Everyone’s favourite period drama Bridgerton has had a major set-back as production for its third season gets underway, and the delay is for an unexpected reason.
The smash-hit Netflix series remains one of the streamer’s biggest releases to date, and season three was well on track to deliver the same result with a release date likely for sometime this year. But everything changed after the show’s creator Shonda Rhimes disagreed with a major storyline it was set to depict.
Why has Bridgerton season 3 been delayed?
According to a new report, Rhimes wasn’t happy with parts of season three’s plotline because it got “very dark”.
“There are some elements that Shonda is just not happy with so wants to change them. Some of it got very dark,” a source told MailOnline.
They added of the postponement: “We have been told that it needs the fun back so there are changes, which of course means delays. One thing is for sure though, the production team want to get it right for Bridgerton fans so they enjoy it as much as they have in the past.”
Season three is set to focus on the romance between Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and her best friend’s brother, Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton). While their love story has been alluded to in previous seasons, the next instalment will be hyper focussed on their timeline, not unlike season one’s focus on Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) and the Duke of Hastings (Regé-Jean Page), and season two on Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley) and Viscount Anthony (Johnathan Bailey).
It’s unclear exactly what this “dark” storyline entailed, but the show is known for having several sub-plots accompanying its central storyline.
As we’ve seen in seasons one and two, Penelope’s family were struggling with money due to Lord Featherington’s gambling problem. As a result, Penelope’s mother Portia pushed her daughters to marry affluent suitors. Whether this storyline takes a darker turn is anyone’s guess. Season two also ended with the marriage of Kate Sharma and Viscount Anthony, and frankly we refuse to imagine anything sinister happening to them—here’s hoping the producers feel the same.
Is Bridgerton 3 three still coming out?
Rest assured that yes, Bridgerton season three will still land on our screens—it just might not be as soon as we’d hoped.
Filming for the third instalment is well underway with Coughlan and Newtown sharing plenty of candid updates from the set over recent months. Here’s hoping producers get to the bottom of things quickly and it won’t be too much longer until we can watch their love story unfold.
