The 'Bridgerton' Season 2 Trailer Properly Introduces The Sharma Sisters

Spring arrives on March 20, 2022, and romance to our televisions with it. Fans of period piece love stories are going to have a whole bouquet of offerings along with the new season, from the return of Sanditon and Call The Midwife to the premiere of The Gilded Age's season finale. But the most anticipated is the arrival of a new season of Bridgerton. The regency-set romance captured the hearts and minds of audiences when Season 1 arrived at Christmas 2020. Now Netflix is seeing if Season 2 will bloom in the spring.

Since the top of the month, the series has been stepping up its rollout, with new photos, key art, interviews, and the like dominating the Romance Twitter conversation. But what fans have been waiting for is the full-length trailer, which gives a long look at how the series plans to adapt the second of Julia Quinn's novels, The Viscount Who Loved Me. The press release notes, "In keeping with the tradition of the novels, season two tells the romance story of Lord Anthony Bridgerton's quest for love." Anthony's story introduces arguably the most popular heroines of the Bridgerton series, Kate, who begins a battle of wits with the eldest Bridgerton sibling and ends with both losing their hearts.

But fans of the books may want to brace themselves. Though there are a lot of visual goodies here, from ballrooms to ascots and one very anticipated game of Pall-Mall, the trailer also hints there are several changes afoot in the new season. The Queen is stepping up her hunt for Lady Whistledown, for one thing. And there's a hint that a romance for Eloise may also be part of the new season. Also, despite the Duke of Hastings' absence, Daphne is still a significant figure, and she'll be bringing babies with her. Perhaps Newton will find himself a bit of competition.

The synopsis for the new season is as follows:

Driven by his duty to uphold the family name, Anthony's search for a debutante who meets his impossible standards seems ill-fated until Kate and her younger sister Edwina Sharma arrive from India. When Anthony begins to court Edwina, Kate discovers the true nature of his intentions — a true love match is not high on his priority list — and decides to do everything in her power to stop the union. But in doing so, Kate and Anthony's verbal sparring matches only bring them closer together, complicating matters on both sides. Across Grosvenor Square, the Featheringtons must welcome the newest heir to their estate while Penelope continues to navigate the ton whilst keeping her deepest secret from the people closest to her. 

The trailer gives little away about the Featherington subplot, but one suspects the new Lord Featherington will not be a Matthew Crawley-style hero from the Downton Abbey mold. (Not that it will stop Penelope's mama from attempting to marry him off to her still-single eldest daughter.) The best one can hope is that he's not in the mold of Jane Austen's Mr. Elliot, the heir who turns up with marriage on his mind, in hopes of pulling the family's fortune's out from under them.

Jonathan Bailey (Anthony), Simone Ashley (Kate), and Charithra Chandran (Edwina) are top-billed for Season 2. The series co-stars Ruth Gemmell, Phoebe Dynevor, Claudia Jessie, Luke Thompson, Luke Newton, Ruby Stokes, Florence Hunt, and Will Tilston as the Bridgerton clan; Polly Walker, Harriet Cains, Bessie Carter, Nicola Coughlan, and Lorraine Ashbourne make up the Featheringtons. Other notable returnees include Julie Andrews, Adjoa Andoh, Martins Imhangbe, and Golda Rosheuvel. Newcomers include Calam Lynch, Shelley Conn, and Rupert Young.

All eight episodes of Bridgerton Season 2 will arrive on Friday, March 25, 2022. Season 1 is currently streaming on Netflix. Seasons 3 and 4 are already greenlit to follow and are expected to cover Benedict and Colin's romances, respectively.