The Bridgerton Spinoff Queen Charlotte Is Netflix’s #1 Series
Queen Charlotte, the first Bridgerton spin-off, is Netflix's new #1 show.
It’s an open secret that the streaming platform Netflix has been needing a win lately. Between the increasing number of streaming rivals and the backlash to their decision to limit password sharing, Netflix has faced the loss of subscribers, investors, and their place as the most prominent streamer. Now, though, Netflix finally got some good news: according to The Hollywood Reporter, the Bridgerton spinoff Queen Charlotte is the streamer’s number one new series.
The original Bridgerton show was a Netflix-exclusive television adaptation of a book series of the same name. It is set in the Regency era (around the early 1800s) and follows the misadventures of a fictional family as they fight for their place in high society. That show proved to be a big enough hit that Netflix ordered a Bridgerton spinoff, and it looks like the streamer’s faith in this franchise has already been rewarded.
Nielsen’s streaming rankings show that Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story debuted at number one on May 4. In the United States alone, this Bridgerton spinoff had a combined 1.89 billion minutes of viewing in the first week, with about 20 percent of the show’s audience streaming from America. And the positive buzz surrounding this spinoff led more audiences to either discover or rewatch the original Bridgerton series, whose numbers tripled in the premiere week of the new show.
Aside from putting up some generally impressive numbers, this Bridgerton spinoff managed to put all other series on Netflix to shame in that first week. Its 1.89 billion minutes viewed is much more impressive than the nearest Netflix competitor Firefly Lane, which had 1.25 billion minutes viewed. Compared to other streaming platforms, Queen Charlotte outperformed the popular Disney+ show Bluey and the critically-acclaimed Apple+ show Ted Lasso.
What, though, is this Bridgerton spinoff all about, and why do fans seem to love it so much? While a very small portion of the show takes place in the present day of Bridgerton by showing us the death of the titular character, most of the story is a prequel focusing on the younger days of Princess Charlotte before she became Queen. In typical Bridgerton fashion, the story of Princess Charlotte is filled with both dramatic grabs for power as well as the kind of tortured romance that helped make the original show such a success in the first place.
Despite the Bridgerton spinoff premiering to both critical acclaim and record streaming numbers, fans shouldn’t get their hopes up for returning to these particular characters in future episodes. As of this writing, it looks like Netflix is sticking by its plan to keep Queen Charlotte as a limited series instead of stretching the story out, though, after the runaway success of that first week, we wouldn’t be surprised if there was another spinoff or two around the corner. In the meantime, Netflix has already greenlit both a third and fourth season of the original Bridgerton show, so fans have plenty of Regency-era romps to look forward to.
