Heavy is the head that wears the crown in “Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story,” but the actors who star in the show carry the responsibility together.
As the title suggests, “Queen Charlotte” is a spin-off of the popular 19th century Netflix drama created by Shonda Rhimes. The prequel series was under a lot of pressure to follow the more-or-less color-blind society established in “Bridgerton,” as well as live up to the steam synonymous with the Regency-era show that’s based on the Julia Quinn books.
It is the story of how the teenage Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz married King George of England and rose powerfully to her royal position. She is played by India Amarteifio, alongside Corey Mylchreest as George (who is battling mental illness) and Arsema Thomas as Lady Agatha Danbury, a recently widowed young aristocrat who befriends Charlotte.
Unlike “Bridgerton,” which hasn’t openly acknowledged the multi-ethnic society in which the show takes place, “Queen Charlotte” does. Charlotte’s arrival in England leads to the Great Experiment, whereby the aristocracy integrates. Before Charlotte married George, Thomas said that Lady Danbury “probably thought of George the way she thinks of all aristocratic white children, which is like, ‘Oh, look at you with your difficult problems. Doesn’t that suck? She probably looks at him without mercy or empathy. I think that’s why he initially warns Charlotte, ‘Stay alert.’
Mylchreest, who plays the white boy in question, turned to Thomas. “You know that first moment in Episode 1 where Agatha says, “Hey, if you need me, I’ll call you. [on you]?” she asked. “Is that something general like, ‘We are together in this society that doesn’t respect us as we should be?'”
“I think it’s, ‘Now you’re going into a space where you probably don’t recognize how this all works,’” Thomas said.
Lady Danbury was betrothed to a man at the age of three and experienced motherhood as many aristocrats did in the 19th century: at a distance from their children. “She’s just not motherly,” Thomas said. “I think that she is a very good example of a woman who is the personification of duty. The three of us are different poster children for duty, but hers manifests in a way that her body was used to make babies that she has no emotional connection to until she needs them to ensure the longevity and stability of her family. , which I believe. It’s their number one priority.”
Amarteifio, Mylchreest, and Thomas formed deep bonds while filming the series. And they also discovered that they picked up some new habits while hanging out in the “Bridgerton” universe.
“Sometimes I feel like I spoke a little bit better, which is actually not a bad thing,” Amarteifio said. “It’s a pretty good thing. I think that’s probably it. You?”
“I always had a need to do something when someone walks into a room,” Thomas said. “So now, every time someone walks into the room, I stand up. I feel strange just sitting. [I don’t do] a full bow, but a part of me says something needs to be done to initiate contact.”
“Wow,” Mylchreest said. “I need to go into rooms more often and just go in and out, out and in. My thing is that Reynolds [Freddie Dennis] He’s my butler and I got him to do a lot of things for me on the show. He would wait for me and cater to my every whim. and now we live together [as roommates] and I think I’ve done well in continuing that relationship in exactly the way it should continue, which is the state we have on the show.”