Bridgerton finally gets a queer love story in its third season

After two seasons and a spinoff, steamy period drama Bridgerton is finally getting a mainline queer romance. Showrunners recently confirmed the news, telling Pride that season three will “foreground queer love.”

Jess Brownell recently took over showrunning duties from creator Chris Van Dusen, and she has big plans for the popular Netflix series. Namely, those plans involve making queer stories “a priority” on the otherwise inclusive show.

“This is a show about love in its many forms and I think that it’s only right for us to foreground queer love and to tell queer stories,” Brownell said. “I want to see more queer joy on my screens and that was definitely a priority for me when I stepped into the showrunner role.”

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As to what shape these queer stories will take—whether they will involve existing or new characters—viewers will have to wait and see. “How exactly that plays out over this season and the next couple seasons, I can’t say specifically, but I will say I’m excited for fans to see that,” Brownell said.

Although the series has had its queer moments over the years, these have been few and far between. Bridgerton’s first season teased a same-sex pairing in a trailer, but the resulting scene turned out to be inconsequential and brief. The recent spinoff, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, introduced the series’ first gay love story through attendants Brimsley and Reynolds—but this too was a minor side plot.

Fortunately, Brownell is not the only person involved in the series vying for more substantive queer representation. “I’m desperate for it,” said Nicola Coughlan, who plays the main love interest this season, Penelope Featherington. “I cannot wait. I think it will be so beautiful.

“The wonderful thing about Bridgerton is it’s an invented world that has never existed. It’s a Regency London in which we wear all these mad bright colors, it’s really diverse, there’s glitter eyeshadow. So I think there’s so much space there for queer love stories and I think all love stories deserve to be celebrated.”

“I hope that in time we get a leading queer love story in this show,” Coughlan added.

All four episodes of the first part of Bridgerton’s third season will be available on Netflix May 16.