Historical Romance Show Beloved By Women Busts Out Interracial Lesbian Storyline |
Historical Romance Show Beloved By Women Busts Out Interracial Lesbian Storyline
(Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
Production is underway on season five of “Bridgerton,” the romance television series set in an alternative history version of early-1800s England.
Netflix published a teaser trailer for the season Tuesday, showing a black woman and a white woman in empire-waist dresses exchanging tender glances with one another. Their hands touch, tenderly. Their fingers graze each other, yes, tenderly.
Do not fret, dearest readers, for a certain countess shall find love again… Bridgerton Season 5 is now in production. pic.twitter.com/roXewr7ocq — Bridgerton (@bridgerton) March 24, 2026
Do not fret, dearest readers, for a certain countess shall find love again… Bridgerton Season 5 is now in production. pic.twitter.com/roXewr7ocq
— Bridgerton (@bridgerton) March 24, 2026
“Bridgerton” is only “set” during the British Regency insofar as costuming and set design are concerned. The actors do their best to speak in an old-timey Received Pronunciation. The soundtrack features orchestral covers of contemporary music. (RELATED: Netflix Turns Up The Heat With All-Cash Offer To Warner Bros.)
In Bridgerton World, King George III married an African woman (Queen Charlotte), spurring him to establish racial equality and grant aristocratic titles to non-whites. Each season follows the love story of a different high society couple:
Season one: A white woman and a half-black man.
Season two: An Indian woman and a white man.
Season three: A fat white woman and a normal white man.
Season four: An Asian woman and a white man.
That brings us to Season five, which focuses on an interracial (par for the Bridgerton course) and lesbian relationship.
“Bridgerton” is incredibly popular. Season four “premiered at No. 1 overall on the Nielsen streaming charts for Jan. 26-Feb. 1, scoring 3.03 billion minutes of viewing for the week,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“Bridgerton” executive producers include “Grey’s Anatomy” showrunner and “Scandal” creator Shonda Rhimes.
Rhimes has detailed her strategy for getting interracial and gay sex scenes past network censors. Judging by her work, Rhimes is extraordinarily fond of featuring interracial couplings, particularly of the black woman/white man variety.
#Bridgerton Season 5 will tell the love story between Francesca and Michaela Stirling. Production is now underway. The season synopsis reads: “Two years after losing her beloved husband John, Francesca (Hannah Dodd) decides to reenter the marriage mart for practical reasons. But… pic.twitter.com/fBishiD4sK — Variety (@Variety) March 24, 2026
#Bridgerton Season 5 will tell the love story between Francesca and Michaela Stirling. Production is now underway.
The season synopsis reads: “Two years after losing her beloved husband John, Francesca (Hannah Dodd) decides to reenter the marriage mart for practical reasons. But… pic.twitter.com/fBishiD4sK
— Variety (@Variety) March 24, 2026
“Shonda really does not love the word diversity,” said “Scandal” star Kerry Washington of Rhimes in 2017, according to Vulture. “She talks about abandoning the word diversity and replacing it with normalizing.”
Washington’s remark suggests that Rhimes makes casting and narrative decisions with socio-political consequences in mind. Her silly television shows are just as much propaganda as they are entertainment. (RELATED: REPORT: Netflix Gives Megan Markle The Boot)
“Bridgerton” feels particularly insidious because of its faux-historical setting. A “Bridgerton” actress claimed that Queen Charlotte “is not fictionalized as a woman of color [in the show]. Queen Charlotte was a woman of color. So you just have to do your historical research, and you will see that is true.”
Queen Charlotte was a woman of color, I guess, insofar as “peach” or “porcelain” are colors.
“Bridgerton” is wish fulfillment for a public increasingly estranged from and embarrassed by the recent past.
Follow Natalie Sandoval on X: @NatSandovalDC