Over the holidays, Netflix introduced audiences to Bridgerton, a world of Regency romance set in the waning years of King George III. The series, the first fictional drama from Shonda Rhimes under her Netflix deal, arrived with a massive buzz around it and proceeded to take Twitter by storm. Even without official ratings numbers, the series is already a big enough hit that fans are clamoring for more. These Bridgerton Season 2 theories prove there are tons of storylines still to explore in the Bridgerton universe.
Warning: Spoilers for the Bridgerton Netflix show and book series follow. Though Netflix has not officially announced a Season 2 renewal as of Dec. 30, production schedule announcement website Production Weekly reports Bridgerton Season 2 is slated to begin in early spring of 2021. With fans breathless to learn if a second season could be on its way so quickly, speculation is running wild about what future episodes would include.
The good news is there's quite a bit of information to work from. The Bridgerton series is based on Julia Quinn's nine-book series of the same name, and potential spoilers for future episodes are available for as little as a few dollars for a Kindle download. Season 1 was pretty faithful to Daphne and Simon's romance in Book 1, The Duke & I. Let's run down some of the stories the show can pull from in Season 2:
Since the main plot of Bridgerton Season 1 followed The Duke & I, it is logical to assume the show will continue this model. If so, Season 2's main plot would follow Anthony's romance from Book 2, The Viscount Who Loved Me. That romance will introduce a new family to the Bridgerton orbit: the Sheffields, with their two daughters, Kate and Edwina.
How the Sheffields enter the story remains to be seen, as does how they upend Anthony's carefully laid plans to marry. Spoiler alert: Bees will likely be important.
If Season 2 follows Anthony's story from Book 2, then fans theorize Season 3 would be Benedict's time to shine, since Book 3, An Offer From A Gentleman, is all about the second-eldest Bridgerton brother. If so, it's almost certain Benedict's relationship arc with the modiste, Mme. Genevieve Delacroix, is heading for a breakup.
You see, Bridgerton Season 1 added an ongoing romance for Anthony with Siena, the opera singer, which ends in a breakup. It was a creative way to give him a backstory and an emotional growth arc, setting him up for his next relationship in Season 2. As the new season starts, Benedict will be at the same hot and heavy point with Genevieve that Anthony was with Siena at the top of Season 1. If Benedict follows in Anthony's footsteps, that points to his relationship with the modiste ending by the time Season 2 is over.
Bridgerton's first season uses the backstories from later books to fill out the world around the family. Minor spoiler: One of those backstories involves Penelope moving on from Colin. Next season, with Colin traveling abroad, it seems likely fans will watch this play out while he's gone.
Not that Penelope truly gets over Colin. But by the time he returns, she's long past the heartbreak phase. She has accepted they will be friends and that he will eventually marry someone else. After all, she's discovered much more fulfilling work as Whistledown. Moreover, it's made her independently wealthy and able to live a comfortable life as a spinster. Isn't that what Eloise says is living the dream, anyway?
In most romance novels, once the couple is living the happily-ever-after life, they disappear. But Bridgerton's ensemble mentality doesn't seem inclined to push characters offstage. So, what could Daphne and Simon still have left to do? Why, get used to being parents, of course. The early days of a first child is often the roughest time in a marriage, and Daphne and Simon will learn a lot in the coming year.
Moreover, Daphne is now part of the married ladies of society. That means she can join forces with Lady Danbury and her mother in matchmaking the younger ones. She might just want a little revenge in meddling in Anthony's love life after he nearly ruined hers.
Much like Colin and Penelope, Eloise has quite a bit of backstory from later novels still to be mined. The biggest is how badly her first social season goes in the wake of Daphne's uber-successful one.
Bridgerton Season 1 has already done some work in setting this up, with Eloise's fears of marriage, her deep desire to be independent, and her loudly sharp tongue to those who might want to court her. But her disastrous first season as a debutante would make for an incredibly comic subplot, especially paired with what is expected to be Anthony's more traditional romance in Season 2.
Poor Francesca! She's introduced in the Bridgerton premiere and then disappears off to school in Bath until the finale. Fans have no idea what a great character she is; she's basically a mix of her two older sisters, with a brilliant mind like Eloise and a trusting soul like Daphne.
With Colin off abroad this season and Daphne now married, there's plenty of space for fans to get to know Bridgerton Child #6. Moreover, perhaps there's room for setting up her eventual marriage and subsequent romance from Book 6, When He Was Wicked.
Putting Marina Thompson in Bridgerton's opening season was a gambit that paid off in spades. She's a character who barely appears in the books but whose story with Sir Philip will eventually be a central plot point. Now that her arc is mostly over, the question fans have is: Will she be back for Season 2?
A more traditional series might let her disappear off with Sir Philip, but as Portia Featherington notes, he's a rich and wealthy landowner. Though he was never the man Marina meant to marry, he's positioned her (and her unborn babe) high up in society. Her return to London, and her struggles with Sir Philip, would make a nice ongoing counterpoint to those who are marrying for love.
Season 1 solved the mystery of "Who is Lady Whistledown?" Season 2 might open with a new one: Who is the new Featherington heir? Like Downton Abbey, which begins when the title passes to a middle-class lawyer named Matthew, the Featheringtons are now at the mercy of male primogeniture.
Could the new guy be a nightmare? Or perhaps the man of somebody's dreams? After all, there are several more Bridgertons (and two more Featheringtons) who still have to head for the altar.
Bridgerton Season 1 is on Netflix now.
