Hold onto your bonnets: the second season of Bridgerton is out, and by all accounts it is on track to become as big a hit for Netflix as the first.
The streaming service’s weekly round-up of its top ten programmes for March 21-27 put the Regency romance in the top spot.
After premiering on March 25, Bridgerton clocked up 193m hours of viewing time worldwide over its first weekend. This has made it the title holder for most-watched English-language Netflix series within the first three days of launch.
Season two also made the top 10 in 92 of the 93 countries where Netflix keeps track of rankings – with only Japan seeming unimpressed by the show.
If that’s not enough, it’s also the second highest opening weekend of all Netflix series. The show was only beaten to the punch by Spain’s Money Heist, which delivered a bigger first three days.
With its tremendous head start, season two is set to join Netflix’s all-time top ten in the next few weeks. In fact, its opening weekend already gives it 42 per cent as many views as the current placeholder for the 10th ranked series: season two of stalker-drama You.
However, it has a way to go to beat the current record holder Squid Game, which racked up 1.65bn hours of viewing worldwide in its first 28 days.
Shonda Rhimes’ Regency-era romance has enjoyed massive popularity ever since the launch of its first season in 2020.
Though season one focused on the romance between Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) and the Duke of Hastings (Regé-Jean Page), the second season shifts focus to Anthony, Lord Bridgerton’s (Jonathan Bailey) hunt for a wife.
Instead, he ends up in a love triangle with sisters Kate (Simone Ashley) and Edwina Sharma (Charithra Chandran)– and at the mercy of Lady Whistledown, the Regency-era Gossip Girl whose identity was unmasked last season.
The show, which is based on the romance novels of Julia Quinn, has been so popular with viewers that seasons three and four were announced in April 2021, before the second season had even finished production.
In a statement, Netflix said: "Esteemed members of the Ton. It seems we have a rather special announcement. Bridgerton shall return for seasons three and four.
"This author shall have to add more ink.”
