opinion | “Bridgerton” is one of the most successful and popular Netflix series. After two seasons, she has now received her first offshoot called “Queen Charlotte”. Our editor Michael Hille took a look and is surprised: so far the offshoot is even better than the original.
Hollywood loves his prequels. Prequels are sequels or spin-offs that tell the story leading up to the previous original. Think of the “Star Wars” trilogy from 1999 to 2005, which told of the young Anakin Skywalker aka Darth Vader, of the “Hobbit” films that were set before “The Lord of the Rings” or, in the series area, most recently of the fantasy -Hit “House of the Dragon”, the prelude to House Targaryen from “Game of Thrones”.
“Bridgerton” has now got such a prequel. The successful nobility series, which became a mega hit on Netflix in two seasons, will be continued normally in the future. Until then, there’s now “Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story,” which chronicles Queen Charlotte’s rise to power in six episodes. That concludes this prequel about Set 50 years before the original. A welcome step, because “Bridgerton” has never been as good as in this offshoot.
The “Bridgerton” phenomenon: where “Queen Charlotte” is based
Netflix
“Bridgerton” fans can be happy: the advertising and desire continues.
What distinguishes “Bridgerton” as a series cosmos is the central woman behind the scenes: Shonda Rhimes. The genius who invented “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Scandal” combined all of her strengths in the adaptation of Julia Quinn’s romance novels: “Bridgerton” is – contrary to what one might first think – not a contemporary Jane Austen clone with a lot of ” Sense and Sensibility” but a great soap opera but told with a modern progressive sensibility. The gender roles are broken up in an ahistorical way (mostly in “Bridgerton” the women in relationships call the shots), the series is just as characterized “color blind” casting from, as it is often called. Regardless of origin and ethnicity, the actors were cast on literary and historical figures. In the 18th century, the lord or lady could suddenly be black people without this being discussed.
This diverse cast was both a trump card of the series and a frequent point of criticism. On the one hand, it enabled black actors to play roles that they would never get anywhere else – historical films are originally an almost exclusively white genre. On the other hand, it has often been criticized “Bridgerton” ignores the racist and colonial dimensions of the British nobility. “Queen Charlotte” steps right in there. The series tells of the only 17-year-old Charlotte (India Amarteifio) from Prussia, who met the newly crowned King George III, who was unknown to her at the time. (Corey MyIchreest) is married. Unlike in reality, in the “Bridgerton” cosmos she is a Black woman and becomes the first Black Queen of England – and thus paves the way to the parallel world that we know from “Bridgerton”.
What makes “Queen Charlotte” a “Bridgerton” highlight
Netflix
Queen Charlotte is only known as an old woman from “Bridgerton”. In the new series you get to know her career.
It is a smart move to tell in “Queen Charlotte” how the diverse aristocratic society in “Bridgerton” came about – and the big surprise is that this time the series actually takes on the topic of racism, instead of just skipping it. Charlotte’s arrival in England becomes the occasion for what the courtiers call the “great experiment” in the series. Chosen Black people are suddenly given titles, lands and privileges – to show that they too, like “their” Queen Charlotte, can be noble. While the diversity in “Bridgerton” was only noticeable as a visual feature, but was not addressed in any way in terms of content, “Königin Charlotte” is a (in a positive sense naive) Series about the emergence of a utopia: It’s about the conflict with one’s own prejudices, about breaking up strict social structures. “Bridgerton” looked progressive. “Queen Charlotte” is progressive.
Of course, in “Königin Charlotte” you don’t miss everything that you would expect from “Bridgerton” – the great look in lush, ostentatious sets returns, as do the romances, which are sometimes a bit dime-heavy. With the forced marriage of Charlotte and George III. there is in the center a royal couple who love, tease and despair of each other. Especially the first season of “Bridgerton” showed a lot of explicit, aesthetic sex and in “Queen Charlotte” there is even more to see. The chemistry between India Amarteifio and Corey MyIchreest is superb – and since this is an arranged marriage, Shonda Rhimes and her writers weave clever dialogue around bodily autonomy, female empowerment and the wonder of “desire”. And in connection with King George, his mental illness is also discussed – “Queen Charlotte” succeeds in all of this without the Soap Opera Charm ever suffers from it. A remarkable achievement.
Anyone who has not been able to do much with “Bridgerton” so far because it is too exuberantly kitschy, too extravagantly romantic, too historically transfiguring and sometimes too bad just “Sex & Pomp” will not be happy with “Queen Charlotte” either. But “Bridgerton” was Netflix’s attempt from the start to reform a conservative genre without having to break it up entirely. With “Queen” this became Full potential used for the first time.
So prequels with this format show again why they can be a real asset. Sometimes you have to take a step back to make progress. With this in mind: Long live the Queen!
“Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story” has been available on Netflix since May 4, 2023.
