Bridgerton season 2 resumes production after its latest COVID-related shutdown. The first Netflix series to emerge from Shonda Rhimes’ deal with the streamer, Bridgerton became a near-instant success when it premiered at the end of 2020. The show is based on author Julia Quinn’s romance series and follows the various Bridgerton siblings as they look for love in Regency England. Season 2 was ordered in January of this year, though Netflix didn’t wait for it to arrive before renewing Bridgerton for seasons 3 and 4 in April.
Filming on Bridgerton‘s sophomore run started in early spring. After spending season 1 focused on the affair between Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) and Simon, Duke of Hastings (Regé-Jean Page), Bridgerton will next turn its attention to Daphne’s sibling Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) and his own relationship with newcomer Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley). Despite the immense excitement surrounding Bridgerton season 2, however, production has been beset by multiple shutdowns due to positive COVID cases on set. It was halted for a day in July but picked up soon after, only to be then put on pause indefinitely a day later.
Now, at last, the Bridgerton set is back up and running. According to Variety, showrunner Chris Van Dusen confirmed the Netflix series is resuming work once more. “We are back under way. We had to delay because of COVID, but we’re back in it,” he said. “Right now I’m in post, editing our first couple episodes, which are looking great.” It isn’t clear if the positive cases that spurred this recent shutdown were among the cast or the crew, but whoever it was went into isolation immediately after. With two weeks having passed, Bridgerton is free to begin work again.
As the Delta variant poses more obstacles for a world trying to get back to normal, Bridgerton isn’t the only major production to suffer new delays. HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon halted for a handful of days in July, as did American Horror Story season 10. Bridgerton‘s delay caused some concern as it came so soon after the previous one, but now hopefully the swoon-worthy series will be able to proceed without any further issues. There’s no word on when Bridgerton season 2 might arrive on Netflix, or how much time is left on filming.
Bridgerton‘s second season already appeared to suffer quite a blow when Page, who became the show’s breakout star, confirmed he would not be returning. With the focus shifting to Anthony and Kate, there will be plenty of new material for Bridgerton to continue churning out steamy romances. In fact, it’s those racy scenes that might pose an extra challenge for the series amid the pandemic. For now, filming is back up and running, so there is reason to celebrate.
