Netflix Drops Trailer For Shonda Rhimes’ ‘Bridgerton’, Her First Show In Massive Streaming Deal
Shona Rhimes, the creator behind “Grey’s Anatomy” and “How to Get Away With Murder,” left Disney, her home for 15 years, to join Netflix in 2017. The reported $150 million deal gave her and her company, Shondaland, creative freedom — and fans a chance to see what she’d do in a new TV orbit.
Her first Netflix show will launch Nov. 27, a documentary about director-choreographer Debbie Allen (“Fame,” “Sweet Charity”).
But on the dramatic front, she begins with the period drama “Bridgerton,” which just dropped its trailer. The eight-episode “Bridgerton” is based on a collection of popular romance novels. The Regency-era show, which debuts Dec. 25, has been described as a cross between “Scandal” and “Downton Abbey,” but inevitably, it will carry distinctly Rhimes’ twists.
“Bridgerton” trailer
The plot revolves around Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) as she makes her debut in the volatile marriage market. But she’s hounded, in part, by Lady Whistledown (voiced by Julie Andrews), the unknown author of a gossip newsletter.
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos told The Hollywood Reporter: “Shonda knows how to entertain, knows how to get people thinking and knows how to craft a story better than anyone I’ve ever dealt with.”
Her next Netflix show, “Inventing Anna,” focuses on Anna Sorokin (aka Anna Delvay), a 20something working-class Russian woman who was convicted in 2019 of defrauded New York society by pretending to be a German heiress. “There was something really fascinating about this girl, not just because she scammed everybody, but because everybody was so willing to be scammed by her,” Rhimes told the trade magazine.
Rhimes, raised by academics in Chicago, has always been confident in her abilities, though she admits to be shy in person. In 2018, she tweeted: “Why do reporters always say writers were ‘lured’ [into deals]? Like we’re children following a trail of candy. I created a $2B+ revenue stream for a major corp. with my imagination. I do not follow trails of candy. I am the candy.” In a TED talk a year later, she called herself a “titan.”
“The reason I came to Netflix is because I wanted to be able to make television without anybody bothering me,” she said told THR. “And as long as I get to keep making television without anybody bothering me, I’m happy.”