The fantastical world of Bridgerton returned in the 2026 TV schedule with the fourth season, telling Benedict's love story this time around. The Netflix hit was moving forward at a fast pace, but I looked backwards when I finally got around to watching Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story. While I'd always intended to watch the prequel spinoff, it just never happened until after I recently binged my way through Season 3 and the first four episodes of Season 4. The timing happened to align with Golda Rosheuvel opening up about the spinoff and getting me even more excited for more Bridgerton.
All six episodes of Queen Charlotte have been available with a Netflix subscription since 2023, so it was the perfect watch between volumes of Bridgerton Season 4 as one of the hottest 2026 Netflix releases. After binge-watching those six episodes, I can confirm that the show all about the tragic love story of Charlotte and George was the first installment of the Bridgerton world to make me cry, which I consider a compliment.
Fortunately, I was able to speak both Golda Rosheuvel and Adjoa Andoh at SCAD TVfest in Atlanta, with Andoh drawing on Queen Charlotte to explain why Lady Danbury is still "faffing around" with the Bridgerton family. I asked Rosheuvel for her thoughts on how the original season has been incorporating what viewers learned about Charlotte from the spinoff, and the actress shared:
[The origin story] massively enriched [the series]. I personally think, anyway, it massively enriches Bridgerton for me as an actor. In Season 1, I only could imagine my children. I only could imagine that relationship, and I did a little bit of that work. Shonda Rhimes comes along and actually, physically gives me 15 children in a room that I can go, 'Okay, there's my eldest down to my youngest.' I take that knowledge and the relationships that I worked on during Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story.
As a character, Charlotte has of course been pivotal in Bridgerton from the very beginning, but hardly touched on her family other than some heartbreaking appearances from her ailing husband. In the spinoff, viewers spend enough time in the present to meet Charlotte's many, many children, and see the love story that was only hinted at in the original series. Who could argue with Golda Rosheuvel that Queen Charlotte hasn't "massively enriched" the TV world on Netflix? She went on:
I take that to Bridgerton, the mothership. And I think that it's wonderful that fans can do that as well. So when you come to Season 4, and these two fall out, the whole world knows what that costs, because they've seen the two little ones grow up and find their journeys and find their friendship. So it's massively impactful on the show itself, the mothership.
While the show didn't exactly include every real-life detail about the real Queen Charlotte, it fleshed the Bridgerton world out beyond the family that finds itself in romantic conundrums year in and year out. A second season hasn't happened, which tracks with some of Shonda Rhimes' comments after Season 1 became a hit, but fans can at least count on the queen coming back to the screen with the second half of Season 4.
Bridgerton returns to possibly elevate Season 4 to being ranked as the original series' best (and hopefully redeem Benedict's less-than-romantic offer for Sophie to become his mistress) on Thursday, February 26. As a book-to-screen adaptation, readers can likely guess at least some of what's going to happen. As for what's in store for Charlotte... well, we can only wait and find out, hopefully with more direct nods to the spinoff.
And as always, you can revisit Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story and the full first three seasons of the original to pass the remaining time until Benedict, Sophie, and the rest are back to finish the next chapter of the Bridgerton family's story on Netflix.
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