Fans of “Bridgerton” have been eagerly anticipating the long-awaited second season, and now that’s finally arrived they some questions.
At the top of the list is why the new season has significantly fewer sex scenes that the previous season.
According to star Jonathan Bailey — whose character, Anthony Bridgerton, is the focus of the new season — the reason has to do with the story arc of his character’s search for a bride, courting Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley) while also wooing her sister Edwina (Charithra Chandran) at the same time.
“It would have been wrong for Kate and Anthony to have got physical any sooner than they did,” Bailey told USA Today of the eventual love scene between the two, which took place later in the season. “And I think the payoff is really earned.”
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Besides, Bailey added, subverting the audience’s expectations results in a more surprising viewing experience.
“What you lose in sex scenes you gain in a deeper human understanding, which hopefully enriches the world so that the future intimacy scenes won’t be the heavy feature, and [you] won’t have to lean on them as much,” Bailey explained. “It’s right to surprise an audience and keep them on their toes a bit.”
“Bridgerton” creator Chris Van Dusen concurred. “We never do a sex scene for the sake of doing a sex scene, and we never will,” he insisted. “All of the intimate scenes have a larger purpose. That was true for Season 1. It’s definitely true for Season 2.”