Some spoilers ahead for Bridgerton’s second season!
Bridgerton fans, rejoice! The Regency-era drama isn't going to lose either of its Season 2 leads moving ahead into Season 3, in a nice change of pace. Regé-Jean Page’s exit as the Duke of Hastings after Season 1 left many fans in shock, and also meant Page turning down a lot of money from Netflix. Plus, there's an executive BTS change forthcoming and another star bowed out of Season 2 for a different show altogether. But have no fear, dear reader, because both Kate and Anthony will be returning for Season 3 – and the stars who play them already know what they want to see happen.
The recently-dropped second season focuses heavily on the very messy romantic entanglement between Kathani “Kate” Sharma (Simone Ashley) and Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey). Even though there were far fewer sex scenes in Season 2 compared to Season 1, there was a lot more sexual tension that was only resolved in the finale. Ashley, who was previously known for her stint on Sex Education, told the THR that she’s looking forward to delving into her character’s newfound rank in the third season, saying,
She’s going to be viscountess, so I’m super excited to continue the story.
I say, hear, hear! We need Anthony’s wedding vision of Viscountess Kate realized in flashback, at the very least. Not to mention, it would be nice to see how all of Kate and Anthony’s best courtship moments from Season 2 compare to their actual married life. According to Jonathan Bailey, this will indeed be explored in the next iteration of Bridgerton. He said:
But there’s going to be complication [ahead]. They’re not simple people. I know they will work as a unit, and I know he’ll be completely devoted to her, so I’m excited to see that and to explore [that]. In the book and source material, there’s so much about her past and his past, so seeing maybe perhaps conversations where they acknowledge that further, and they have a really rich connection, just exploring that a bit further will be great. The payoff of the slow burn I think will continue for the years to come.
Kate and Anthony being a “slow burn” is a bit of an understatement. It’s one of the reasons why some loved Season 2 of Bridgerton more than even the original season. Hopefully, the couple's inclusion in Season 3 also means that more of their obsessively sexy one-liners can be expected in the future.
So far as we know, though, the third season of Bridgerton should follow the trajectory set down by its predecessors, with each year focusing on the next Julia Quinn novel and, consequently, the next sibling in line for love. Which means we’re trading the Capital R for Rake for Benedict “Struggling Artist” Bridgerton... which may or may not be as messy as Daphne and Anthony's seasons. Catch up on the Regency-era series streaming now as part of the 2022 Netflix TV schedule!
