24 Behind-The-Scenes Details About "Bridgerton" Season Two That Make Watching It All The Sweeter

"People were watching me and I just screamed 'this is so embarrassing!'"

It's that time again — Bridgerton is BACK with a second season! This time, however, it's Viscount Bridgerton's turn to find love...

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The first season — which was watched by 82 million households and became Netflix's biggest ever show for a hot sec — has left some HUGE shoes to fill.

Viewers are already up in arms about the lack of sex, but guys, this series is ~still~ excellent and has all the charm and humour the first one did! Also, it seems like they had a right ol' time making it.

Instagram: @nicolacoughlan

We caught up with the cast individually, and at the Bridgerton press conference in London, to find out more about Season Two and the making of it. Here are 24 fun facts that the cast, plus creator, Chris Van Dusen, spilled to us:

1. Simone Ashley and Charithra Chandran's first encounter with the rest of the Bridgerton cast was all at once during a party scene.

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Charithra: "It was baptism of fire! Our first scene was this huge ball scene so we sort of met everybody all at once."

Simone: "There was lots of Instagram DM sliding later on."

2. A lot of Season Two was edited in Bridgerton creator, Chris Van Dusen's, basement.

Liam Daniel/Netflix

Chris: "We had to edit everything virtually, so a lot of the show was put together in my basement and not a fancy studio like most people would think. In terms of the orchestral pop covers we added in, I would test those out with my two 18-month-olds, and if they started dancing to the song, we'd keep it."

3. Simone Ashley brought her dog to set often.

Instagram: @simoneasshley

Chris: "I always saw her cuddling with her puppy and then she also had a special connection on set with Newton Sharma – they were always together and they have a great bond."

4. Newton the dog was a ~major~ diva on set.

Liam Daniel/Netflix

Chris: "He did struggle to take direction, but with some creative techniques and some carefully placed ADR, we did end up getting what we needed from him. We had to add some growls and barks in the edit though!"

Simone: "Newton would listen to me but nobody else, to be honest."

Johnny: "He was hard to work with, but he does have an innate sense of character and I can't wait to see what he does next."

5. And he also once passed out from eating too many pebbles.

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Simone: "Not only is he a total diva on set, he also kept eating all of the pebbles on the floor in one of the scenes we were shooting outside in episode three. I was trying to do my thing, and then I'd look down to see him gobbling up pebbles. Then he passed out from eating them all!"

Johnny: "Yeah, Newton's favourite snacks are pebbles and sausages. He demands them be brought to his trailer all the time!"

6. Jonathan (Johnny) Bailey had an awkward wardrobe malfunction on set involving his trousers.

Liam Daniel/Netflix

Johnny: "I know that we boys shouldn't complain because the girls have to wear all these corsets, but I do remember one scene where me and the sibs are fencing, and the costumes were very tight in certain places.

It was also a dewy morning and we were wearing plimsolls, so I did this lunge move and my trousers ripped at the crotch. I was suddenly aware all these people were watching me and I just screamed 'this is so embarrassing!'"

7. Golda put a lot of work into wearing her extravagant costumes.

Liam Daniel/Netflix

Golda: "I am double-corseted. I love them, but you have to have stamina when you're wearing two corsets for that long. I train regularly and drink lots of water because you have to say hydrated!"

8. Simone struggled with her corset and even threw up on her first day of filming because no one warned her to watch what she ate.

Liam Daniel/Netflix

Speaking to Glamour Magazine, Simone said – "On my first day, I was like, 'Okay, first day as a leading lady, got to eat lots of food, be really energised.' So, I had this massive portion of salmon and that's when I needed to be sick, basically because I was wearing the corset.

I realised when you wear the corset, you just don't eat. It changes your body... I had a lot of pain with the corset, too, I think I tore my shoulder at one point!"

9. Allegedly, Johnny is the most likely to burst into hysterics on set.

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Simone: "Johnny or anyone with Johnny [are the most likely to burst out laughing in between takes]. It happens a lot!"

10. Bessie Carter dyed her hair red to shoot Season Two, and then regretted it pretty quickly.

Liam Daniel/Netflix

Bessie: "I was quite comfortable in my gowns because I only had to wear a half corset, but I did dye my hair which was a huge mistake because I had to go and have my roots touched up every two weeks! The best bit about my costumes were my handbags. I would just go around not doing any work and showing off my handbags to people!"

11. Chris felt it was important to build out the "world" of Bridgerton, as opposed to vehemently stick to the books.

Liam Daniel/Netflix

Chris: "In any adaptation, there are always going to be differences from the source material, but I do think this show stays true to the spirit of these books. We captured the love felt by the Bridgerton family, but I didn't want to only focus on one single family. I wanted the series to be about a society and an entire world and that's why I created new characters like Will and Alice Mondrich and Queen Charlotte. That was all in an attempt to expand the world.

I also never want to be afraid to put my characters in the most unimaginable, sometimes horrific situations because that's what I think makes riveting TV – to do the unexpected. We never want any portion of our audience to know where we're going or how we're going to get there."

12. Golda Rosheuvel loved getting deeper into Queen Charlotte's psyche this season.

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Golda: "What I love about this series is that they could've written a one-dimensional queen character who just wears fabulous dresses and wigs, but there's much more to her. I was excited to get to convey her relationship with her husband the King — who is obviously going through a lot of mental trauma – and to explore her more vulnerable side."

