Bridgerton Producers Shoot Down Kate & Anthony Spinoff Hopes
Bridgerton executive producers Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers weigh in on a potential Kate and Anthony spinoff. Following season 1, which focused on Daphne and Simon’s tumultuous romance, Bridgerton shifted focus to Anthony and Kate for season 2. While Anthony was a polarizing character at the start of the series due to his sexist behavior, he evolved into a worthy romantic lead in season 2. Kate proved to be the perfect foil-turned-partner, with the two bonding over their responsibilities as the eldest siblings in their families.
After much back-and-forth, Anthony and Kate finally got together officially at the end of the season. The final scene reveals they got married off-screen and are now living together in Anthony’s family home. While both Jonathan Bailey and Simone Ashley will return for Bridgerton season 3, their story won’t be the focus. Instead, the series will follow tradition and move on to another Bridgerton sibling, Colin, and his romantic adventures with Penelope. While there’s a lot of excitement for Colin and Penelope’s romance, some are still hoping to see more of Kate and Anthony beyond what will likely be a reduced presence in the upcoming season.
Ahead of season 3, Rhimes and Beers have written a book titled Inside Bridgerton that offers a behind-the-scenes look at the series so far. In honor of the book’s release, they sat down with Town & Country to discuss it and the show. At one point, Rhimes and Beers were asked if they would be « open » to the idea of a spinoff focused on Kate and Anthony. Read their responses in full below:
Rhimes: I don’t know what story would be told. The beauty of this show is that we get to tell a complete love story from beginning to end with a happy ending every season. We don’t have to manufacture reasons why a couple can’t be together, we let them have their actual happy moment. And so, there are no spinoffs to be had because we’d have to find some reason to break a couple up, and that feels very artificial.
Beers: Or just watch a couple just be happy.
Rhimes: Maybe we could just watch them just sit together.
Beers and Rhimes’ comments make it clear that a spinoff focused on Kate and Anthony, or any Bridgerton sibling for that matter, is highly unlikely at this point. Their reasoning is understandable—Anthony and Kate did receive a fairly satisfying happy ending in season 2, and it would be a shame to potentially ruin that in a spinoff. However, a series that maintains the couple’s happy ending is easier to imagine with Kate and Anthony than others and is perhaps a bit more warranted.
When compared to Daphne and Simon, who had their wedding, honeymoon period, and the birth of their first child shown on-screen, Bridgerton took a different approach with Kate and Anthony, not bringing them together until later in the season. This means some of those key moments were missing, only teased, or will perhaps be shown minimally in future seasons. In that way, a potential spinoff could serve as a protracted flashback, filling in the gaps of what took place between when Kate and Anthony got together and were married. As it’s likely that period of their romance wasn’t without hiccups, it could flesh out their relationship without taking away from their happy ending.
It’s also worth noting that Rhimes and Beers aren’t opposed to other shows set in the Bridgerton world—a prequel series focused on Queen Charlotte’s rise to power is on the way, written by Rhimes herself. While it sounds like other spinoffs focused on the Bridgerton siblings, or at least their love stories, won’t happen anytime soon, it’s possible that could change in the future. If the Queen Charlotte spinoff is a success, which seems likely, there’s always a chance other Bridgerton shows could follow.
Source: Town & Country
