Building 'Bridgerton'

A long line of girls, locked arm-in-arm with their fathers, tremble awaiting a chance to see Queen Charlotte. Sweat drips down their white dresses and they stumble in high heels. Any curl out of place could mean marrying a man of lower birth or worse — becoming a spinster. In early 19th century London, young women in high society lived and died by the social season, where they were presented for marriage to the city's most eligible bachelors.

This is the uncompromising, ornate world of the powerhouse Netflix series “Bridgerton.” The show, which debuts its much-anticipated second season on March 25, was brought from page to screen by alumnus Chris Van Dusen, a 2001 graduate of Emory College of Arts & Sciences.

When “Bridgerton” premiered in 2020, it broke Netflix records, reaching 82 million households in just its first month streaming. The show is based on the book series of the same name by Julia Quinn and follows the eight upper-class Bridgerton siblings on their quest for love and belonging.

For Van Dusen, the books presented the opportunity to indulge in the historical romance and elegance that fans of shows such as “Downton Abbey” and “Belgravia” love. But at the same time, he had ideas on how to add modern sensibilities to the genre, including diversifying the storytelling by writing Black and Brown characters into the narrative. Indeed, the two most powerful women in the series are Black: Queen Charlotte—who in real life is rumored to have been mixed race—and her friend, Lady Danbury.

The journey to creating “Bridgerton” is the latest of many career steps for Van Dusen, but the seeds for writing new worlds were planted more than two decades ago when he became a student at Emory University.

FINDING THE WRITE STUFF

Van Dusen, who grew up in Maryland, majored in journalism and economics at Emory. He says he always has loved storytelling, which drew him to journalism because it scratched the writing itch. Courses with Loren Ghiglione, who was the James M. Cox Jr. Professor of Journalism at the time, challenged him to pay attention to details and listen to people. And outside of the classroom, Van Dusen found a creative community to help his imagination flourish. He believes both experiences have served him well in developing characters for television.

“I was very lucky because I found my circle of friends early on,” Van Dusen says. “We were creative individuals, and we were interested in nourishing each other. The university fostered that kind of community to go after your dreams and do what you want to do. I owe a lot [of my career successes] to my experiences at Emory.”

After graduating from Emory in 2001, Van Dusen attended the University of Southern California’s Peter Stark Producing Program, where he learned how to take a project from script to screen. Two years later, while he was looking for his first professional job, he saw a listing for a writer’s assistant position for a show called “Sex and the Surgery.” Little did he know that the writer was Shonda Rhimes—now a television mogul—and the show would become the long-running ABC network medical drama “Grey’s Anatomy.”

Van Dusen recalls those hectic early days as a writer’s assistant: He managed Rhimes’ schedule, attended meetings, and tried to absorb all he could throughout the process. But his own writing always remained close to his heart.

He found opportunities to do so by writing fan fiction and promotional blogs for “Grey’s Anatomy.” This eventually led him to the series writer’s room, where he started to pen episodes of his own. Since then, he’s ridden all the rides in Shondaland — the name of Rhimes’ production company — working as a writer and producer on the hit shows “Scandal,” “The Catch,” and “Private Practice.”

“The best career advice I can give is that if you want to be a writer then you have to write,” Van Dusen says. “Even if it’s just a little bit of writing every single day. I challenged myself to write a paragraph every single day, which turned into a few paragraphs and full pages and then whole scripts.”

He’d wanted to lead a project for a long time when Rhimes introduced him to Quinn’s “Bridgerton” novels. Rhimes had secured a multiyear, multimillion dollar deal with Netflix and was looking to do something unexpected. It was just the right fit for him, offering a mix of history and fantasy. Van Dusen also relished the chance to create juicy characters—something he learned from his 15 years working on Rhimes’ projects.

“You have to know your characters on a deep level and be unafraid to put them in the worst position possible,” Van Dusen says. “Even if it’s just a writing exercise, dig a hole for them and figure out a way to get them out of it. I think that’s what makes for the type of riveting and compelling television that I like to write and that I like to watch.”

