Author Julia Quinn and EP Tom Verica talk recentering Netflix’s Regency-era universe around the crafty heroine in the spin-off series
“Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story” is not just a spin-off series of the Netflix hit.
Centering on the titular character as portrayed by Golda Rosheuvel in the original series, the prequel, which premiered Thursday, extends the frills and romance of the “Bridgerton” universe by taking audiences back to the origins of the epic love story between Queen Charlotte (India Amarteifio) and King George (Corey Mylchreest) and the substantial challenges that threatened their happiness.
While Julia Quinn’s “Bridgerton” novels provided the basis for the highly-successful Netflix TV adaptation, series creator Shonda Rhimes went off book to build on the historical figure Queen Charlotte, whose coronation marks the start of “The Great Experiment,” a societal shift that integrates people of color into the fair-skinned ton. Whereas the background of this societal shift introduces a somewhat adjusted world when Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) and Simon (Regé-Jean Page) first met in “Bridgerton’s” first season, “Queen Charlotte” goes beyond what was on the page to envision the onset of this societal touchstone.
“For me, it was important that there be an origin — that we weren’t just presenting this amazing colorblind society,” creator Shonda Rhimes said during the spin-off’s Los Angeles premiere.