13. Simone enjoyed playing Kate because she possesses the kind of qualities that she enjoys in people IRL.

Liam Daniel/Netflix

Simone: "I like how reserved she is — people like that interest me in real life because you sort of have to earn their trust before they open up to you. I like that in people and I enjoyed inhabiting it in Kate."

Speaking to Glamour magazine, she adds, "Kate's really mature and I've learned a lot from her in that sense. ... Maybe I can sometimes be a bit of a people pleaser, but [Kate] would encourage people to speak their truth, and I really like that about her."

14. Johnny feels like his upbringing allowed him to relate to his character, Anthony.

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Johnny: "I'm from a big family — although I'm the youngest — so I can relate to that aspect of Anthony's character. He sort of has to live for other people, like Kate does too, and that was something I could understand a bit.

He's quite stubborn, and this season it felt somewhat isolating to play him. He's been through some hard times and he has a troubled past, and I learned a lot this season about living with trauma and how to love yourself before loving somebody else. I did enjoy the fact that he smiled more this season though!"

15. He also didn't necessarily feel the pressure of being the ~main character~ this season, but he's glad it's over now!

Liam Daniel/Netflix

Johnny: "It wasn't hard necessarily to step into Phoebe's shoes, mainly because of all the support around me from the cast and crew. I actually came out of lockdown and shot Drag Race UK Vs. The World, and it was way more intense sitting next to Mama Ru!

Saying that, I'm glad it's signed off now and I'm happy to pass the baton to someone else. Who knows, maybe next season it'll be little Will Tilston getting married — what a scandal!"

16. Simone didn't watch period dramas until Bridgerton came along.

Liam Daniel/Netflix

Simone: "I didn't really watch period dramas much because I felt like I couldn't relate to them, maybe because I couldn't see myself within one."

17. Simone and Charithra loved seeing a focus on South Asian representation this season.

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Simone: "It's amazing to be able to represent South Asian people and the joyous culture of South Asia. For me personally, I just wanted to have fun with it and make it feel quite normal because it should be, really." 

Charithra: "The Bollywood song that features in the series is super well known and it's such a family song. When I first heard it, it brought tears to my eyes and I texted Chris right away! It was amazing as a child of immigrants to be a part of this, and I felt very proud to see my two worlds coming together."

18. Chris wouldn't admit who his ~favourite~ cast member was, but he did gush about Nicola Coughlan a lot sooooo...

Liam Daniel/Netflix

Chris: Working with Nicola, she always has everyone in stitches. She's so beloved by this cast and crew and I just love her so much. She's always around to have conversation with... But we are all a close tight-knit family on set!"

19. The script is pretty much set in stone, and actors aren't allowed to change anything.

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Bessie: "They're very on it with us!"

Polly: "Yep, you're not allowed to change an 'it' or a 'but' or anything."

Bessie: "Although there is a moment of improvisation that they made me do, and I was terrified because I love having a script. They were like, improvise talking and showing him this, and they kept it in! I won't tell you which bit it was, but I was very proud that made it into the show!"

20. But, the Pall Mall sequence was partially improvised by the actors!

Liam Daniel/Netflix

Chris: "There's a sequence where the Bridgertons and the Sharmas are on the croquet field — in the show it's the Pall Mall sequence. That scene is just is so iconic and it's quintessential Bridgerton because there's so much verbal sparring and competition. It also signifies what's currently going on with Anthony and Kate.

At a certain point when we were filming that sequence, we set up the cameras and let the actors play and say whatever they wanted to say. Honestly, that was the first and only time there's been improvisation on set, and we even used some of it!"

21. Chris and the rest of the Bridgerton crew approached the sex scenes in the same way they did in Season One.

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Chris: "This season we did the same thing as we did in the last season — we worked on intimate scenes carefully and with the help of a trained pro. We've never done a sex scene for the sake of it and we never will.

What I will say is, these two [Jonathan and Simone] have amazing chemistry; they're like magnets! So much can be said in a look across the room between this pair, so we focused on that."

Simone: "It wouldn't necessarily make sense for these characters to have a lot of sex scenes because of the way they came together."

Johnny: "Yeah, it's not about the sex for Kate and Anthony. These characters already felt quite naked around each other without all that."

22. Chris admits it was tricky to shoot some scenes due to COVID restrictions whilst filming.

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Chris: I knew the audience wasn't going to give us a pass, and I didn't want them to. I wanted to bring everything everyone fell in love with about season one back for season two. In those larger ballroom scenes, it looks like there's 300-400 people there, but in reality it's more like 30-40 and visual effects where neccessary."

23. There were a few Easter Eggs included in the series for Bridgerton fans and period romance fans alike.

Liam Daniel/Netflix

Chris: "I've talked about the 1995 Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth emerging from the lake in a white shirt a lot, and we wanted to pay homage with our own version of that in this season. I love this genre so there really are any number of things that have found their way into my brain and onto the page when it comes to period pieces."

24. And finally, the Former United States Secretary of State is a big fan.

NBCU Photo Bank / Via Getty Images

Chris: "One of the most memorable reactions was when Hillary Clinton reached out and said she was a fan of the show! She said she loved everything about the series and what we were doing. That's something I'll always remember!"

Bridgerton Season Two is now streaming on Netflix!

If you adore Bridgerton, check out our interview the season two cast!

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