The “Bridgerton” universe is diving into the past once again — this time focusing on matriarch Lady Violet’s origin story.
Shonda Rhimes will write, executive produce and showrun the limited series with Nicholas Nardini, who also wrote on “Queen Charlotte” and “Scandal.” Betsy Beers is also set to executive produce the series for Shondaland with Tom Verica set to direct and executive produce.
The still untitled spinoff series will chronicle the early life of a young Lady Violet and her budding romance with future husband Viscount Edmund Bridgerton. The prequel will be similar to the hit spinoff “Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story.”
This news comes as “Bridgerton” Season 5 is currently in production in London. The fifth installment of the series will be led by Hannah Dodd’s Francesca and Masali Baduza’s Michaela Stirling, the first same-sex couple in the “Bridgerton” universe.
Francesa is the latest of the Bridgerton clan to lead the tentpole Netflix series. She follows in the footsteps of Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) and Simon Basset (Regé-Jean Page), Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) and Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley), Colin (Luke Newton) and Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan), and Benedict (Luke Thompson) and Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha).
“Bridgerton” was based on the popular book series by Julia Quinn, which contains eight main novels for each of the eight siblings. Quinn and Rhimes also co-wrote a “Queen Charlotte” book tied to the 2023 spinoff series.
Quinn wrote a special novella for Lady Violet in “The Bridgertons: Happily Ever After.” The novel contains a bonus chapter “Violet in Bloom,” which explores the matriarch’s childhood, romance and marriage to Edmund and the fallout after his death when she was pregnant with their youngest child.
The most recent season of “Bridgerton” saw Lady Violet ponder a second chance at love later in life with Lord Marcus Anderson, and even exploring the option of remarrying.
“Bridgerton” Seasons 1 to 4 are available to stream on Netflix.
