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1:20

Hey, it's Wilfredll and Sabrina Bryan

1:23

and we're the hosts of the new podcast, Magical

1:25

Rewind.

1:26

You may know us from some of your favorite childhood

1:28

TV movies like My Date with the

1:30

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1:31

And the Cheetah Girls movies.

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Together, we're sitting down to watch all the movies

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1:53

Queen Charlotte. The official podcast is a

1:55

production of Shondaland Audio in partnership

1:57

with iHeartRadio

2:10

ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to a truly

2:13

special episode of Queen Charlotte

2:15

A Bridgerton Story, the official podcast.

2:18

I'm your host, Gabby Collins, and

2:21

today we have the honor of

2:23

being in the presence of one of the

2:25

most influential voices

2:27

in television and streaming, a

2:30

trailblazer who has revolutionized

2:32

the small screen, big screen, all the screens

2:35

with her exceptional storytelling. So

2:37

join me in extending a

2:40

very warm welcome from wherever

2:42

you are. Just pause right

2:44

now to just say yes, Shonda

2:47

Rhymes, because Shonder Rhymes is

2:50

here and we're going to talk about Queen Charlotte.

2:53

So let's just get right into it.

2:55

Shonda Rhymes, thank you for joining the podcast.

2:57

We're here to talk about Queen Charlotte A Bridge

3:00

Story, and we're going

3:02

to just jump in and talk about characters

3:04

story. I have to say, first

3:07

of all, one of the things I love is

3:10

a good flashback, and Shondaland's

3:13

body of work and knows how to treat a flashback

3:16

or a flash forward or a rewind

3:18

like a delicacy, and that

3:20

I think is something that fans really

3:22

appreciate. And so Queen Charlotte

3:24

A Richardon story

3:26

is everything

3:28

for the person that loves that vehicle. Are

3:31

there any moments from

3:33

your early career to now

3:36

considering the impact Queen

3:39

Charlotte It's imagery stories

3:42

will have on audiences. Is there anything

3:45

in your life that you can look

3:47

back on and say, this is completely

3:49

connected to this moment, or

3:52

you are answering a call or

3:55

a question that you may have asked yourself a long

3:58

time ago.

3:59

That's fascinating. That's

4:01

a really good question. And I say it's fascinating

4:03

because I've never thought

4:05

of it in any way, shape or form. I have this allergy

4:09

to looking back on what

4:11

I've done and trying to

4:13

tie it or trying to understand why

4:15

I do what I do or write what I write. I try

4:18

really hard to let that just

4:20

be a muse flying around in the ethernet

4:23

or the ether and going

4:25

from there.

4:26

That's so interesting to hear you say that, seeing

4:28

our characters connecting

4:32

what's happening to them in that moment to maybe

4:34

the scene we had just seen.

4:36

Ah, well, that's definitely written

4:38

into the show that idea, you know.

4:40

In terms of the characters. I really

4:42

loved the way that we

4:45

used the young

4:47

Charlotte past to really understand

4:49

the Bridger Tenera present. There's

4:52

certain things in there that I thought were really powerful

4:55

even for me to see played out, and

4:58

I didn't even know would be as powerful as or when

5:00

it happened.

5:02

Yeah, So in

5:04

everything that we're seeing about young Charlotte.

5:08

It again, this is interesting because

5:10

you don't do this yourself, but connecting

5:13

the dots, I was wondering if

5:15

present day Queen Charlotte kind of that

5:18

grandeur. Of course it's

5:20

the Regency era, but her own kind

5:22

of need for excess

5:24

and more. She's looking at the tree

5:26

and it's like more gold. I mean, everything's just lavish.

5:28

Is there anything about that

5:31

that we see that is connected to the absences

5:34

and loneliness

5:37

and missing pieces in her relationship

5:39

with King George and any of her other

5:41

relationships.

5:43

You're really seeing, as

5:45

much as I can possibly portray it for the

5:48

audience, a sense of

5:50

how she began and how she ended up, and

5:53

that lavishness that you

5:55

know, that need for grandeur and glory

5:57

which is always so present

6:00

in our regency era Charlotte,

6:04

when you see it in the past, when you get there in the

6:06

past, there is a definite loneliness

6:08

that loneliness is still in the present, and

6:10

I like keeping that alive, but she's

6:13

now filled it with things, literal

6:15

things, and that

6:18

was important to me to show that

6:20

that's how she spends her time. If you are that isolated

6:23

from the world, that is how you spend

6:25

your time.

6:26

I got an opportunity to speak with Tom Erica

6:29

and we were talking about the character Queen Charlotte

6:32

and just those first images

6:35

we see of her, and I was

6:37

expressing to him that that first

6:39

time we see her walking down that hallway

6:42

to her brother kind of signing

6:44

her away as part of a package

6:47

deal. I'm wondering about everything

6:49

that came before that moment, and

6:53

also just the tone.

6:55

Everything really seems kind of like

6:57

a like blue and I'm wondering

6:59

if there is any specific reason

7:02

why you chose to go that

7:06

direction. There's like this balance

7:08

of loss and love that's

7:10

kind of more front and center than we may have seen before

7:12

in this franchise, and I'm wondering why

7:15

that's so, and why that is by design.

7:18

Well, partially because it was written by me and

7:21

honestly, like I can't write

7:24

as well, just keeping everything like you

7:26

know, light and fluffy, and also

7:29

because we're seeing the world from

7:31

this character's point of view, Like we're

7:33

seeing young Charlotte discover that she's

7:35

been sold away, and that really,

7:38

to me is the moment. Up until then,

7:40

she's been a happy, free, overindulged

7:44

princess, I mean really and

7:47

has always felt like she is in control of

7:49

her own fate, so much so that when

7:51

you see her talking to her brother about it in the next scene

7:55

in the carriage, you realize that she

7:57

truly believes that they could turn the

7:59

carriage around? How dare he do this?

8:01

Like she's still thinking that she can get some agency

8:04

here, And what we're seeing is is this

8:06

is the very first moment for this girl where

8:08

all agency is taken away. And

8:10

I love that because you know, we

8:12

don't need to see her before that to understand what

8:14

that means and how that feels.

8:17

I understand that she

8:19

also, just the way she's written, she seems

8:21

so wise beyond her ears. She says, she

8:23

reveals that she's a she's ten and seven years

8:26

and I just I'm like, how how

8:29

are you so well put together

8:31

your thoughts and perspectives on love?

8:34

And it was

8:36

really interesting to see how

8:40

that character kind of expresses that

8:42

to the young King George, and he seems to

8:45

either get it or catch on really quickly, and they

8:47

both are able to really communicate on this level

8:49

that's really deep.

