Netflix has ordered an untitled Bridgerton limited series following the early life of Lady Violet and her romance with Viscount Edmund Bridgerton, Deadline first reported Thursday. Shonda Rhimes will write, executive produce, and co-showrun the series with Nicholas Nardini, reuniting the pair behind Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, the 2023 prequel Rhimes created and largely wrote herself. It’s the first series she has written since.
The new prequel follows the Queen Charlotte model, which explored the youth of three of the franchise’s older women: Queen Charlotte, Lady Danbury, and Violet. Unlike that series, this one has source material. Julia Quinn’s novella “Violet in Bloom” tells the story of Violet’s courtship and marriage to Edmund, as well as his death while she was pregnant with their youngest child. On the flagship series, Violet is played by Ruth Gemmell, while Connie Jenkins-Greig played a teenage Violet in Queen Charlotte. No casting has been announced.
The order keeps the franchise’s expansion in the hands of Rhimes, who signed a new long-term overall deal with Netflix in August. Her version of Bridgerton reshaped the period romance with color-conscious casting, and Queen Charlotte put a Black queen and Lady Danbury, played as older women by Golda Rosheuvel and Adjoa Andoh, at the center of the story. Deadline notes that Charlotte and Lady Danbury were also seen as candidates for a prequel, but Violet emerged as the likeliest choice since Queen Charlotte had already covered much of their histories. For Black audiences who connected with those characters, the question of whose stories the universe tells next remains open.
Queen Charlotte director Tom Verica returns as director and executive producer, and Shondaland’s Betsy Beers also executive produces. Nardini also wrote on Scandal. Meanwhile, Bridgerton Season 5 is in production in London, centered on Francesca Bridgerton (Hannah Dodd) and Michaela Stirling (Masali Baduza), the franchise’s first same-sex lead couple. Season 6 was ordered in May 2025.
As Netflix builds Bridgerton into a full universe, Lady Danbury’s absence from the spinoff slate is worth watching.