How the World of ‘Bridgerton’ Expands in Season Three For two seasons now, Bridgerton has created a lush, sumptuous world that reimagines the Regency era in a provocative and addictive way — one world so compelling and immersive that Bridgerton is not only one of Netflix’s top shows of all time; it also literally created a fashion trend, a whole world of consumer products, immersive experiences like those at Bridgerton and the IRL Queen’s Ball that had fans around the world lining up to participate.
From the beginning, the producers of Bridgerton, along with then-production designer Will Hughes-Jones, were meticulous and thorough in adapting Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton book series from page to screen; From its 11 intricate balls to being shot in around 100 locations in its first season, Bridgerton oozes authenticity because the teams making it stop at nothing to make it feel big and real. . But if you thought seasons one and two were big, keep your bonnet on – season three promises to be the biggest and most expansive iteration of the Bridgerton story yet.
With new showrunner Jess Brownell helming the story, Bridgerton’s third season focuses on Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton), whose shaky friendship takes on a new dimension when she recruits him to help her find a husband, and he’s forced to face feelings he might not admit to. Friendship is a big theme for the season overall, as the season also explores Penelope’s heartbreaking rift with her former best friend, Eloise (Claudia Jessie), who now has a new, unlikely BFF. happen. And with Penelope attracting more attention in high society, her secret alter ego, Lady Whistledown, becomes harder to keep a secret, creating an obvious tension as the wounds, Secret desires and seething secrets.
“It’s a very different world this time, because we’re dealing with a relationship that’s based on an underlying lie,” said executive producer Shonda Rhimes. Penelope never revealed to Colin that she was Lady Whistledown – and he really had a problem with Lady Whistledown. So to see that happen, it felt really refreshing.”
As the film is amplified, so is the world in which all these characters play. This cycle, Bridgerton is bigger than ever, with more for viewers to enjoy. “This season,” Brownell said, “we are returning to many of our iconic stages, sets and locations. And then there are some new locations. We have to travel farther and farther to get to some of these locations, but it makes it feel like summer camp for the crew.”
So what exactly makes this Bridgerton bigger and bolder than ever? As season three Production Designer Alison Gartshore told Shondaland, fans will see that reflected in a few key ways. “Having been involved with the project from day one, I didn’t want to change it,” she said. “It’s more decorative.” Here’s how they did it.
“The main difference is the balls,” Gartshore said. She steadfastly wanted to maintain the vision established by Hughes-Jones and decorator Gina Cromwell, seeking to strengthen the vision rather than change it. “When we think about where we can elevate and push the boundaries, I think we can be a little more theatrical with the balls. I think we pushed the ball a little bit. We were definitely quite dramatic,” she said.
Of course, Bridgerton’s balls have been a central element of the series from the beginning; after all, they were the setting for Queen Charlotte’s favorite pastime – searching for the diamond of the season – and where upper-class residents gathered to size each other up and pour tea. This time, the balls were taken to the next level, mainly thanks to the distinct themes that Gartshore and her team came up with for maximum impact. “For the first time, we had a theme for the balls, which I think was really helpful in the design process,” she said. “It gave all of us a hook to hang the design on – a starting gate that we could go through and run with the design.”
Among them? A four-season ball, a new ball from Queen Charlotte and a ball focused on innovation, where the smarts of the elite come to showcase their forward-thinking ideas.
Bridgerton l to r choreographer Jack Murphy, Sam Phillips as Lord Debling, Nicola Holan as Penelope Featherington in episode 303 of Bridgerton
NETFLIX
Nicola Coughlan, as Penelope Featherington, and Sam Phillips, as Lord Debling, rehearse a dance scene with choreographer Jack Murphy for the third season of Bridgerton.
For the seasonal ball, Gartshore and her team wanted to convey spring, summer, fall and winter through color and hundreds of flowers. green — new shoots on plants and trees. Summer may be purples, blues, strong pinks. We all know the autumnal colors — browns, golds, and russets — and then winter, you’ve got frosty whites and red berries standing out.”
The queen’s ball, Gartshore says, centered on Queen Charlotte putting on a performance of the Eros and Psyche ballet — a story rooted in classic Greek mythology — and is where we get to see her rocking that insane wig that had the internet buzzing. “We built royal boxes for all the main characters, and for Queen Charlotte, a raised elevated royal box from which she could look down,” Gartshore reveals. “We had a stage set which was a Greek temple ruin, and the ballet took place on that. You weave the themes of the balls into the sets much more easily than you do the day-to-day household sets, really, because you try and weave their characters into those spaces more than themes. The set-decoration team is very clever with their choice of possessions for each character, and it all builds a picture of who that person is.”
Biggest of all is the ball where Lord Hawkins, an eccentric new character, makes his presence felt. “The innovations ball is quite a departure for Bridgerton,” Gartshore says. “It was deliberately so because the character who was putting on the ball is an inventor — kind of like the Elon Musk of the Regency world — so the ball had to be something that reflected his character.” The result? An engineering-heavy gala Gartshore describes as “masculine” and “geometric” with lots of innovative elements that were novel at the time, including machinery, astrological-based devices, and even lamps — a breakthrough invention that helped, among other things, miners go into caves.
