The hotly anticipated third season of Bridgerton (Part One) drops on Netflix May 16, and fans are gearing up for what promises to be yet another steamy, romantic, colourful angst-filled summer with the Ton.

Over the course of two seasons, and the spin-off Queen Charlotte, we have gotten to know a version of Regency Era London painted with a vibrant Shondaland brush and as we anxiously await another Bridgerton sibling’s quest for love, we sat down with the TV show’s namesake matriarch to discuss her hopes for the family.

Below, she shares her thoughts on the future of Lady Violet’s storyline, her favourite romantic subplot so far and which Regency Era convention she’d bring back given the chance.

Obviously we’re all really excited for season three of Bridgerton. Are you able to tease a little bit about what fans can expect?

“Well, we all know it’s going to be about Colin and Penelope. I think what’s lovely about that is, as an audience member (us included) we’ve grown up with their relationship and them skirting around the issue. So it’s rather lovely I think that now we get to see the payoff.

Violet is, as usual, meddling in her children’s lives. I think she’s a little bit nervous of Eloise and interfering there and she’s nervous of not interfering enough with Francesca. So it’s probably quite nice, therefore, to interfere with Collin’s life. And I think Violet is ready to embrace life a little more this season. So that’s quite nice.”

Over the course of season one and two we saw Violet really invested in her children. But thanks to Queen Charlotte, we start to get this arc where she has her own desires and a life of her own. Are we setting Violet up for her own potential romantic subplot? Do you think she’s ready for that?

“I think she is ready. In the first two seasons, two of her children married for love which is her raison [d’etre]. She wants them to experience the same thing that she had with Edmund. But I think what that did was hold up a mirror for her to realize just how lonely she is and how much of a void Edmund left, so you’re right, in Queen Charlotte she’s very tentatively engaging with the idea of embracing life again. And I think she’s open to flirtations, definitely.”

Liam Daniel/Netflix © 2024

As an actor, have you been having fun playing with that story and own her own agency?

“A lot of fun, actually. The writing is so beautiful and the people that we get to work with are really lovely. With Adjoa [Andoh] in Queen Charlotte–I’m trying not to spoil anything here, it’s very difficult–those discussions are a joy to play with Lady Danbury, because we now know each other very well. And also it’s fun, isn’t it? You know, there’s only so much tea drinking you can do.”

Well, yes. We do feel like [Bridgerton] is mostly drama and tea.

“Yeah, very much so. I don’t know how we’re all not enormous because my [Bridgerton] family eat. I’m always foisting food onto them at every opportunity.”

What or who would you want to see more of in future seasons?

“In future seasons, I’d like my family back. I know everybody goes off to different things in normal life and different jobs, but a bit like Violet, I’d like them all back again–children and all. So that’s what I’m aiming for.”

“I love those kids as much as Violet does, they’re lovely.”

Does it feel like a family on set?

“Yes, there’s a lot of fun in those family scenes. I think we’re quite annoying for the crew because we’re always messing around and joking. And they rib me a bit like they would a mum. So it’s nice. It’s good fun. They’re a good bunch. I love those kids as much as Violet does, they’re lovely. They’re not really kids anymore.”

They’re also growing up on set. That must be crazy to watch.

“Yeah, it’s quite freaky because we have these portraits on the wall in various places. There’s one of three of the girls and then three of the boys and then the two youngest, and to see particularly the youngest, Will and Flo who play Hyacinth and Gregory, next to those portraits it’s a real sort of, ‘Oh my god.’ I’m surprised I’m not filled with Botox to try and pretend that I’m still able to manhandle them all.”

Liam Daniel/Netflix © 2024

There’s such a diversity of romances across both Bridgerton shows. Which one has been your favorite so far?

“Definitely Colin and Penelope for the fact that we’ve grown up watching them so there’s a huge payoff and I absolutely love that to see the wallflower suddenly step away from the walls. It’s beautiful. But what I also really like in this season is to see the newly married Antony and Kate and see how their life is playing out. I really liked to see their ease with each other and their love for each other. I think that’s really lovely.”

It’s nice to not have that ‘Okay, happily ever after. Book closed. We will never see them again.’

Absolutely.

If there was one convention from the Regency Era that you could bring back, what would it be?

“This is a little bit of a cheat, I reckon. But I like the ritual of it that we’ve lost, and that’s tea drinking. We have hundreds of coffee shops and so much coffee that sometimes we get a bad coffee and we’ll still drink it, but I’m a real tea snob. I like tea leaves and I like them in a pot, brewed, and I like it out of the China cup. Because to me, it tastes different. And I learned that from my grandmother and my grandfather.

And I think because Violet is endlessly having tea, I want to bring that back. In the books, Violet almost uses having a cup of tea as a way to work a problem out. And there’s something about sitting down with nothing else going on–we’re so used to having iPads and phones in front of us–but sitting down having a cup of tea and taking time out for yourself. I think you could solve an awful lot of problems really mildly.”

We’d bring back courting. That slow burn of getting to know each other. These Bridgerton romance arcs work over the course of a season because of that ritual of courting.

“I suppose you’re right. I think everybody expects everything so fast now, don’t they? It’s pretty new, especially with things like internet dating. It’s quite funny because swiping on some dating app is very much like those little cards that they have [in the show]. The little miniatures of people, it’s very similar. They kind of look at them and they toss them out in the same way. But there is something about still [being] forced to probably have a dance with them and converse with them and go promenading with them. So you don’t necessarily write everyone off at the same time like perhaps we do in life.”

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