After wooing the world with its steamy, swoony first season, Bridgerton is back.
Viscount on us to spill all the juicy details.
Penelope Featherington’s hair is so big because it’s full of secrets:fake courtships.
The cast of ‘Bridgerton’ on the cover of EW’s March 2022 issue.Zoe McConnell for EW
All the Regency tea the ton and audiences can’t get enough of.
“I feel weird being in costume without ginger hair,” she quips.
As the first series fromShonda Rhimes’megadealwithNetflix,Bridgertoncarried expectations higher than Penelope’s titian tresses.
Zoe McConnell for EW
“It was all so surreal.
And he’d have to do it all without his breakout star.
“you’re able to understand why he’s drawn to both,” teases Bailey.
Zoe McConnell for EW
“And they’re both drawn to him in turn.
It’s an interesting love triangle; it’s dangerous when it’s siblings.
It’s bestial between them in a way season 1 wasn’t.
Simone Ashley as Kate Sharma and Jonathan Bailey as Anthony Bridgerton in season 2 of ‘Bridgerton’.Liam Daniel/Netflix
They’re all animals with each other.”
If there’s anything Penelope er, Lady Whistledown can’t resist, it’s a love triangle.
“The main theme of season 2 is head versus heart,” teases Van Dusen.
Claudia Jessie and Nicola Coughlan at EW’s ‘Bridgerton’ season 2 cover shoot.Zoe McConnell for EW
“It’s true for Anthony and Kate, and it’s also true for Penelope.
There’s no wondering for Coughlan.
Then Kim Kardashian said it’s her favorite show.
We’re ‘besties’ now on Instagram.”
“We’re still doing the same stuff,” Jessie says of our collective voracious hunger for scandal.
“Where they would go to dinners or balls, we just do it with social media.
It shows how adorably pathetic we are.
We want validation or escapism.”
Yet, in the world ofBridgerton, gossip is worth much more than that.
As Lady Whistledown, Penelope earns an income publishing her scandal sheet.
But she also banks something far more valuable: influence.
“She’s the most powerful woman in London,” notes Coughlan.
“Often, we perceive gossip as a very modern invention but it really isn’t.
When women had no agency in their lives, this was all they were deemed to be good for.
So why be ashamed to participate in it?”
Even the palace isn’t immune to gossip’s sinuous pull.
“Charlotte is the queen,” says executive producerBetsy Beers.
Whistledown has the platform to alter the way the ton see society and themselves.”
“That’s him at his most honest and fatigued and exhausted,” he says.
“Everything outside that is a construct.”
Luckily, Kate Sharma has come to London to deconstruct men like Anthony, puncturing their egos.
“She came with one goal: to take care of her sister,” says Ashley.
“Enemies to lovers is extreme,” teases Bailey.
“They can hit each other’s buttons within a second, and it’s something that’s instinctive.
Likely,Bridgertonviewers are tuning in for a whole lot more than rippling forearm, though.
“It’s going back in time and saying, ‘What were their wants and desires?'”
“They weren’t these one-dimensional people who just did needlework.
They had real lives and wants and needs and feelings.”
“There’s so many people who will go, ‘Oh yeah,Bonkerton,'” quips Bailey.
“It’s out of this world,” he says.
“The season is charged and transporting and romantic.”
In season 1, the friendship between wallflower Penelope and spirited Eloise delighted audiences.
Eloise’s unrelenting drive will test Peneloise, particularly because their relationship has been so grounded in trust.
“It felt like the most uncomplicated love that there was,” says Jessie.
“But they’re getting older, and they each have secrets.
It will shake them both.”
But Penelope’s pseudonym could be the ultimate betrayal for her best friend.
Maybe I’m putting rose-tinted glasses on, but it all comes from a place of love.”
However, Penelope’s motives are not entirely noble.
“I wanted it to be about more than just the Bridgertons,” says the showrunner.
“I wanted it to be about an entire world and an entire society.”
“But you should never underestimate a woman.”
Lady Whistledown couldn’t have said it better herself.
A version of this story appears in the March issue ofEntertainment Weekly, on newsstands Feb. 18.