8:51

You know, there's a level of maturity there,

8:54

simply because you know, generally in

8:56

the real world, you

8:58

know they're dead by thirty, you know, in

9:00

terms of not really, but in

9:02

general, lifespans are much shorter, and you're

9:04

forced to grow up much earlier. And

9:07

I really wanted to portray that, especially if

9:09

you were marrying into a royal family, they

9:12

got you young sometimes, and

9:15

she's marrying a man she's only known for six hours,

9:18

so she's had to really, even

9:20

even in the beginning part, do some growing

9:22

up to get where she is. By the time

9:24

she's sort of saying I am and

9:27

I am seven years old to George, she's

9:29

already had to grow up a ton there. It's

9:31

the being dropped in a world where you don't know the rules. She's

9:33

finding her way, and what we're finding is

9:36

is that there's a well of power in there that she didn't know she

9:38

had. And for George,

9:40

he was born to be king. He's never been

9:43

anything else, he's never had anything

9:45

else, So for him, this path is it's

9:48

inevitable, you know.

9:49

It also seems that she knows her

9:52

role, she knows what she's supposed to do.

9:55

She's you know, where is my honeymoon

9:58

diary? My you know's She's ready

10:00

to go, she's expecting things.

10:05

But at the same time, there are moments where it seems

10:07

that she really doesn't have a grasp of

10:10

who she is now. And I'm thinking about

10:12

the moment when Agatha tells her her palace walls

10:14

are too high and that she needs

10:16

to stop worrying about this boy

10:19

and really get with it. That

10:22

was an amazing moment for me

10:24

because I felt like that was

10:27

a moment of like a

10:29

big sister or a friend. Agatha

10:31

was not only operating

10:34

for herself

10:36

in that moment, and I thought that was

10:38

really an interesting opportunity to show

10:40

that instead of cutting Charlotte

10:42

down.

10:44

Well, I think what's important is is that you said

10:46

that Charlotte seems to together and she

10:48

seems to know what to expect. She doesn't.

10:51

All she knows is that she's being married. She knows

10:53

how to get married. I mean, she's seen weddings before,

10:55

and she has a vague idea of what happens

10:58

after you get married, right, a

11:00

very vague idea because she's been told almost

11:02

nothing. So for

11:04

me, what's great about Agatha

11:07

and her role there is from the very

11:09

beginning, you know, Charlotte'

11:11

dropped into a world where she doesn't necessarily

11:14

realize that people don't look like her

11:16

in general, because she

11:18

came from a place where her family was the

11:20

royal family. You know, she's

11:23

you know, black Portuguese royalty. Her family

11:26

was the royal family. So what's

11:28

there to think about. That's an incredible place

11:30

of privilege. And to come from that incredible

11:32

place of privilege to a place where

11:35

you are a novelty, an oddity

11:38

is interesting and to not realize

11:40

that you have a responsibility to the people

11:42

of color around you, like she is

11:44

no notion of that. So what

11:47

I love is the moment when Agatha sees

11:49

her and she's walking down the oiland she really

11:51

realizes like, oh, they're

11:53

going there've been we've been given titles,

11:55

and they're going there. It's one of my favorite

11:58

moments because Agatha is all

12:01

of us, you know what I mean, all of us in

12:03

a world looking for a way to find

12:05

our place and be accepted. There's

12:07

a huge opportunity there. I think that's what she

12:09

sees in Charlotte. There's a huge opportunity

12:12

there. And also, you

12:14

know, there's that moment when she offers her friendship. If

12:16

you ever called me, I will come. That's

12:18

one of those moments that I, you know, I

12:20

don't know. I always feel like it's a

12:23

woman of color moment. It's such a woman of color moment

12:25

when you're the only two women of color somewhere

12:27

and you're like, call me if you need me. You

12:29

know, that moment is a moment that exists for so

12:31

many people when you're not the majority

12:34

in the room. And so she offers her that

12:36

because she knows the entire history of what

12:38

they're going through. She knows exactly

12:40

what's coming for Charlotte. In so many ways, Charlotte

12:43

has no clue of

12:45

her role and what she could possibly

12:47

be doing to make change. She's she

12:49

literally is busy thinking about a boy because

12:52

she's been having the privilege of doing that versus

12:55

everybody else who knows the real deal.

12:58

That just made my head explode. I

13:00

think that's so relatable. Why

13:02

did you want to put that on screen?

13:04

Part of the reason I wanted to put it on screen was because,

13:06

you know, one of the goals of this show was

13:10

not just to tell Queen Charlotte's origin

13:12

story, but to tell the origin story of the society

13:14

that exists in Bridgerton, you

13:16

know, and at the heart of that there

13:19

is this question of race. There

13:21

is this question of you

13:24

know, we call it the Love that changed society.

13:26

So if it's a love that changed society, I need

13:29

to see how that goes and

13:31

how it happens. Because Charlotte

13:33

would't just come in knowing that should happen. You

13:36

know, She's totally innocent to any of

13:38

this, and that's

13:40

both maddening and also

13:42

such an opportunity for her to like grow

13:45

into a powerful person.

13:46

So there's a moment where

13:49

Lord Hermann Danbury tells Agapa

13:52

to act like she's been places, to

13:55

know where she is, and to act a certain

13:57

way. It really made me wonder more

13:59

about their union and

14:02

how that match came to be, and I wondered

14:04

how Lady Whistledown would report on

14:07

their union if she were in existence,

14:09

Like did Agatha marry up or down?

14:12

And just a little bit more about what

14:14

that history is there, Does that even matter where

14:16

they come from?

14:17

Oh? It does. Okay, it

14:19

does. You know, all of those moments

14:22

I really feel proud of because they were

14:24

I really chose those moments to try

14:26

to reveal to you her life.

14:29

And it's not that he's

14:31

saying, act like you've been here before, because

14:34

he's been there before. None

14:36

of them have been there before. I

14:38

really loved portraying this incredible

14:42

sadness for herman because

14:45

you know, Agatha may not like him, she

14:48

may not love him, but she cares

14:50

for him as a man of color in this

14:52

society. She knows what he's lost.

14:55

So when she says to him, you are just as

14:57

good as the rest of them, like that's that's

14:59

such a time moment because she's always going to be

15:01

taking care of that for him while she has her

15:03

own ambitions as well. She feels responsible

15:06

for everybody of color. She's standing this close

15:08

to the Queen, she is responsible for everyone

15:10

else. So there are these moments.

15:12

Definitely, do you think she was more

15:15

keen than Charlotte because

15:17

she was making these all of these moves before her

15:19

family came to her after Lord Danbury

15:21

died and asked her what the next move was. She

15:23

was already being.

15:24

Strategic and by the way. That wasn't

15:27

her family who came to her. If you

15:29

think about the Bridgerton world, they were

15:31

the predecessors too, many like the

15:34

Duke, the Duke that we all love. Yes,

15:36

his father was there as a young man. Other

15:40

people were there as a young man. So people

15:42

who already existed in our world in Bridgerton,

15:45

those are the young the ancestors

15:47

of those people. And I did that on herpose

15:49

because I wanted to make sure that we understood that one

15:51

world was connected to the next.