REIMAGINING THE OLD WORLD

As executive producer and showrunner on “Bridgerton,” Van Dusen consulted with historians and immersed himself in the world of Regency-era London. As the keeper of story, as he calls it, he also met with all the departments and the cast, and he spent a lot of time in pre- and post-production to be sure the world came to life.

The most important aspect for Van Dusen was to make the world intentionally diverse. In “Bridgerton,” Black and Indian characters aren’t servants—they’re rivaling and reveling in high society with everyone else. At the same time, no one is colorblind. The characters address identity but aren’t stunted by it.

“I really wanted to figure out how to make a period piece look and feel different — especially when it came to casting, language, how stories are told, the speed at which stories are told — I wanted to reimagine that genre in a new, exciting way,” Van Dusen says. “I’m always interested in making shows that reflect the world we live in today. Even though ‘Bridgerton’ is set in the 19th century, it’s for a modern audience and I wanted a modern audience to see themselves onscreen.”

Van Dusen’s instincts were right. “Bridgerton” has resonated with audiences in more than 100 countries. The dreamy series dropped in 2020 when the world needed an escape from a harrowing pandemic and painful racial reckoning. The heightened language, lush topiaries, lavish parties, and intricately beaded gowns create an enticing vortex of color and light that is easy to get swept up in. Plus, anachronistic touches such as using chamber music covers of pop hits like Ariana Grande’s “Thank U, Next” and Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy” during the period dance scenes make the world of “Bridgerton” feel somehow contemporary.

The first season was nominated for 12 Emmy Awards, winning one for hairstyling; one only need to look at the hair height to understand why. “Bridgerton” also won three NAACP Image Awards and has been lauded for its diversity and inclusion. Now, it’s slated for two spinoffs in addition to moving into its heralded second season.

Fans of the show may recall that last season, eldest daughter Daphne Bridgerton entered society and fell for a duke who professed to be a lifelong bachelor. In season two, her brother — the viscount Anthony Bridgerton — is looking for a wife, but his checklist seems impossible for any woman to match. His younger sister, Eloise, is presented to society, though she goes kicking and screaming. Their neighbors, the Featheringtons, are still desperate to maintain their luxe lifestyle and marry off as quickly as possible. And of course, the town gossip columnist, Lady Whistledown, is scribbling about the scintillating scandals, much to the chagrin of everyone in town — especially Queen Charlotte.

This season, audiences also meet the Sharma family, who has recently moved back to London from Bombay with two beautiful and intelligent daughters. In the second episode of season two, Lady Whistledown writes, “There are two things that lurk within the dark and shadowy places of our fair city: vermin and secrets. I will leave it to you, dear reader, as to which do the most harm.”

Needless to say, based on the episodes I previewed, in this new season the hair is higher, the hoop skirts are wider, and the chandeliers are shinier.

However, it’s not all fluff. Van Dusen and his team insert some modern sensibilities by commenting on how the women of color have to work twice as hard to be chosen and by inquiring about whether a woman’s worth resides in more than her ability to bear children — all debates that resonate today.

TELLING FUTURE STORIES

“‘Bridgerton’ is something I am always going to be immensely proud of,” Van Dusen says. “I never could have anticipated the response; even the music from the TikTok musical is nominated for a Grammy Award. A lot of doors have opened for me, and I’ve never felt more excited. ‘Bridgerton’ is just the beginning.”

Lately, Van Dusen has been trying to find the balance between being a husband and father to three young daughters, as well as venturing out on his own professionally. He and his husband moved the whole family to London while Van Dusen worked on “Bridgerton.” Now that his time as showrunner for this series has concluded, he’s finding inspiration in his daughters’ imaginations and cracking open his idea pad. In fact, he already has other projects up his sleeve outside of Shondaland, including a TV adaptation of Adam Silvera’s sci-fi novel, They Both Die at the End.

With all of his successes, Van Dusen still looks back fondly on his time at Emory for teaching him how to be true to his creative instincts.

“Emory was such an incredible community for fostering creative development,” he says. “I had incredibly inspiring professors, and I remember [one of my writing professors] telling me I had a knack for storytelling. That really has stuck with me all this time.”

Written by Kelundra Smith. Design by Elizabeth Hautau Karp. Photos courtesy of Netflix.