‘Bridgerton’ Season 2 Just Set A New Netflix Ratings Record

It seems “Bridgerton” season 2 is even more popular than the first season!

Although it doesn’t have as many intimate scenes as its predecessors, the enemies-to-lovers trope has been pulling in the fans!

As Deadline reported, the second season of the steamy Netflix period drama was watched for 251.7M hours over the past seven days and broke Netflix’s record for the most viewed English-language TV series.

The second season premiered on March 25 and was watched for 193M hours during its opening weekend. It was also in the list of top ten watched shows in 93 countries. The previous record for most-watched English-language series was actually another Shondaland series called “Inventing Anna,” which was watched for 196M hours the week of February 14, 2022.

It seems that fans also wanted to compare the show’s sophomore season to the first, as the series’ first season rose back into the top 10 in second place with 53M hours watched.

However, “Bridgerton” was unable to topple the Korean hit “Squid Game” and its record of 571.8M hours viewed during the week of September 27. Although “Squid Game” only pulled in 63.2M hours its first weekend after it was released on September 17, it was watched for 448.7M hours during the first full week, 571.8M during the second, 412.9M on the third, and 258.8 on the fourth. It stayed on the list of top-ten non-English language titles until the week of January 17.

Although it has been said that season 2 was not as passionate as season 1, the sparks were definitely flying when the eldest Bridgerton son Anthony, played by Jonathan Bailey, attempted to find his Viscountess. Although he intended to wed Miss Edwina Sharma (Charithra Chandran), he found himself slowly falling for her older sister, Kate (Simone Ashley).

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, showrunner Chris Van Dusen opened up about the enemies to lovers trope that was at play this season.

“This season, one of the big tropes that we’re following is enemies to lovers, and that’s one of my favorite tropes of this genre,” the showrunner explained. “I think that’s because there’s just so much conflict to mine between Anthony and Kate, and they have this banter that is just so much fun to watch, and Jonathan and Simone are so good at it.”

Although Kate and Anthony seem like polar opposites, Van Dusen teases that it's part of why the two are so drawn to one another. “You watch them go toe-to-toe throughout the season,” he said. “The frustration you feel between the two of them, it builds from episode to episode, scene to scene, really, and it’s palpable.”

He also praised the chemistry between the two lead actors, Bailey and Ashley. “The chemistry that you see and feel between Jonathan and Simone as Anthony and Kate is just out of this world,” he said.

“So, it was incredibly dynamic and exciting, having those steamy scenes and all that angst and all that yearning and watching their chemistry build and build really makes the payoff worth it when we get there,” he added.

Ashley credited the on-set intimacy coordinator, Lizzy Talbot, for being able to feel so comfortable on set when they were performing the NSFW material. She told THR that “we couldn’t have done it without her” and added that she “made sure we were safe. She made sure we were comfortable and confident, that we felt heard, that there was an easy window of communication.”

Ashley added that all of the sex scenes were broken down like a stunt beforehand and discussed with the episode directors ahead of time so everyone knew exactly what was involved for each scene. “There were zero surprises, and then we could just focus on bringing the love story to life,” Ashley says. “I felt very, very comfortable.”

Van Dusen explained that he worked with Talbot and the episode directors to figure out what they wanted to get out of the scene and how it contributed to the emotional development between the two characters, serving a larger part of the story.

“We never do a sex scene for the sake of doing the sex scene, and we never will,” he said. “All the intimate scenes, they have a larger purpose. They’re all telling a story and they’re all pushing the story forward.”

Although there weren't many steamy scenes between the pair in season 2, fans are already looking ahead to season 3. Although a release date and plot details have remained under wraps for now, Baily recently caught fans' attention when he discussed fatherhood... and children?!