15:53

So the question of our

15:56

is is our side, not just our

15:59

life, our whole side. Everybody

16:02

here who is assimilated into the ton.

16:04

All of them who have been elevated

16:07

and swept up into the ton, which provides

16:09

them all kinds of rights and responsibilities,

16:13

especially after Agatha makes the play to

16:15

say, we deserve land, we

16:17

deserve to get into whites, we deserve

16:19

for our husbands to go to the hunts, all of that

16:22

stuff. I mean, they

16:24

could have been elevated, but then they could have sort of done

16:26

a whole separate but equal thing. Right, They

16:28

elevated them, and Agatha made sure that

16:31

they were actually placed inside the society.

16:35

Losing that has implications for

16:37

Agatha, but it has bigger implications for

16:39

all of them and what's going to happen. They're

16:41

all going to lose their title, they're all going to lose their space,

16:44

and as she says, like they've had a taste, they've

16:47

had a taste of this, and they're going to

16:49

demand it, and I have

16:51

to make that happen. That's really her stress

16:54

and her fear. And that's also in

16:57

the beginning because I love the friendship between Agatha

17:00

and Charlotte, really one of my favorite things.

17:02

But that friendship comes from a

17:04

very selfish place for Agatha in the beginning,

17:06

Like she's like, I gotta secure

17:09

things. When she finds out that Charlotte

17:11

doesn't know how to make a baby, like

17:14

she's livid about those

17:16

things, not because poor Charlotte,

17:18

but because if you haven't consummated, you're

17:20

not the queen. If you're not the queen, we're screwed.

17:23

Like that's really what's in there. And

17:25

I don't know for her at that young age to have

17:27

to be the person managing that

17:30

is really interesting to me.

17:33

We are just getting started. We're

17:35

going to take a quick break and we'll be right

17:37

back with more from Shonda rhimes.

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Welcome back to Queen Charlotte the official podcast.

20:25

We're here with the visionary Shonda Rhymes,

20:27

and our dialogue continues and

20:29

we're going to shed light on her

20:31

world. So let's dive

20:34

back into our talk with Shonda. I

20:36

feel like no one is there for Agatha

20:38

in the way she's she's there

20:41

for Violet and and

20:43

Charlotte. No one's teaching her, No one

20:45

is, you know, drawing things down

20:48

for her. She's she's figuring

20:50

it out. She's in

20:52

the midst of intercourse, mapping out who

20:54

this list is, that's gonna be coming, that's gonna, you

20:56

know, come over to this, to the ball.

21:00

No one is guiding her. And I

21:02

feel that most in her

21:04

conversation with Violet

21:07

later on in present day, it's

21:10

the moment she has a conversation

21:12

with Violet and says

21:14

that Violet is most fortunate and

21:16

I would not have

21:20

heard that conversation as

21:23

a woman of color or

21:26

indigenous woman talking

21:28

about a host of

21:30

things. Without

21:33

the Great Experiment as the backdrop, it

21:35

would have been a

21:37

flat like you're lucky that you had

21:40

love. But this, it was

21:43

way deeper and I couldn't quite touch what it

21:45

was, but you confirmed that that's what it

21:47

was. It is that there's

21:51

a well and that well.

21:53

And for I mean, I'll tell you because I did

21:56

a lot of thinking about how this all laid out

21:58

for Agatha in that

22:00

moment, in the time and in the past. In

22:03

the Georgian times, she is

22:06

probably the wife of the richest man

22:08

of color there. She

22:10

has the the what's

22:13

it called the cachet of

22:16

his father, the king knew, you know, her

22:19

father, the king, the princess's father of the king. So

22:22

they're like the highest ranking

22:24

people of color who live in that society.

22:26

They have more money than everybody. They have

22:29

more, and that's

22:31

great until you find out that you know, they

22:33

don't necessarily have more, but they have more status than

22:35

almost anybody because she is

22:37

the you know, the wife of a man whose

22:39

father was king. But Agatha

22:42

also really came from someplace too. There's

22:44

that wonderful moment when they go to see

22:48

George's mom and sort of ask her

22:51

for an answer, like please do this

22:53

for me, put us, let us stay in our place,

22:55

and they walk out and she's brought this

22:58

four year old boy with her to say, this

23:00

is the Lord Danbury. Her fate rests,

23:02

by the way, on who this four year old gets

23:04

to be, because women don't inherit anything?

23:07

Did I do my dartie mother?

23:10

And you showed them who you are.

23:12

Don't meet Danbury, son

23:14

of Herman Danbury.

23:18

Yes you are,

23:21

and you are Lord Danbury, and

23:24

you will take your rightful place because you

23:27

are.

23:27

Entitled to it because

23:30

you are my son.

23:32

You are the son of Agatha

23:35

Danbury, born named Soma,

23:38

royal blood of the pa Mendeen war tribe

23:41

in Siarlier. You

23:43

come from warriors,

23:47

we win. Never

23:49

forget that.

23:52

So she brings little Lord Danbury

23:54

in and when they walk out and she been down

23:56

and he's like yeah, She's like we know who you are,

23:58

and he's like, yeah, I'm Lord Danburry,

24:00

son of Herman Danbury. And she's like,

24:03

no, you are my child,

24:05

and we are from this tribe and we're

24:07

you know, born named Soma I love

24:09

that moment so much. It was suggested

24:13

I am Adua who plays Lady

24:15

Danbury, not the moment, but that information,

24:18

and I thought that was really powerful to be

24:20

like, we are a tribe in our own right, like

24:22

I come from someplace. The

24:25

difference is is that as a woman, she's

24:27

powerless. Your whole fate rests

24:29

in the hands of what some man does, has

24:32

or wants you to get.

24:33

Wow, that is the confirmation my soul

24:36

needed. Yes, that is yes

24:38

good. That is amazing

24:41

that Adua suggested that

24:43

that bit of information there that is

24:46

major. Could you tell me a little bit

24:48

more about how that conversation

24:50

came about and make

24:53

me a fly on the wall.

24:55

You know.

24:55

It's easy though, because Ajua has always felt like

24:57

she could, you know, say things to me, or talk

24:59

to me, or or really try

25:01

to educate me on what it meant

25:03

to be black and British

25:06

now, because that's very

25:08

different than being black and American now. There's

25:10

a there's a front history

25:12

there. And so when

25:15

she would make these suggestions to me and

25:17

say you know this, would you know, track

25:20

them back to their relationships in Africa, This

25:22

would track them back to I loved

25:24

it because I thought it was a really powerful

25:26

thing. So we didn't have difficult conversations. A lot

25:28

of the times I would just tell me how

25:30

it was and I'd go okay and find a

25:32

way to use it, because she was filled

25:34

with gems in those cases.

25:36

With that being said, do you think though, that there

25:38

will be a very big response

25:41

to some of this. I mean, the

25:43

name of the show is Queen

25:46

Charlotte of Bridgerton story, But

25:48

as of you er myself, I am all about

25:51

Agatha Danbury and I'm wondering.

