows Like ‘Bridgerton’ to Watch Immediately After Season 3 Ends
From ‘Queen Charlotte’ to ‘Gossip Girl,’ here are some shows that will help fill the void until the hit Netflix series returns for season four.
When Bridgerton season three showrunner Jess Brownell told The Hollywood Reporter that fans would likely have to wait another two years for season four, fans on social media — understandably — went crazy.
“We’re working on getting the seasons out faster, but it takes eight months to shoot and then you have to edit and then you have to dub into every language,” she explained. “And the writing process takes a long time, so it’s about two years. We’re trying to speed things up, but it’s somewhere in there.”
It seems like a long time for fans to wait for the next chapter of juicy gossip, intimate scenes, and gorgeous costumes. But in the meantime, there are other current and period dramas worth watching that are packed with romance and drama, for those craving more of Shondaland’s hits.
Here, THR rounds up some of the shows that will fill the Bridgerton void over the next two years—from Queen Charlotte to Gossip Girl.
01 ‘Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story’
There are few shows quite like Bridgerton as, well, a Bridgerton prequel: Queen Charlotte. The Netflix series, written by none other than Shonda Rhimes, takes place during the early days of Queen Charlotte’s (India Amarteifio) rule of ‘Ton and her marriage to the mysterious and dashing young King George (Corey Mylchreest). The series is told in two timelines: the past, before the events of Bridgerton; and what’s happening now between the second and third seasons of the main series.
01 ‘Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story’
India Amarteifio as Young Queen Charlotte
India Amarteifio as Young Queen CharlotteLiam Daniel/Netflix
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There are few shows quite like Bridgerton as, well, a Bridgerton prequel: Queen Charlotte. The Netflix series, written by none other than Shonda Rhimes, takes place during the early days of Queen Charlotte’s (India Amarteifio) rule of ‘Ton and her marriage to the mysterious and dashing young King George (Corey Mylchreest). The series is told in two timelines: the past, before the events of Bridgerton; and what’s happening in the present between the second and third seasons of the main series.
02 ‘The Crown’
While Bridgerton and Queen Charlotte shine a fictional light on the lives of Queen Charlotte and King George III, The Crown focuses on a more recent royal family: Queen Elizabeth II. The Emmy-winning series’ six seasons tell the story of the modern British royal family, starting from the early days of Queen Elizabeth’s reign through Princess Diana’s entry into the family and Prince William and Kate Middleton meeting at university.
03 ‘The Great’
The Great may have predated Bridgerton’s regency, but the series starring Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult is still a period piece that features a strong woman at the forefront. The Hulu project follows Fanning’s Catherine the Great as she is transported from Germany to Russia in the 1700s to marry Hoult’s Peter III, eventually plotting to kill her husband and becoming Russia’s longest-serving female ruler. Although based on the true story of Catherine the Great, the Emmy-nominated series is highly fictionalized.
04 ‘Outlander’
Outlander, like Bridgerton, is based on a series of historical romance novels and features plenty of steamy scenes that give the Bridgerton siblings a run for their money. The eight-season Starz show follows Claire Randall (Caitríona Balfe), a former World War II nurse who is on her second honeymoon in Scotland with her husband when she is unexpectedly transported back in time to the mid-1700s. There, she meets Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan), a Scottish Highland warrior with whom she begins a passionate relationship, only to find herself caught between the two men. To date, the series based on Diana Gabaldon’s novels is the longest-running original in Starz history.
05 ‘Dickinson’
Dickinson may not be historically accurate, considering Hailee Steinfeld’s Emily Dickinson twerks to modern rap music and Wiz Khalifa plays Death, but the costumes are at least period-appropriate. Through the eyes of the now-famous poet, the Apple TV+ series explores themes of gender roles, sexual identity, and artistic expression — set in the same time period as Bridgerton but in America, rather than London. While Dickinson incorporates some aspects of the period, it also features modern music, language, and references in its depiction of historical events.
06: ‘Down
While Bridgerton takes place a century before Downton Abbey, the Britsh drama series follows the fictional elite Crawley family and their servants, complete with plenty of scandals, classism and historical references. It premiered in 2010 to immediate acknowledgment and has since spun off into two movies — Downton Abbey and Downton Abbey: A New Era — with another one in the works. The story begins with the 1912 sinking of the Titanic, leaving the family’s future in jeopardy, as their heir died aboard the ship and the search for a new one.
07: ‘Gossip Girl’
Hey, Upper East Siders: Lady Whistledown may be the gossip columnist everyone knows, but before she came along, there was one person who stood out above the rest: Gossip Girl. The CW drama launched the careers of stars like Blake Lively, Penn Badgley, Chace Crawford, Leighton Meester, and more. The show follows six Upper East Side teens at a prestigious prep school, as an anonymous columnist repeatedly twists their lives, starting in high school and all the way through their early 20s. Sound familiar?
08: ‘The Gilded Age’
While Bridgerton explores the wealthy in London, The Gilded Age looks at how the one percent lived in New York City’s high society during the same century. The HBO series stars Cynthia Nixon, Christine Baranski, Carrie Coon, Morgan Specter, Louisa Jacobson, Denée Benton, and more. It follows the conflicts between the newly wealthy Russell family and their long-wealthy neighbors, the van Rhijn family, in the 1880s.
09: ‘Vanity Fair’
There’s nothing quite like seeing the beloved actors behind the Bridgertons before they took on roles in Regency London. Claudia Jessie (Eloise Bridgerton) co-starred in Vanity Fair, the 2018 series based on the novel of the same name by William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair follows Becky Sharp, played by House of the Dragon star Olivia Cooke, as she attempts to escape poverty and enter British high society during the Napoleonic Wars of the early 1800s.
10: ‘Sanditon’
Theo James, the Emmy-nominated former model and actor, stars opposite Rose Williams in Sanditon, a US series based on Jane Austen’s final novel of the same name, written just months before her death. The period drama follows Charlotte Heywood (Williams) as she moves to the quiet fishing village of Sanditon to start anew and meets Sidney Parker (James), who has ambitions to turn the coastal town into a luxury resort. Like Bridgerton, Sanditon is set in Regency England.
11: ‘Reign’
Rose Williams also stars in The CW’s Reign, starring alongside Grey’s Anatomy star Adelaide Kane, Toby Regbo, Megan Follows, Torrance Coomb, and more. The series follows Mary, Queen of Scotts (Kane), as she travels to France to secure her strategic political relationship with the king’s son, Prince Francis (Regbo). While the two are drawn to each other, Mary also finds herself drawn to Francis’ brother, Bash (Coomb), making things even more complicated.
