Fans finally got their first look at Season 2 during Netflix’s TUDUM event on Sept. 25. The brief clip introduced the new season’s central love story between Anthony Bridgerton and newcomer Kate Sharma... although they don’t seem very lovey-dovey. Kate is clearly capable of standing up for herself, and brutally dresses down Anthony after she overhears him listing the attributes he wants in a wife at a party.

Anthony, meanwhile, was not ready for any of that...but it seems like he might like it.

On Valentine’s Day 2022, the first teaser for Season 2 arrived. It came in the form of a love letter from Lady Whistledown. The scribe promised she was back for more, and everyone should look out: She’d been sharpening her knives while she’s been away.

The full-length trailer for Bridgerton Season 2 finally made its grand debut on March 9, only 16 days before the season’s arrival. But it made up for being fashionably late by the sheer quantity of footage. Running a full three minutes, the trailer gave viewers a proper introduction to the ton’s newest arrivals, Kate and Edwina Sharma. It also let fans in on glimpses of lavish balls, a royal ascot, and the most heated game of Pall-Mall the Regency Era may have ever seen.

Along with the first clip, new photos arrived of the cast. Fans got their first look at the Sharma sisters, Kate and Edwina, and Anthony and Kate’s garden spat. But the production also included another photo: Eloise’s coming out ball.

One of the highlights of Bridgerton Season 1 was the show’s ability to turn Daphne’s romance into a rollicking ensemble, with multiple side plots pulled from the backstories of novels that come later in the Bridgerton book series. Regé-Jean Page might not be in the season, but fans have been hoping the ensemble feel remains, and this image of the Bridgerton family having their own inter-family drama suggests it will.

But with Eloise’s debut season, fans have questions: Will she continue her sleuthing? How much of Lady Whistledown will be in Season 2? How will the queen react to Eloise spoiling her Whistledown trap last season? And perhaps most importantly, what will Season 2 reveal to help set up Charlotte’s prequel spinoff?

Benedict is also included here, whose own romance is the subject of Book 3, meaning he could be the protagonist of the already-greenlit Season 3. How his affair with Mme. Delacroix proceeds will be something to watch in Season 2 for sure.

On Jan. 19, 2022, Netflix released more photos from Season 2. And let me tell you, dear reader, they are breathtaking.

Fans finally got their first look at Newton, Season 2’s all important corgi.

That hat! If this is how Kate dresses all the time, I am done for.

Peneloise is my favorite couple in the series, do not @ me.

It’s good to see Daphne, even if her husband is AWOL because he’s busy making a bunch of A-list blockbuster movies.

Bow down to the Queen. Charlotte’s wig game is going to be on point this season.

Anthony Bridgerton is leaning straight into the Mr. Darcy of it all, white shirt and everything.

Everything about this picture is hot, especially the hat.

Anthony is ready to play the game. Are you?

On Jan. 21, 2021, Netflix announced Bridgerton Season 2 is officially a go. It came in the form of a missive from Lady Whistledown herself (naturally), revealing the "incomparable cast" will return to production in the spring of 2021. A short teaser followed on YouTube to confirm.

But wait, that’s not all. Netflix then went a step further on April 13 and renewed the show for two further seasons, bringing the show up to four seasons in total. The series also tapped Jess Brownell (Scandal) to take over the series as showrunner in Seasons 3 and 4; Chris Van Dusen, who headed up the first season, will continue in the role for Season 2.

The cast is raring to go. Phoebe Dynevor, who plays Daphne, dropped some hints about Season 2 shortly after its renewal. Speaking to Elle, she said her character is ready for revenge on Anthony for meddling in her love life in Season 1.

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

On March 28, actor Adjoa Andoh, who shot to fame as Lady Danbury, posted a behind the scenes picture to commemorate the beginning of Season 2 filming. But after that, things began to not run smoothly. The production has experienced multiple pauses due to the ongoing shutdowns in the U.K.

Despite the setbacks, filming finally wrapped at the end of 2021. Departing showrunner Chris Van Dusen commemorated the moment with a selfie that included leads Jonathan Bailey and Simone Ashley, captioning that this was “wrap on Season 2.”

