a bridgerton too far

‘Bridgerton’ spinoff’s gay romance gets very steamy very quickly & it has fans divided

By · Updated on January 26, 2024
Sam Clemmett and Freddie Dennis in Queen Charlotte
Image Credit: ‘Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story,’ Netflix

This week, Netflix premiered the new series Queen Charlotte, a spinoff of their massively popular Regency era romance Bridgerton, and word of steamy gay romance immediately shot it to the top of our must-watch list.

But now that audiences have had a chance to catch up with the series, reactions have been decidedly—what’s the word we’re looking for here? Oh yeah: All-over-the-place!

As a brief refresher, while the Shonda Rhimes produced mega-hit franchise has gainfully employed LGBTQ+ actors (including the hunky Jonathan Bailey and “Queen Charlotte” herself, Golda Rosheuvel), the spinoff features its first on-screen gay couple.

Queen Charlotte jumps back-and-forth between two timelines, and it’s in the past-of-the-past (1761) that we meet a younger version of the Queen’s Man Brimsley, her most loyal servant, played by Sam Clemmetts.

As it turns out, Brimsley is engaged in a secret affair with the King’s Man, Reynolds (Freddie Dennis), which we discover via a rather steamy rendezvous in the series’ second episode. And—voila!—there you have Bridgerton‘s first sex scene between two men.

Sam Clemmett and Freddie Dennis in Queen Charlotte
Image Credit: ‘Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story,’ Netflix

In the words of the great prophet Lizzo: “It’s about d*mn time!”

On the one hand, fans have been clamoring for some queer love in the Bridgerton-verse, and many are delighted by the Brimsley-Reynolds fling, which is all stolen glances and hidden hand-holding while in public, but very hot and heavy behind closed doors.

On the other hand, some viewers are still frustrated it took this long for Rhimes and company to deliver on the promise of on-screen representation—in the spinoff, no less.

In the main series, it was heavily implied that Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) might have a gay storyline that never quite panned out, while queer fans held out hope that his stubborn sister Eloise (Claudia Jessie) might be a lesbian, only to be proven otherwise by the end of season two. Both instances have lead to some calling the show out for queerbaiting.

And now that Queen Charlotte actually walks the walk—giving the love story between Brimsley and Reynolds ample screen time—it’s a little disappointing that the gay characters in question happen to be royal servants, and aren’t allowed to be nobility themselves.

In a new interview with EW, both Clemmets and Dennis share how thrilled they are the bring queer representation to the Bridgerton-verse, with the former adding that Rhimes has “created such an inclusive and diverse world, so to be able to be a part of it, let alone tell their stories, has filled me with an immense sense of pride.”

As Rhimes notes, the romance was never about checking off another box of representation—it’s just what came naturally to the story and these characters: “It felt like the right story to tell for them. It was not a conscious, ‘I’m gonna take on an issue.’ Because I don’t think that love is an issue. I just wanted to tell their story.”

*Spoilers ahead for the finale episode of Queen Charlotte*

That story, by the way, seems to be far from over. In Bridgerton‘s current 1817 timeline, Brimsley is played in his older age by Hugh Sachs—as loyal to Queen Charlotte as ever—but Reynolds is nowhere to be seen. As we watch their relationship play out in 1761, one can’t help but wonder: Can these two possibly last?

By the end of Queen Charlotte‘s six episodes, we still don’t have a clear answer to that question, though we do see Sachs’ Brimsley fondly reminiscing on a dance he shared with Reynolds back in the day.

In the same EW interview, Dennis ponders the fate of his character and offers some hope for the future:

“What I’ve heard is that he’s on holiday in the Maldives,” he jokes. “I imagine and hope that Shonda has more to say about that. But what we do know is that wherever Reynolds is, they still love each other very, very much. It’s the one thing we held onto. You can see how much Reynolds means to Brimsley in that moment [where he’s remembering]. So their love very, very much runs deep and lives on. I really hope he is not dead.”

As the Bridgerton-verse continues to grow, we can only imagine we’ll find out more soon—maybe in a third season of Bridgerton? Or a second season of Queen Charlotte? Or, who knows, maybe Brimsley and Reynolds will one day have a spinoff of their own!

All six episodes of Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story are now streaming on Netflix.

Related:

Netflix brings an infamously erotic novel to the big screen—and doesn’t skimp on the male nudity

Emma Corrin and Jack O’Connell star in this very steamy adaptation of a novel that was banned in multiple countries.

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