Lady Whistledown (voiced by Julie Andrews) has hardly had a few days of rest in between seasons of Bridgerton this past year. That’s because, while Season 2 of Bridgerton premiered back in March 2022, and Season 3 is yet to get a release date, the ton’s favorite gossip columnist had to devote some of her free time to covering the events of Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story. Although the Shonda Rhimes-created spin-off of Netflix’s hit romance series focuses mostly on the life of young Queen Charlotte (India Amarteifio), long before the birth of one Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan), there is still a lot going on in the “present” days of Regency Britain. The Crown is facing an imminent crisis, the queen (Golda Rosheuvel) must get her rakish sons to settle down, and that’s not to mention all the drama taking place behind closed doors at the Bridgerton and Danbury household. Indeed, there’s too much hot gossip even for someone as omnipresent as Whistledown to cover. But whether they have made it to the society papers or not, of one thing we can be certain: all of these events will certainly have consequences on Season 3 of Bridgerton.
Based on the fourth novel of Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton series, Romancing Mister Bridgerton, the third season of the Netflix series created by Chris Van Dusen will have the budding romance between Penelope and Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) at its forefront. The new run of the show will pick up from where Season 2 leaves off, particularly from the cruel rejection faced by Penelope. The final episode of last year’s season ends with the young Miss Featherington overhearing her beloved Colin telling his friends that he would never dream of courting someone like her. As if that wasn’t enough, she also lost the friendship of her dear Eloise (Claudia Jessie), who felt robbed after learning that her childhood companion is actually the person behind Lady Whistledown.
As far as B plots go, Season 2 of Bridgerton didn’t leave much for Season 3 to work with. Sure, there’s Benedict’s (Luke Thompson) crisis of consciousness that will certainly have to be developed before Season 4, but, apart from that, everything was settled by the season finale. In comes Queen Charlotte with some new loose threads for Bridgerton Season 3 to tie up. Split into two timelines, the new miniseries from the Bridgerton-verse introduces us to royal characters that will certainly make at least a couple of brief appearances in the upcoming season. One of them is none other than Prince Regent George (Ryan Gage), but, most importantly, the show puts two of our most beloved characters in a very delicate situation. No matter what happens at Buckingham Palace or at the fancy ballrooms in which Penelope and Colin will certainly fall in love with one another, Lady Agatha Danbury (Adjoa Andoh) and Lady Violet Bridgerton (Ruth Gemmell) will certainly have a lot to talk about…
Will ‘Queen Charlotte’s Prince George Find a New Wife in ‘Bridgerton’ Season 3?
Queen Charlotte also has her own fair share of problems to deal with in her self-titled miniseries, and not just in the immediate aftermath of her marriage with King George (Corey Mylchreest). In the Regency-era timeline, Her Majesty has to avert a succession crisis that becomes imminently once the Prince Regent’s wife dies in childbirth alongside her baby. Since Prince George’s child had been set to be the future heir to the throne, and since none of the other royal children and grandchildren have babies of their own, this tragedy bombes an even larger problem than it already was. After all, not only was the Prince Regent devastated, but there were also no young heirs to keep King George and Queen Charlotte’s lineage alive.
Lady Whistledown is quick to latch on to this piece of gossip. This, in turn, incenses Queen Charlotte, who begins to pressure her sons, daughters, and granddaughters to marry and have children already — or, should we say, legitimate children? Either way, the royal kids, who are actually all grown-up, don’t take kindly to being told what to do. Still, after some turmoil at Buckingham Palace, Prince Edward (Jack Michael Stacey) and his wife, Princess Victoria (Florence Dobson) come to the queen with the news that they are expecting a child: the baby that will grow up to become the future Queen Victoria of England.
Whether this royal baby (or pregnancy) will feature prominently in Bridgerton Season 3 is still anyone’s guess; however, there is one central character from this succession crisis that will certainly have to make an appearance at the ballrooms of the ton. Said character is the Prince Regent, George. Now a widower, the future king will certainly be on the market for a wife. We’re bound to at least see him sulking around the corners, sad that his mother doesn’t take his grief seriously.
