Netflix users rewatching Bridgerton ahead of the new season have only just noticed a big season two clue.
The first season of the period drama was released in December 2020, and swiftly became one of the streaming service’s most successful TV shows.
Viewers who were left wondering what’s to come in the follow-up, though, would have found the answer in a small detail featured in the finale.
The last episode of the show’s first season shows a camera lingering on a bee, in an echo of a similar shot from the very first episode that shows a bee on the door-knocker for the Bridgerton family home.
As the series is based on books of the same name by Julia Quinn, readers will know that a bee is responsible for the death of the Bridgerton patriarch, who died from anaphylactic shock after being stung.
It’s this incident that provides context behind the behaviour of Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey), the controlling bachelor brother of Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor).
The reasons for Anthony being so emotionally detached are not explored in the first season, but will be the main focus of the brand new run, which is an adaptation of Quinn’s The Viscount Who Loved Me.
Dynevor will play a supporting role in the new season, with Bailey and Simone Ashley (Kate Sharma) taking on the lead roles.
Bridgerton returns to Netflix on Friday (25 March).