25:54

I'm wondering what you think about that.

25:56

I have to say I was obsessed with Agatha.

25:59

I really was, like I was obsessed

26:01

because you have to think about this. Charlotte's

26:04

the innocent, She doesn't know anything.

26:07

She's not able to really do

26:09

anything in the beginning. You know, India

26:11

gives an amazing, layered, gorgeous performance.

26:14

But Agatha is the one with a giant

26:16

conundrum, like she holds,

26:18

you know, society on her shoulders. If

26:22

she fails, all these people

26:24

of color are going to be shoved back down

26:26

to where they were before, which is not even

26:29

present in any of this world. They'll

26:32

get no pieces of the pot. And so

26:34

for her like she's very aware, and

26:36

I love that she feels like a woman who

26:39

understands her time.

26:40

You know.

26:41

For instance, she is in bed with

26:43

you know, Lord Danbury, and it's clearly

26:45

not very pleasant, but he's

26:47

not being abusive, he's not attacking her.

26:50

He's just never considered that a woman would enjoy

26:52

any of this, and it's

26:55

possible that neither has she. So

26:58

to watch her grow and

27:01

find these spaces for herself and

27:03

come into her own and like the moment she tells the Queen

27:06

off that's not there's

27:08

this great moment when she's when they're having tea

27:11

and she's come to see her for the first time and she's not sure

27:13

why she's there, and she

27:15

says, oh, you've consummated the marriage,

27:18

right, And she gets looked at

27:20

very blankly by Queen Charlotte, and

27:22

she yeah, She says, dear God, Charlotte,

27:25

have you consummated. She's not calling her your majesty

27:27

anymore. She's like, I am dealing

27:29

with a girl here, like a very ignorant,

27:31

spoiled little girl who's talking about familiar

27:33

really quick.

27:34

Your majesty, I am still allowed to speak.

27:36

Really, I'm talking about

27:39

consummating the marriage.

27:42

You and the king did consummate

27:44

the marriage, did you not? You have

27:47

to have your adju

27:49

sy Charlotte. If you did not consummate

27:51

the marriage, you are not actually married

27:54

to the king. Your whole position

27:56

is in danger. Great experiment

27:58

is in danger. My you

28:00

did consummate. You

28:03

do know what I mean when I say

28:05

consummate, perform

28:08

the marital act?

28:10

Does it have something to do with this great

28:13

experiment? And

28:19

it's also like a spoiled little girl, like she's

28:21

mad about the dog, which is why in the end

28:23

of that piece, she's like, that is a very

28:26

rare Pomeranian. Like your

28:28

beliefs that all of this is just whatever. Those

28:31

are things that people don't get. You are

28:33

privileged beyond what you know.

28:35

Wow.

28:37

And I had a lot of fun with that.

28:39

I was wondering. I was like, does Shanda have a thing

28:41

against Pomeranians? What's going on?

28:44

I love the Pomeranians. Yeah, But it

28:46

really was about her getting this very

28:49

rare, beautiful thing and being like you,

28:51

you know, and non understanding that

28:54

she's getting something that almost nobody else

28:56

in her country wouldever perceive.

29:00

Beautiful dog, Your majesty '

29:02

tis a deformed Bonnie, Oh my

29:05

mistake.

29:05

Your majesty was

29:07

wondering if there was a direct connection

29:10

to this idea of breeding and

29:12

maybe the purity of the breed of dog. But

29:16

it's the fact that it's a rare,

29:19

a rare gift. It's a rare gift that's

29:21

really interesting.

29:22

Yeah. I hadn't thought about the breeding part at all, but yeah,

29:24

no, it's more about the fact that it's just this

29:26

is you don't understand what you haven't you know?

29:28

And she's completely oblivious

29:31

and whining. And I

29:33

love watching Charlotte come into

29:35

her own and to realize both what

29:38

is wrong with how she's being, but

29:40

also what is important about her.

29:42

And then by the end when she is standing

29:45

there talking to Agatha, Lady

29:47

Danberry, and she says to her,

29:49

you know, you did not come to me with this problem.

29:52

No, you should. You know that is an insult.

29:54

She's she is very much a

29:57

large piece of the queen we know in

29:59

the your Gennara, Like she's gotten there and

30:02

she knows her power and she knows

30:04

how to utilize the power because she doesn't

30:06

actually have any power. Her husband does, but

30:08

she's going to be the one to utilize it as much as possible

30:11

because he really can't.

30:13

Yeah, you hit something there that has been riding

30:15

under the surface for me too, which is these

30:18

flash forwards. I think a

30:20

lot of times we watch television or

30:23

we speak to people in our lives and

30:25

we're like, oh, there's a glimmer of what that

30:27

person used to be, and it

30:29

can even get ageist sometimes. But

30:31

I felt like this time we were seeing

30:33

that the like you said, these

30:36

present day depictions

30:38

of everyone who

30:40

we see, they were always

30:43

there. We are just seeing how they emerged,

30:47

even Brimsley, And yeah,

30:50

I love Brimsley, I really

30:52

do.

30:53

He's delightful. There's that moment

30:56

when Lady Danberry says to Violet,

30:58

you know, she says, Lady was down. Never writes of

31:00

our stories or writes

31:02

of our hearts. And what

31:05

I loved about that, I'm

31:07

not sure, but what I loved about that was they

31:10

are overlooked. These women have

31:12

been overlooked by our audiences,

31:14

even they're not looking at them and

31:16

thinking of them in these full three dimensional

31:18

people. You know, they're sort of

31:21

symbolic people for them, and I really

31:23

wanted to give them,

31:25

give you a sense of who they were really

31:27

internally, and to hear that bitterness

31:30

from Lady Danbury and to understand

31:33

that she's done something and she's kept

31:35

it a secret from Violet all these years because

31:39

it's what saves her, it's what suits her. I

31:41

think those things are interesting to see from these

31:43

women.

31:44

Is ad really anyone's

31:46

friend?

31:47

Yes? So what I think is beautiful

31:50

about where she starts with Queen Charlotte

31:53

is she starts in

31:55

a world in which she's like, this is an opportunity.

31:58

This chick is an opportunit unity. She's

32:01

you know, I'm riding that all the way to

32:03

the bank. But as

32:05

they go through, I think she feels sorry for

32:07

her, she feels compassionate for her.

32:10

But the very real

32:13

friendship really comes when

32:15

she says to her, you know, at that end, when she's when

32:17

Charlotte's run away, when she said,

32:19

you know, I have not actually been your friend.

32:22

Like she's looking at this woman who desperately

32:24

needs a friend, and she's like, I have not actually

32:26

been your friend. I have been your subject because

32:28

basically I wanted a bunch of stuff from you. And

32:31

she's like, but I am happy to willing and to

32:33

try to be your friend. I'm happy and willing,

32:36

and I love that because it

32:39

was a really true moment between these two women.

