Lace up your corset and put up your dukes.
But [hes] trying to figure out who he is.
I never thought this would happen to me, Quinn says.
Credit: LIAM DANIEL/NETFLIX
I didnt take what the books were as seriously as I couldve initially, she says.
But there should be no pejorative association with romance novels.
Nobody sneezes at suspense, at action, at true crime.
LIAM DANIEL/NETFLIX
For Van Dusen, the 280-year evolution of romance writing was something to exploit.
I wanted to infuse everything with my own unique, modern lens, he says.
The tone is very spirited and daring.
LIAM DANIEL/NETFLIX
Everythings fresh and youthful.
Theres a little effervescence to everything.
But nowhere is it more evident than in the casting.
The series looks like any Shondaland show: multi-hued and reflective of the world we live in.
Romance novelists like Vanessa Riley and Diana Quincy are challenging the established narrative of who inhabited the 19th-century aristocracy.
Austen herself featured a mixed-race heiress in her unfinished novelSanditon.
But such a cast is still dismayingly rare in period pieces.
Though the casting here is a far cry from the source material, Quinn wholeheartedly endorses it.
Bridgertonisnt a history lesson; its a show for a modern audience, she notes.
Its not color-blind casting, explains Beers.
We take a stab at imagine history and the world in the way we wanted to see it.
With color-conscious casting, I get to exist as a Black person in the world, he says.
It doesnt mean Im a slave.
It doesnt mean we have to focus on trauma.
It just means we get to focus on Black joy and humanity.
That joy opens up another narrative component often left behind closed doors in period drama: intimacy.
(What other Regency literary adaptations feature a heroine experimenting with self-pleasure at the suggestion of her suitor?)
Its not often you see sex [treated] in that way, Dynevor reflects.
It was so essential in Daphnes journey and sexual awakening.
I love the fact that it is very much the female gaze.
Its sexy and a little dangerous and fun.
It leaves you a little hot and bothered and breathless.
Fetch the fainting couch and the remote.
Bridgertonhits Netflix on Dec. 25.
To read more from the December issue ofEntertainment Weekly,order a copy hereor find it on newsstands now.
