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Bridgerton Spin-Off Finally Gives Fans A Gay Sex Scene
But the real question is: was it worth the wait?
Bridgerton finally looped the gays in for the raunchy sex scenes the series has become known for — well, the spin-off did, anyway.
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story premiered this week, centering around the titular character first introduced in the original show and played by both India Amarteifio and Golda Rosheuvel in different timelines. The earlier timeline follows Amarteifio’s Charlotte as she first meets and marries King George (Corey Mylchreest), while the later coincides with Bridgerton’s 1817 narrative in which Rosheuvel’s Charlotte pressures her children to produce another royal heir after the death of her only legitimate granddaughter.
It’s servants in the former timeline — Brimsley (Sam Clemmett) and Reynolds (Freddie Dennis) — who essentially now make up the world of Bridgerton’s only LGBTQ+ representation (outside of a single mention of a man interested in men in season one that was soon dropped).
“We’re both very, very proud to be able to tell the first LGBTQIA+ story within the Bridgerton-verse,” Clemmetts told Entertainment Weekly. “And Shonda [Rhimes] has written these two very, very rich characters. It was a very empowering process for us to tell their story.”
To the show’s credit, the two get a sex scene equal to the kinds the heterosexual pairings are given by episode two. But contrary to Clemmetts’ praise, that seems to be all that we really get about their relationship over the course of the six episodes. As Digital Spy’s David Opie writes, beyond that scene “and a brief but moving dance at the end, Brimsley and Reynolds are barely people,” and instead merely serve to prop up the straight characters.
While existing fans were thrilled to get some sort of bone after two seasons of no LGBTQ+ representation in a series that otherwise made a point to prioritize inclusivity over historical accuracy, it’s difficult not to feel underwhelmed at the same time. And as Queen Charlotte is currently expected to be a single season, and Bridgerton’s showrunner previously appeared disinterested in prioritizing LGBTQ+ inclusion, who knows how long it will be until anything else comes along.
But as Dennis said in the same interview with EW, “People have to feel represented by what they’re watching on screen. The society within which we live should be reflected in what people see.”
Yes, the series was renewed for a season three before season two even aired.
The third season will skip to the fourth book, and focus on the romance between Colin Bridgerton and Penelope Featherington.
No. Some of the royal characters are based on real people, but everything else is pure fiction.
Rachel Kiley is presumably a writer and definitely not a terminator. She can usually be found crying over queerbaiting in the Pitch Perfect franchise or on Twitter, if not both.
Rachel Kiley is presumably a writer and definitely not a terminator. She can usually be found crying over queerbaiting in the Pitch Perfect franchise or on Twitter, if not both.