32:41

It was Agatha sort of truly

32:43

offering her friendship and really

32:46

opening herself and giving her giving Charlotte

32:49

something because Charlotte's

32:51

the loneliest person on the planet, but everybody

32:54

says yes to her all the time, and basically Agatha

32:56

was vowing not to be that person anymore, not

32:58

to be somebody who was just using her for stuff.

33:03

Two thoughts that came to mind just

33:05

now is I almost

33:07

feel like Agatha's

33:09

friendship is it's a privilege to be to

33:12

be befriended by Agatha because

33:14

of all of her value. And

33:17

I don't remember where I

33:20

saw or heard this, but I

33:23

heard something to the effect of reality

33:25

television is teaching us how

33:28

to do conflict resolution.

33:31

I see this series

33:34

as teaching us how to become friends

33:36

with someone we don't typically see

33:40

it orchestrated like that.

33:44

So I thought that was really really special

33:46

to see all of this deliberate. We're

33:49

going to be friends, We're going to strengthen our relationship.

33:52

Violet and Lady Bridgerton

33:54

and Lady Danbury at the gallery, you

33:56

know, getting deep, and that moment

33:58

of silence between them surrounded

34:01

by Lord Ledger's hats that

34:04

silence. I wanted to ask you, what is in

34:06

that silence? Fill that space for us? But

34:08

what it's so big?

34:10

I love that silence so much. And

34:14

I remember I wrote the scene, and the first

34:16

time I wrote it, there was like all this conversation

34:18

and blah blah blah blah. And then I went back and I

34:20

was just looking at the scene and I crossed

34:23

it all. I deleted it all, and I wrote

34:25

a stage direction for these two

34:27

women. That's also the joy, by the way,

34:30

to get to work with Ruth and Aduwa. There's

34:32

such amazing actors they all

34:35

are, so to get to write a stage

34:37

direction that was basically like they stare

34:39

at each other and in that stairs communicated

34:41

both the pain and hurt, that pain

34:44

of Agatha and the pain of Violet, and

34:46

the hurt that Violet feels from the betrayal of keeping

34:49

the secret and the forgiveness that Agatha.

34:51

To just get to write that as a stage direction and

34:53

then to watch it happen, very few people

34:55

can pull off that kind of thing, and they are spectacular.

35:00

Poise. The way they set

35:02

almost at the same time

35:04

slowly.

35:05

Which was a decision We're not going to discuss

35:08

it, you know what I mean. We've said all we need

35:10

to say. We're not going to discuss it. Let's get back

35:12

to regular life.

35:13

I loved

35:16

that so much. It truly

35:18

gave me chills, And there's a lot

35:20

of physicality that I wondered

35:22

if you wrote into

35:24

the stage directions, I'm thinking about Princess

35:26

Augusta, who I adore.

35:29

I mean, it was the pair Brandy moment for

35:32

me. Yes, and of course

35:35

Michelle fairly is wonderful

35:37

as Princess Augusta. Wondering

35:40

if there's yes

35:42

the stage directions? Did you I

35:44

felt, and maybe this was Michelle's choice,

35:46

but I felt like she was also

35:49

trying to make a lot of moves, but she couldn't

35:51

move and was almost in her physicality.

35:54

Well, when we talked about the character, that character

35:56

is as trapped as all

35:58

of these other women, Like

36:01

she seems to hold some power, but

36:03

she's in her room with a bunch of men that she basically has to

36:05

manipulate into doing what she needs done,

36:07

and if they were to say different, she'd be out.

36:10

So to me, like she's just

36:12

as constrained as they are and deeply

36:14

trying to find a way around it. You asked me about

36:16

stage directions, and I want to say this, The

36:19

moment when Princess Augusta takes her

36:21

finger and tries to rub off Charlotte's

36:23

skin is one of my

36:25

favorite moments. And I wrote it and

36:28

I wasn't sure how I was going to feel or how it was going to come

36:30

out, and it just to

36:32

me tells you everything you need to know about that world

36:35

in that moment.

36:36

In that moment, I said, Oh, Okay, we're

36:38

really talking about it this time, we're

36:40

really getting into it. And India's

36:43

reaction was stellar.

36:45

It was really India's such an

36:47

amazing actress. She really is. There

36:49

was not a moment when I was like, Oh, we shouldn't

36:52

be doing this. Any piece of film that she was

36:54

in, I was like, that's perfect. She's

36:56

really great. Gold is great. They're

36:58

all really great.

37:00

Shonda, What is the deal with Lord Bute?

37:02

Is he for the Great Experiment? Is he against

37:05

it? I just

37:07

need to know, you

37:10

know, it's not.

37:10

Lord Bute's a real character in history number

37:13

one, and he was

37:15

some thought that he basically ran

37:17

the country through Augusta.

37:20

And I think that what I was trying to portray was that she's

37:22

running the country through him a little bit. But

37:25

I don't ever say whether he's for the greatest. I think he finds

37:28

it distasteful and confusing and upsetting.

37:31

But if it works, it works. And

37:33

I loved putting in there this idea that

37:36

they may all hate this, they may all think that what she's saying

37:38

is absolutely stupid, but she's saying

37:40

the King says, so it doesn't matter.

37:43

It's treason to suggest otherwise. They're perfectly

37:45

fine with what the King says.

37:47

Well, that makes sense because I was also

37:49

wondering what's in it for Princess Augusta

37:52

if they consummate this relationship or

37:54

not or produce a Royal air.

37:57

If they failed to produce an air, I mean truly,

37:59

if they fail to produce an air, George

38:02

won't be king, or he'll be the last

38:04

one. And there's all these rumors

38:06

swirling around about who George is and if he's

38:08

mad and all those other things. To then

38:11

not also produce an air, they

38:14

would have to go to another line in the family.

38:16

She would lose everything, And that's

38:18

really what she talks about in that

38:21

wonderful pair of Brandy scene, which

38:23

is she endured what she had

38:25

to endure to get her son to the place

38:27

that he needs to be and in order, and that's

38:29

really about getting herself to the place

38:32

that she needs to be.

38:33

At least. There's a moment where she's speaking with

38:35

young Agatha and she

38:38

says, or else, the Great Experiment

38:41

will fail, and that's where Agatha is like,

38:43

well, I could house the ball is

38:45

Princess Augusta. Is that her last

38:48

shred of holding on to her

38:50

baby boy? Because I felt like there

38:52

was also a lot of parent slash

38:54

adult child relationship conversation

38:57

happening throughout this series, including

38:59

with the Queen's children.

39:01

She definitely loves her son, and

39:04

I want to talk about Sugusta versus

39:07

the Queen in a second. Okay, she definitely

39:09

loves her son, but truly, she

39:12

has put this crazy thing out there that

39:14

we're going to do this great experiment, something that nobody's

39:17

comfortable with ever, right, So

39:19

she's put that out there, and if that fails,

39:22

they will stop listening to her. When she says,

39:24

the King says, the King said,

39:27

and then she's out again. The

39:30

Great Experiment can't fail because what

39:32

she's come up with to solve this problem

39:35

of this brown girl showing up to

39:37

be queen is this and

39:39

it can't fail because if it fails, she's out.

