15 things you probably didn't know about 'Bridgerton'

Although many period dramas have cultural experts on hand during production to ensure historical authenticity, "Bridgerton" took an entirely different approach, opting for a diverse reimagining of London's high society.

"It's important to remember that 'Bridgerton' isn't a history lesson," Quinn told Entertainment Weekly in December 2020. "The show is for a modern audience."

In a different December interview with Town and Country magazine, the show's creator and Shonda Rhimes' long-time collaborator Chris Van Dusen expressed a similar opinion.

"We knew we wanted the show to reflect the world we live in today, and even though it's set in the 19th century, we still wanted modern audiences to relate to it and to see themselves on screen," he said.

Quinn stayed involved in Netflix's reimagining of her stories as a consultant, but she also has been vocal in her support of producers Van Dusen and Rhimes taking creative liberties with her novels' content.

Quinn told Oprah magazine in December 2020, "I was not going to tell Shonda Rhimes how to make television."

"It's not a word for word adaptation, and it shouldn't be," she added. "I never expected that. I didn't want that. It's not what television should be about."

Although the show has been noted for its diversity, it does not steer clear of conversations about race and privilege.

Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel) spearheaded the active hunt for Lady Whistledown on "Bridgerton," but historically, she is believed to have been England's first monarch of mixed race.

"That's something that really resonated with me," Van Dusen told Entertainment Tonight in December 2020. "I started to wonder what that could have looked like. What could this queen have done? Could she have used her power to elevate other people of color in society?"

Coughlan, who rose to fame on the Channel 4 drama "Derry Girls," plays Penelope Featherington on "Bridgerton."

And according to a December 2020 interview with The Guardian, the rising talent turned to fan pages to get an idea of what people expected from her character.

"I spent a lot of time lurking on online book forums to see what fans thought," Coughlan said. "I realized that [Penelope] is this really beloved character, because she's not this perfect girl that all the boys love."

"She's a complete wallflower," she added. "So I thought, 'OK, I really, really wanna do that justice.'"

"Bridgerton" isn't Dynevor's first foray as a TV lead.

The Manchester-born actress played Lotti Mott on Crackle's "Snatch," a TV adaptation of Guy Ritchie's hit 2000 comedy of the same name.

The series also starred Ed Westwick, popular for his role as Chuck Bass on The CW's "Gossip Girl", Luke Pasqualino, best known for playing Freddie McClair on E4's "Skins," and Grint, who famously portrayed Ron Weasley in the "Harry Potter" films.

Before Waller-Bridge gained international recognition for her award-winning BBC shows "Fleabag" and "Killing Eve," she wrote and created the British TV series "Crashing."

The Channel 4 show focuses on a group of people in their 20s, who live in a rent-controlled disused hospital.

Bailey — Viscount Bridgerton himself — played one of the main roles on the short-lived series.

You may have recognized the posh tone of Lady Whistledown's narration from "Mary Poppins" (1964) or "The Princess Diaries" series, as Andrews voiced the rumor-spreading writer.

In a December 2020 interview with Oprah magazine, Quinn said she was thrilled when she heard about the casting.

"When they told me I legitimately stopped breathing," she said. "I mean, I should be dead."

And while the other actors filmed in locations across the UK, Andrews recorded her voice-over narration in a New York studio.

"She was so fun to work with," Van Dusen said in the same interview. "Everything that you think Julie Andrews is, she is."

"I had such a blast writing the voiceover for Lady Whistledown because she gets to say the most scathing, sometimes insulting things," he added. "And they're not typical things that you would think that would be coming out of Julie Andrews' mouth."

The creator of hit ABC shows "Grey's Anatomy" and "Scandal," Rhimes knows a potential TV success when she sees one — and that was the case with the "Bridgerton" novels.

Rhimes was passionate about bringing the old-time Regency stories onto the small screen.

"I remember, I was almost scaring people," Rhimes told The Hollywood Reporter in October 2020. "Like, 'We have to get these crazy romance novels — they're hot and they're sexy, and they're really interesting!'"

Jane Austen's world may feel quaint compared to the scandal-ridden society on "Bridgerton," but some parts of the Netflix series were actually inspired by the 1995 BBC TV adaptation of "Pride and Prejudice."

Specifically, the moment between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, when he was wearing a wet shirt, inspired some of the show's more racy scenes.

"Obviously, Colin Firth coming out of that lake with the white shirt is seared in my mind," Van Dusen told the Los Angeles Times in December 2020. "But I wanted to see a period piece that went further than that."

On "Bridgerton," the debutantes of high society are expected to present themselves as virtuous and untouched, but the show doesn't shy away from exploring the characters' riotous bedroom antics.

In an attempt to create a safer professional space for actors during their most vulnerable on-screen moments, the series hired intimacy coordinator Lizzy Talbot to direct the sexual and romantic cuts.

"We rehearsed all the intimacy scenes weeks and weeks before we started to do things," Dynevor told Harper's Bazaar in January 2021. "I think that was really beneficial to us as well, because by the time we got to set, we knew what we were doing. We felt really comfortable."

Lady Whistledown exposes the secrets of London's upper class like how Gossip Girl reports Upper East Side drama on the namesake CW show.

Viewers took to the internet to note that similarity, and leading actor Page made the comparison himself.

In a December 2020 interview with Variety, Page said that "Bridgerton" is "something a bit like if Jane Austen met 'Gossip Girl' and maybe like, you know, '45 Shades of Gray.'"

"We have a lot of fun in period costumes and it is set in the Regency period in 1813," Page added. "It is a romance and a fantasy, and it's a big, warm Regency hug."

Viewers were treated to a combination of orchestral reworkings of Taylor Swift's "Wildest Dreams" and Billie Eilish's "Bad Guy," among other well-known pop records, and classical masterpieces, such as Antonio Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons."

In December 2020, Alexandra Patsavas, the series' music supervisor who closely worked with the soundtrack composer Kris Bowers, told Entertainment Tonight that it was Van Dusen's idea to meld genres.

"The familiarity of these pop songs performed by a quartet or orchestral seemed the most seamless way to create a 'Bridgerton' musical signature and also support Bowers' beautiful score," Patsavas said.

The costumes — in particular, the ladies' dresses — play a large part on "Bridgerton," as many of the characters spend countless hours in the dressmaker's shop Modiste, trying on new gowns for various social events.

In a November 2020 interview with Slate, "Bridgerton" costume designer Ellen Mirojnick said she didn't prioritize historical accuracy when conceptualizing the show's outfits.

"There [needs to be] an element that people that are watching it today can really dive into and not be taken back to a time in history that they can't relate to — that there's something about this that gets them swept up immediately in the story," Mirojnick said.

"And then there's Shonda. And what that means is that Shonda has a particular aesthetic," she added. "And if you think of all of Shonda's shows, it's evident, whether they are period or they are present-day, they're very fashionable in their own right."

The final episode of the season revealed that Penelope Featherington had been Lady Whistledown all along, which stayed true to the book series.

But according to Stacy Lambe's reporting for Entertainment Tonight, the show's creators considered different avenues, noting characters like Daphne, Lady Danbury, Eloise, and Brimsley all were contenders to be the divisive writer.

A sophomore season of the show has yet to be confirmed, but considering there are eight books in the "Bridgerton" series, fans are hopeful.

Each novel focuses on a different member of the namesake family, the second of which follows Anthony, so Dynevor has an idea of what her character will do next.

"I want to see Daphne get involved in Anthony's love life a bit, as he sort of meddled with hers quite a lot," Dynevor told Elle in January 2021. "I think that will be fun."

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