As for who will return in Season 2, fans assume the full Bridgerton family will be back, including Francesca, who spent nearly all of Season 1 offscreen. The Featheringtons (minus their late father) are also poised to come back; after all, Portia still has two more daughters to marry off. With Rupert Young (Merlin) cast in a "major new role" on the series, could the Featheringtons have a new man in their lives?

But the big update is Anthony's new love interest now that Siena seems to have shown him the door. On Feb. 15, 2021, Netflix revealed Season 2's leading love interest for the eldest Bridgerton sibling, Kate, will be played by Simone Ashley. Ashley is best known on this side of the pond for Netflix's Sex Education, on which she plays Olivia, one of the school's "Untouchables." According to Deadline, her character, Kate Sharma, will be "newly arrived" in London starting in Season 2. In April, Deadline reported her younger sister, Edwina, will be played by newcomer Charithra Chandran. Their mother, Lady Mary, will be played by Shelley Conn (Liar).

Along with these additions also comes Calam Lynch, who fans will know from Derry Girls. According to The Hollywood Reporter, he's playing Theo Sharpe, a hardworking printer's assistant who turns out to be another unlikely love interest for one of the characters.

Another newcomer on the show will be Charmed star Rupert Evans, who will play the late father of the Bridgerton children, Edmund Bridgerton. Deadline announced Evans would be joining the cast on May 28. For a refresher, in the books, Edmund passed away at 38 from an allergic reaction to a bee sting, which forced Anthony to become viscount at 18. It’s clear that Evans will appear as Edmund in flashbacks (probably in Anthony’s memories). If that’s the case, fans will likely get a glimpse at young Violet as well. (Violet’s younger self will also appear in the young Queen Charlotte limited series.)

Evans tweeted on May 28, joking, “If it’s in @deadline then it’s happening.” It appears Evans’ Edmund Bridgerton is currently only slated for one episode of Season 2.

But with additions come subtractions. The biggest is Regé-Jean Page, who will not be back to play Simon in Season 2. As devastating as this departure is, it kinda makes sense if you look at the source material. The books tend to focus directly on the Bridgerton siblings, with their love interests only appearing in the novels in which they marry into the family. The Netflix series has changed that up in a few places, but Page's exit suggests that, overall, it plans to stick to that format.

As for other departures, the queen's nephew, Prince Friedrich, will probably stay in Prussia, since he didn't marry Daphne. And then there's Colin, who declared he would be going overseas. Could he be next season's Francesca, spending almost the whole season abroad?

Season 1's romance was a reasonably faithful adaptation of Daphne's story from the book The Duke & I. Fans might assume Season 2 would naturally follow Anthony's romance from its sequel, The Viscount Who Loved Me.

But although Season 1 stuck to the novel, there are already changes popping up when it comes to Season 2. The second book opens one year later, in 1814, at the start of the new social season. Anthony has decided he's marrying and picked his target: The newly-debuted Sheffield daughter, Edwina, the year's "diamond of the first water." There's just one problem: her overprotective sister, Kate, who at 28 is a confirmed spinster and determined not to see her baby sister married to a jerk.

For Netflix's Bridgerton Season 2, the 1814 timeline and the focal switch from Daphne to Anthony seem to be happening. But Kate's backstory is already being altered, as the show has changed the character to be of Indian descent, with the surname of Sharma instead of Sheffield. Instead of being an old hand to the ballroom scene, ignored for years by the men of the ton, this Kate is newly moved to London.

That changes the dynamics between Kate and Anthony for the better. The novel glosses over how Kate has spent a decade getting passed over for marriage while Anthony ignored the marriage mart until it was convenient. But Anthony's high-handedness in Season 1 made him a rather unpopular figure with viewers. Removing that angle will make his sudden "discovery" of Kate, who has been sitting there the whole time, less problematic.

Now all fans need to know is if the show will also keep Kate's corgi pup Newton. Lady Whistledown might call the dog a "mutt of indeterminate breeding," but book readers are quite attached to the animal, almost as much as he is attached to his mistress.

Lady Whistledown finally let slip when fans can expect to return to the ton on Christmas Day 2021. Netflix shared a date announcement video in which the stars of Bridgerton Season 2 learned the new season will debut on March 25, 2022.