39:41

She's got no more power left.

39:44

The other thing I want to say, because there's this, and

39:47

I didn't even know that. I totally realized this until

39:49

I was like halfway done writing the

39:52

show. There's this wonderful

39:54

connection between Augusta's

39:56

deep, deep panic desire

39:59

to have an air and regenci

40:02

Era, Queen Charlotte's deep,

40:05

deep, deep desire to produce an

40:07

air for her, you know, with

40:09

her fifteen children, fourteen children or whatever.

40:12

That desire for both of them is

40:15

about their power. For

40:18

Queen Charlotte, it's also about

40:21

bloodline. Like that to me

40:23

was really important. She wanted

40:25

the bloodline of her

40:28

and George to be running through the royal family

40:30

for all of time, right, And

40:33

that's a way of saying, I need to set our legacy.

40:35

I need to make us go forward. You

40:37

know, you being the last king in

40:40

this in this line would be terrible because

40:42

it would have meant in a lot of ways for them the

40:44

Great Experiment had failed, the same

40:46

way it would have meant for Princess Augusta

40:49

that the Great experiment had failed.

40:51

Stay tuned, will be right back shortly with

40:54

more insights and inspiration from Shonda

40:57

Right after this.

40:57

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43:44

We're back and we're talking with Shonda

43:46

Rhymes, so let me not get

43:48

in the way. Let's just be right back into it. I

43:51

so badly want to know more about Reynolds

43:55

and Brimsley and where

43:57

their relationship began, and how

43:59

they also chose

44:02

each other within all of that, and

44:04

I'm thinking about everything we just

44:06

spoke about, and the moment that

44:09

Queen Charlotte asks present

44:11

day Grimsley if he's ever

44:13

loved.

44:14

I never try to tell anybody the

44:16

backstory of Brimsley's relationship,

44:20

the same way I don't tell the backstory of agata

44:22

relationship. I don't tell that stuff

44:24

because in

44:26

a lot of ways, you can imagine

44:29

it in your own mind and build it in your own

44:31

mind, and your romantic versions

44:33

or non romantic versions are what they are. I

44:35

will say this when we start.

44:38

They are the two most important servants

44:42

in the world that they work in. He

44:45

holds the Queen, she holds the king.

44:47

Those are really big responsibilities, and

44:49

the idea that they're supposed to somehow

44:52

find a way to hold the king and the queen together is

44:54

massive. But Brimsley's not

44:56

allowed to do his job in terms of

44:58

that and all that because while he knows

45:00

some, he does not know all, and

45:02

Reynald knows everything on his side. So

45:05

you have this weird battle

45:08

where they basically influence

45:11

a lot of the world around them. Like there's

45:13

a lot of Brimsley making guiding

45:16

Charlotte in direction she would never have gone in, and a lot

45:18

of Reynold guiding the king in the way

45:20

he's gone it. The king is a commodity,

45:23

he is a brand, He is a you

45:25

know what I mean, like right, he's an immunity,

45:27

idol almost in a lot of ways. The

45:30

king is really important because while

45:32

he's not interested in being king, while

45:35

he's you know, got all of these issues

45:37

and problems. Without

45:40

him, none of them would have their jobs,

45:42

none of them would be in that be in those castles,

45:45

they'd be emptied out for another

45:47

family line. So

45:49

to me, what was the most important is is poor

45:52

George. Everybody is looking

45:54

to him to keep their lives stable in

45:56

what they are, and he's

45:59

like, he said, you know, I have you know,

46:01

I'm very aware of what it

46:03

means to be the king. I know what this

46:05

is. And he's coping the only way he can

46:09

and for him, at a certain point, it

46:11

becomes clear that Charlotte's the one person

46:14

who is in it with him,

46:16

not necessarily doesn't want to hold him up and make him

46:18

king, but is in it with him,

46:20

like as a team member versus

46:22

somebody trying to manipulate him.

46:25

That part right there, to me, is most

46:28

clear in the moment when he

46:30

is about to have a for a

46:32

lack of better phrasing, a meltdown, and

46:35

it's right before a speech, I

46:37

think, maybe to Parliament. She

46:40

comes out and she's like, you got this, and she

46:42

turns around to Brimsley and says he's

46:44

got this, And in that moment for me,

46:46

it wasn't she wasn't pretending

46:49

to be confident. She truly

46:52

was invested and believed he had it.

46:54

And that belief, I

46:56

think is everything about their relationship

46:59

that that belief in each other. That

47:01

was very evident and amazing

47:03

to see such young people be

47:06

able to grasp.

47:08

And it was such a complex thing for

47:11

them to do because the dangers

47:13

are everywhere around that. You know, any failure

47:16

is incredibly detrimental. And all

47:19

he wants he needs to be king. She

47:21

wants it for him.

47:21

I don't

47:24

know. I love that because they're kind of business

47:26

partners right now, you know, in that

47:28

world, and that

47:30

is all he needed was a partner, somebody who was going

47:32

to stand by his side. They love each other,

47:34

but more importantly, she can help carry

47:37

a mantle of power with him.

47:38

Thinking about power, staying in that vein, there's

47:41

this moment Brimsley tells the

47:44

young Queen Charlotte that if there's

47:46

ever anything she can't do or

47:48

isn't supposed to do, he will find a way

47:51

to tell her how she can do it. Anyway. I

47:54

was wondering, if there's anyone in your life that does

47:56

that for you, that.

48:00

Would be suggesting that I'm somehow part

48:02

of a royal family of some kind.

48:04

So no, well no, but

48:07

so no, who gives you permission to do

48:09

what you're not supposed to be doing.

48:12

Well. That's the point, by

48:14

the way, is that I

48:17

now live in a world where I don't need

48:19

to ask anybody's permission to do what I want to do.

48:22

And I'm really fascinated by the constraints

48:24

placed on women who do have

48:26

to ask permission, or who did have to ask permission.

48:29

You know, it's sort of that we make our own

48:31

money now, we make our own

48:33

decisions. We don't necessarily need to be

48:35

married to have a baby, We buy our own

48:37

homes. We are all independent things

48:39

that you know, even fifty

48:41

years ago, you couldn't get a credit card and less a man said,

48:43

you could, couldn't rent an apartment unless a man signed

48:45

off for you. I'm

48:48

really looking at that world, that world in which

48:50

all of her agency

48:54

is constrained because she's a woman,

48:56

and Brimsley is her little side

48:59

door out which I love. He's willing

49:01

to break a few rules for her and to me,

49:03

I love that moment because it showed how much he liked her,

49:05

how much she cared about her.

49:07

Yeah, I did oftentimes

49:09

wonder if Charlotte cared for him

49:11

in this similarly that

49:15

I think maybe now there's.

