Everything you need to know about Bridgerton Season 3: Release date, plot, cast and more

Bridgerton has captivated the attention of the entire world, leaving us daydreaming for the better part of two years about house gowns, jewelled tiaras, ribbon chokers, and feather-trimmed heels.

The Shonda Rhimes-produced series debuted on Netflix in December 2020 with a bang and had us smitten with stars Nicola Coughlan, Rege-Jean Page, and Phoebe Dynevor as well as regency-style drama. A month later, the streaming service declared that the programme had outranked The Witcher, Stranger Things, and The Queen’s Gambit as its most popular debut, hitting 41% of all Netflix users.

Season two of the show debuted on Netflix in March 2022 after a protracted period of what looked like an agonising wait for viewers. It welcomed both familiar faces (Dynevor as Daphne Bridgerton, Adjoa Andoh as Lady Danbury, and Jonathan Bailey as Anthony Bridgerton) and new ones (Simone Ashley as Kate Sharma and Charithra Chandran as Edwina Sharma).

Naturally, fans loved the second season, despite the loss of Page and perhaps less scorching sex scenes (aka Simon Basset, The Duke Of Hastings). After bingeing season two in one sitting, Bridgerton fans have since been left in sadness, and we’re now anticipating a third season of the popular TV drama, which is now filming.

Bridgerton Season 3: Release Date

Fans are used to finding out information on a new season by this point in the year because Bridgerton premiered on Netflix on Christmas Day in 2020 and the second season was released in March 2022. But there has been no word on season 3 as of the end of January 2023.

Recent media reports stated the third season’s filming had been put on hold because Shonda Rhimes was unhappy with the direction the plots were going was disproved. Season 3 of Bridgerton appears to still be on schedule to wrap up around the end of January 2023.

Even if production is finished by the end of January, post-production might go on for up to six months. So, the patient wait for a release in the fall or winter of 2023 will continue. To tide us over, hopefully Queen Charlotte will show out in spring or summer!

Storyline for Season 3 of Bridgerton:

The Julia Quinn books’ timetable was followed by the first two seasons of the show, but Netflix has announced that while they intend to adapt all of the books into the show, Season 3 will be out of chronological sequence. Season 3 will proceed directly to book 4, Romancing Mister Bridgerton, which concentrates on Penelope and Colin’s plot, and skip the third book, An Offer From a Gentleman, which describes Benedict’s (Luke Thompson) search for love.

For those viewers who were upset that Daphne and The Duke’s steamy precedence from Season 1 was not upheld by Season 2, Nicola Coughlan has assured them that Season 3 will feature plenty of explicit sequences if the show stays true to the book. So much so that, according to Digital Spy, the actress is debating asking for a special PG cut for her family to watch. “There’s a scene in the carriage. And it’s just if they’re sort of arguing, and then it all gets very romantic, shall we say, but I think it will be such a good scene in the show. It terrifies me to think of filming but I think it would be really great.” She continued saying “So I know that it gets extremely racy in that scene. I know already stuff that’s gonna happen.”

Bridgerton Casting for Season 3:

As Penelope Featherington, Nicola Coughlan will undoubtedly return, as will her love interest Colin, former BFF Eloise, and other Bridgerton family members. The actor playing Francesca has been changed, though. Ruby Stokes will no longer play the Bridgerton sister because she has moved on to star in Netflix’s Lockwood & Co. Hannah Dodd will take her place.

For the upcoming season, three new male actors have joined the cast: James Phoon (Wreck) as Harry Dankworth, Sam Phillips (The Crown) as Lord Debling, and Daniel Francis (Stay Close) as Marcus Anderson. Hannah New, the most recent newcomer to the cast, will play Lady Tilley Arnold, a young widow who relishes her position as executor of her late husband’s estate and all of the financial, social, and sexual freedom that entails.

Regé-Jean Page, who portrayed the brooding Duke of Hastings in Season 1, won’t be appearing in Season 3 either, despite what we’re sure you’re all thinking. The actor has made it obvious that Bridgerton is no longer a priority.