‘Bridgerton’ Director Explains Decision to Skip Kate and Anthony’s Wedding
After bringing Anthony Bridgerton and Kate Sharma’s romance to a head in season two of “Bridgerton,” the Shondaland series skipped their nuptials. Instead, the Regency romance moved to when they returned from their six-month honeymoon.
According to Cheryl Dunye, the director of episodes seven and eight, the “Bridgerton” writers decided there was only room for one wedding this season, and that was the ill-fated ceremony between Anthony and Kate’s sister Edwina Sharma (Charithra Chandran) in episode six.
“There’s been a big wedding before,” Dunye explained to Insider ahead of the season’s March 25 Netflix debut.
“Two weddings on such a big show, you can’t have one after the other,” the director explained.
While Dunye has made it clear that she wasn’t involved in the decision to show Kate and Anthony’s wedding, she said the writers’ reasoning made sense to her.
“I just thought, ‘Yeah, you’re going to make that wedding look so trivial if this one is bigger.'”
After the massive success of its first season (it was one of the most-watched shows in the streaming service’s history, behind only “Squid Game”), the second season kicks off a new love story.
Following closely on Julia Quinn’s book series, the show shifts from Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) and Simon Basset (Regé-Jean Page) to Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) and Kate (Simone Ashley). The former couple was the focus of Quinn’s first book, “The Duke and I,” while the latter was the protagonist of the second, “The Viscount Who Loved Me.”
One of the biggest differences between the couples is that Daphne and Simon have to work through marital conflict after being pressured into marriage, while Anthony and Kate work through most of their issues before they voluntarily walk down the aisle.
So instead of emphasizing the latter couple’s wedding day, Dunye said the story focuses on showing how Anthony and Kate’s dynamic changes after they become husband and wife.
“Their lovemaking is different in that they’re completely equal partners. That’s something we found different but very passionate,” she told Insider.
While directing Anthony and Kate’s post-coital scene in the finale, Dunye worked closely with the cast and intimacy coordinator Lizzy Talbot to find “positions that we felt were satisfying for both of them as partners.”
As the credits roll, she wants viewers to leave the season thinking, “Oh, they’re happily married.”
Disclosure: Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Business Insider’s parent company Axel Springer, is a member of Netflix’s board of directors.