49:17

This amazing moment for me when

49:20

she asks as an older

49:23

queen Charlotte, she asks Brimsley,

49:25

why did you never marry?

49:28

Or did you never marry? And Brimsley

49:31

says what he says, which is, you know who

49:33

would want to marry me? I'm always here

49:35

serving Grimsley.

49:38

Have you any family?

49:41

Did you never marry?

49:46

No, your majesty,

49:49

Who could I ever find who would be free to spend a

49:51

lifetime with me?

49:54

I am here?

49:58

Everyone here cares for the king.

50:02

There's this moment that I just couldn't get enough

50:04

of. When he walks away. The

50:06

look on Charlotte's face is

50:10

devastating because A

50:13

she's never thought to ask him before. I

50:15

think about that, how long they've been together. She's

50:17

never thought to ask him before

50:19

because all he does is see to her needs.

50:22

And B she sort of realizes what

50:25

a person like that gives up in

50:27

order to serve her is

50:29

devastating.

50:31

We why didn't he ever get married?

50:32

Though?

50:33

Like what happened to Reynolds.

50:35

That's a whole other show.

50:36

Okay, I mean I don't know. Has

50:39

he was dancing by himself? I'm like, wait a minute.

50:41

That's one of my favorite moments is when he's

50:44

dancing and then he's dancing alone. They're dancing

50:46

together, and then he's dancing alone, and you just

50:49

feel his heartbreak. I loved doing

50:51

that. I loved giving that to the actor who played Brimsley,

50:53

because he just knocked that out of

50:55

the park. He was wonderful.

50:57

Yeah, Hugh Sex was so memorable.

51:00

Even I spoke with Tom about

51:03

some of the action onset

51:05

and there's a moment where he throws a look

51:07

over his shoulder after Queen Charlotte

51:10

is just disgusted with her sons, and

51:12

it's just such a magical, such

51:14

a magical moment to capture. Yeah,

51:17

that's very present day.

51:18

Yeah, I just love that they're in unison. If the Queen

51:21

hates, if the Queen's annoyed with you, he's annoyed

51:23

with you. You know, it all follows in a way that's

51:25

kind of lovely.

51:26

Right, right. So we

51:29

we got to spend time with a

51:32

doctor in this series, and

51:38

wow, that was dark. Where where

51:40

what tell me about Tell

51:44

me about the doctor? Seanda, what's

51:46

what's that?

51:48

You're not the first person to say this, you

51:50

know, I obviously

51:53

have had a medical show for lots of years.

51:55

I obviously am very aware of doctors

51:57

and their standards of care. But one

51:59

of the things I was very interested in is the history

52:01

of medicine, really looking

52:04

at you know, where we were and how far

52:06

we've come. The idea

52:08

that not only did they not know

52:11

what King George had, You

52:14

know that some people call the humors. Some people said

52:16

he had stomach issues. Some people said it was neurological,

52:18

some people said it was met like all of

52:20

these things. It could have been mental health. They don't

52:22

know, and as

52:25

little as they knew about medicine then and

52:27

treating somebody who they don't quite know what they

52:30

have, that's a dangerous combination.

52:32

It's a really dangerous combination. But

52:35

even more importantly, we

52:37

researched that stuff. That's what they

52:39

did to people. That is what King George

52:42

endured. They put an ice bath

52:44

in the kitchens, and they forced

52:47

him to do those ice bath They did all

52:49

of that stuff to him because to

52:51

them, that was a path to curing.

52:55

They're completely wrong, and you

52:57

know, completely bonkers about it, but that's

52:59

a path to curing. And think about how confident

53:01

that doctor must be. He's the man who

53:03

got you George through

53:06

meeting a fiance, through the wedding, like

53:08

he's now depended upon so

53:11

to him, you're a little puffed up, but you also

53:13

believe my methods are working.

53:15

Right. It's

53:17

interesting too that the

53:20

garden, I mean, there's the garden

53:22

metaphor throughout for for all of the characters,

53:25

but for for King George, it

53:27

was where he did find peace

53:30

and calm. And it's

53:32

so interesting that that is

53:35

a that's a form of therapy to day,

53:37

you know, like, oh yeah, get your hands in

53:39

the soil.

53:40

But it was also considered, i think then, or

53:43

in the way we told the story as part

53:45

of his illness, because what king would

53:47

want to roll up his sleeves and put his hands in the dirt.

53:53

Charlotte says that even yeah, like what is

53:55

he doing? She's she asked if there was any

53:57

hallucinogen? Right, she was

54:00

that, She's like, are there any herbs in the garden? And you know that's

54:02

what she's asking for. Are there drugs in here?

54:04

I don't get it? And I was right up

54:06

there was saying it's King George growing some pot.

54:08

I'm not sure. Yeah, there

54:10

is actually a lot of comedy

54:13

in this in this series. I

54:16

was saying prayers, sorrow,

54:19

sorrows, prayers, for maybe a week. I

54:21

thought that was so incredibly

54:23

funny, and just

54:27

the the

54:29

symphony of the children chattering

54:32

and talking to the to the queen. Could

54:34

you please give listeners a little

54:36

bit of how you heard that in your head while

54:38

you were writing writing those scenes.

54:42

I had really a lot of fun writing those

54:44

scenes. I

54:46

loved sorrow Sorrows Prayers, and I will admit that

54:48

I walked around saying it for a long time till my kids

54:50

told me to stop.

54:53

Sorrows sorrows Prayers.

54:57

There was something about how

54:59

would the queen deal with this? We've never seen

55:01

the queen deal with her children this,

55:04

We're on the other side of

55:06

the hall, really watching the queen deal with

55:08

her children. We never see that. In Bridgerton

55:10

is very clear that she's, you know, not a capable

55:13

mother, but she's a mother of her time. She's

55:15

a mother of her time, just the way all of them were.

55:17

People took your babies away and then you didn't see

55:19

them again until they were four, and then you sent them off to

55:21

boarding school or whatever. So there's

55:24

this amazing sense of she's

55:26

got all of these children, she's

55:28

so fantastic, she's you know, her husband

55:31

was so accomplished, and they who have

55:33

been given everything are useless, which

55:36

I think is something anybody can relate to

55:38

today, like this idea of you've been handed everything

55:40

and therefore you just want to do nothing. Her

55:42

children literally like laid

55:44

about, went partied, slept with actresses,

55:47

had mistresses, hired prostitutes,

55:49

and never bothered. They had fifty

55:51

illegitimate children. That fact was real.

55:53

I couldn't believe it. Fifty

55:56

illegitimate children, and she

55:58

just couldn't. You know, the idea of controlling them was

56:00

so frustrating. I love dealing with that.

56:03

I had so much fun writing that stuff and

56:05

thinking, how do you deal with

56:07

with the grief of your child over his

56:09

loss of his daughter when you really need

56:12

them to get it together and do something.

56:14

That's how where the sorrow Stars prayers came from. It was a

56:16

very nice like shorthand dealing

56:19

with him.

