- "Bridgerton" favorite Brimsley finally receives a first name in a new "Queen Charlotte" tie-in book.
- Author Julia Quinn told Insider how she decided on Brimsley's first name in the novel.
"Bridgerton" author Julia Quinn has revealed fan favorite character Brimsley's first name in a new book published to coincide with Netflix's "Queen Charlotte" spinoff series.
And we can share that Queen Charlotte's righthand man's first name is... Bartholomew.
Many of the characters in "Bridgerton" derive directly from Quinn's book series, however, a handful — Brimsley included — were created especially for the Netflix show, which meant Quinn got to flesh out their histories for the first time while writing the new "Queen Charlotte" novel with Shonda Rhimes.
The new book is based on the script to Netflix's "Queen Charlotte" series, created by Rhimes.
"I got to give Brimsley a first name. That was really fun," Quinn told Insider. "I kept emailing everybody going, 'Does Brimsley have a first name? Does anybody know if we ever gave him a first name?' And finally, it took a while, people were like, 'No, I don't think he does.' And I was like, 'Yes.'"
Brimsley's first name is never revealed in "Bridgerton" or the "Queen Charlotte" series, so it's an extra nugget just for readers of Quinn and Rhimes' book.
Asked how she came up with Brimsley's given name, Quinn said Bartholomew just "seemed right."
"I felt like when I introduced him in the very beginning of his chapter, I had to put his full name," Quinn said.
"And only once did anybody ever use it. I think one time Reynolds goes, 'Bartholomew,' and that was like this moment of intimacy because nobody ever called somebody's first name."
Reynolds is another new character introduced in "Queen Charlotte" as the chief secretary to King George III. Quinn said he doesn't receive a first name in either the book or the series.
While Reynolds' backstory is not explored in the Netflix series, Quinn told Insider that a key scene exploring his history with King George was cut from the show.
In the scene, which instead features in the book, Reynolds tells Brimsley that he was originally assigned as a playmate to George when they were both children and thus has a closer relationship with the monarch than we might realize.
"I embellished it a little bit but it really comes from the script," Quinn said. "And when I watched the show, I remember finishing being like, 'Where was that conversation?' I'm looking at the script. I'm like, 'I know that was here.'"
"Queen Charlotte," written by Julia Quinn and Shonda Rhimes, is available to buy at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other bookstores. "Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story" is available to stream on Netflix.