Sometimes, people want something between streaming and owning a physical copy. They want the convenience of watching whenever, without needing the Wi-Fi or cellular data to do so but they also don’t want to carry around a portable DVD player (do those still exist?) One of the top streaming services, Netflix, has long had the option to download episodes or movies to be able to watch “offline.” With that in mind, Netflix has highlighted their Top 5 most downloaded series with the launch of their Season Download button which is exactly what it sounds, being able to download an entire season of a series with just one click. On that list is the 2023 prequel series: Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story. The series, based in the same world as Bridgerton, takes us back to the 18th Century when Queen Charlotte first met King George III.
The series starred Golda Rosheuvel, reprising her role as Queen Charlotte from Bridgerton, and India Amarteifio as the young Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Corey Mylchreest plays the young King George opposite Amarteifio’s Charlotte. Joining them are a young Lady Danbury (Arsema Thomas), a young Violet Ledger (Connie Jenkins-Greig), and other young counterparts to Bridgerton characters like Brimsley. The series is told in dual timelines; the Regency Era we’ve come to understand in Bridgerton and the late 18th Century. In the Regency Era, Charlotte is dealing with the fact that after her children are gone (all fifteen of them) she has no legitimate heir to the throne after the death of her grandchild and daughter-in-law. Many of her children have only had illegitimate sons, or haven’t married and produced children at all. In the 17th Century, we see Charlotte and George, who in the present was dealing with some kind of mental deterioration worse than ever. It often causes memory lapses similar to dementia. As they meet and their love grows, George pulls away because of the symptoms already presenting from that same ailment.
History Nerds, Did You Catch Who That Heir Would Be at the End of ‘Queen Charlotte’?
When the series came to a close, there was a scene between Charlotte, her son Edward and daughter-in-law Victoria, whom she’d arranged the marriage between earlier in the season. Victoria and Edward tell Charlotte that Victoria is with child, immediately settling Charlotte’s fear that her and George’s legacy would not live on. That child would go on to be Queen Victoria (yes, that one). Charlotte and George’s legacy was grown from their love depicted over the six episodes, including one of the best love confessions from Amarteifio’s young Queen Charlotte: “I will stand with you between the heavens and the earth. I will tell you where you are. Do you love me?” Creator Shonda Rhimes currently does not have plans to make another season of Queen Charlotte, but since it was based on the world from Julia Quinn‘s Bridgerton series, Quinn and Rhimes wrote a novel based on the series of the same name.
All six episodes of Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story are available on Netflix. Stay with Collider for the latest updates.