56:20

It was incredibly funny.

56:23

One of my most favorite moments that

56:25

was funny that I just that I didn't

56:27

know was be as funny until I saw it on screen

56:30

was Violet talking about her her garden.

56:35

Yeah, Ruth Gommel, Yeah.

56:37

She was amazing with that, you know, like

56:40

trying desperately to explain what she means,

56:42

and not being

56:44

able to really and just being so embarrassed, so

56:47

embarrassed.

56:49

It see you, my.

56:55

Garden has in gloom, which

56:57

is the middle of winter. The ground is fruits.

56:59

My husband and I had a

57:01

garden, a luscious

57:04

garden with many varieties

57:06

of flowers. And when he died, the garden

57:08

died, and I did not even

57:10

think of the garden.

57:11

I did not want the garden.

57:13

But lately, without warning,

57:15

the garden has begun to bloom.

57:19

The garden and I want things.

57:24

Sunlight touch.

57:30

Your garden is

57:33

in bloom.

57:35

It is blooming out of controllable

57:38

violent. I am becoming dangerous.

57:41

I'm sure I almost

57:43

asked a footmant to lie on top of me.

57:45

Today

57:49

I must go.

57:50

It was lovely to see you.

57:52

I have been the exhibition far longer than I

57:55

planned.

57:56

Good day,

58:01

And I use that because the Violet

58:03

that we know in Bridgerton

58:05

couldn't even explain to her daughter how

58:07

babies were made in season one. She's

58:10

talking about there were puppies, there were dogs,

58:12

and then there were puppies, and that's all she can say.

58:14

So the embarrassment that she feels to have to say

58:16

that her garden is in Bloom was

58:19

so much fun for me to watch.

58:21

That it was I think also at Ajua's

58:23

reaction was just you know, just

58:26

sped into it. That was

58:28

really cool to see. Yeah, it really

58:30

was. You know, I thought that all

58:33

of the scenes where we see

58:35

Agatha with Lord Danbury in their marital

58:37

bed were really funny.

58:40

But the moment she's drinking port

58:42

wine, Agatha's drinking

58:44

port wine, I

58:47

felt terrible for thinking it was funny.

58:49

I'm like, oh, this, this

58:51

character is a person who

58:54

who really despised

58:57

this her husband. I mean,

58:59

we talked about how she still stood

59:01

up for him as for his you know, identity

59:04

politics. But that port

59:06

wine monologue, whoa,

59:10

that was so heavy and just

59:13

the symbolism of the port wine.

59:14

I loved that. I loved the moment

59:17

when you hear like how constrained

59:20

her life has been. For me, that was big

59:22

and it was one of those scenes that I absolutely loved

59:24

because it tells you everything. You know, the

59:27

idea that she was betrothed at the age

59:29

of three and therefore raised to

59:31

like anything her husband

59:33

was going to like, to read the books, to play

59:36

only the music, that he liked, to

59:38

wear, the colors that he liked from

59:41

a toddler was amazing

59:43

to me. It also made very clear like what

59:46

her plight was and why she was searching

59:48

so hard for some power of her own.

59:51

All of what we've seen of Lady

59:53

b Danbury before this

59:56

series. She's by herself, she's

59:59

hosting casino nights, she's

1:00:02

she's yeah, she's.

1:00:04

Living the life as free as she can, and

1:00:06

she's she's somehow

1:00:09

found peace, you know what I mean, She somehow found a

1:00:11

place where she's doing what she wants to do when

1:00:13

she wants to do it.

1:00:14

Our time is coming up on the end, but

1:00:17

I did want to just take a

1:00:19

little more time to talk about

1:00:21

episode four, where we do get to kind

1:00:24

of see behind the veil and spend more time

1:00:26

with young King George. Was

1:00:28

your hope that viewers

1:00:30

would appreciate his

1:00:32

character for more than just like

1:00:34

this missing piece in the

1:00:37

portraits and you

1:00:39

know, not at the other end of the table, or

1:00:41

was this an opportunity to just see more

1:00:44

of Queen Charlotte.

1:00:46

What I loved about that in that episode

1:00:48

was no, I wasn't trying to

1:00:51

to redeem him in any way, but we

1:00:54

had been looking at the world through

1:00:56

Charlotte's eyes.

1:00:57

Every moment is you're staring at

1:00:59

the through Charlotte's eyes when it's Charlotte

1:01:01

and George. Those are all what she thinks

1:01:04

and what she perceives and what she's been allowed

1:01:06

to know. And I wanted us

1:01:08

to go back and show you what those

1:01:10

moments had been for him for real, Like

1:01:12

there's that thing of perception and reality. Their

1:01:15

perceptions and realities were very different.

1:01:18

And I loved the idea that we were going to get to go

1:01:20

see his reality and

1:01:22

how harsh, how imprisoned he was, and

1:01:24

how difficult his life was, because I

1:01:26

thought that made complete sense to understand

1:01:29

why they should be together or how they could come together.

1:01:33

Thank you so much, Shonda Rhymes

1:01:36

for giving us Queen Charlotte

1:01:38

a Bridgeton story. We'll

1:01:40

be rewatching and binging

1:01:42

it over and over again and looking

1:01:44

forward to more.

1:01:46

Thank you so much. It was great to be here.

1:01:48

Thank you so much. So

1:01:50

as we wrap up, we just want to say thank you again to

1:01:52

Shonda Rhymes in a very

1:01:55

flowery, beautifully written, prosy

1:01:58

kind of way, because we want

1:02:01

to give all of the flowers in gratitude,

1:02:03

and we also want to

1:02:06

make sure we're not missing any

1:02:08

blind spots. And so this is

1:02:10

that right here, and

1:02:13

we are so inspired to

1:02:16

push boundaries and cross

1:02:18

lines and embrace all of

1:02:20

the limitless possibilities that lie before

1:02:23

us because of

1:02:25

the way Shonda and Shonda Land

1:02:28

present characters that show us

1:02:30

that is possible and that that is

1:02:32

life. Until next time, stay

1:02:35

curious, stay inspired, and

1:02:37

we'll be back with Julia Quinn next

1:02:40

week. Queen Charlotte

1:02:42

the Official Podcast is executive produced

1:02:45

by Sandy Bailey, Lauren Homan, alex

1:02:47

Alja Tyler Klang, and me

1:02:49

Gabrielle Collins. Our producer

1:02:52

and editor is Tarry Harrison. Subscribe

1:02:54

to the podcast anywhere you get your favorite

1:02:56

shows. Get the book I'm

1:02:59

a Crispy Turn the Page, Smell the Binding

1:03:02

kind of Queen. But you can download

1:03:04

it and you can find Queen Charlotte

1:03:07

a Bridgeton story on Netflix.

1:03:10

We'll see you next week. Queen

1:03:15

Charlotte The Official Podcast is a production

1:03:17

of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio.

1:03:21

For more podcasts, visit the iHeartRadio

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