Season two of Bridgerton might have only just premiered on Netflix but it has already managed to break numerous records for the streaming platform and more importantly, break the Netflix curse.
For those that are unaware, the Netflix curse surrounds its Original series and how very few of them manage to secure more than two seasons. Star Wars actor Katee Sackhoff's sci-fi series Another Life was one of the most high profile shows this year to not receive a third season, while Netflix's highest-rated series, The Baby-Sitters Club, also suffered the same fate in March.
Bridgerton, however, has done the impossible. Not only has it been renewed for season three ahead of the latest season's premiere but it has even got a fourth season commissioned too. This is an extremely rare occurrence, considering everything from Altered Carbon and Marco Polo to Friends From College and Gentefield all never made it to season three.
That's not even taking into account those shows that never made it passed their first season; Archive 81 fell foul of this most recently, two months after it hit number one in the US.
So why has Bridgerton been given not one but two new seasons commissioned? Numbers. It's always to do with numbers. Since premiering on March 25th, Bridgerton has generated 251.7 million viewing hours in its first week (via Deadline), making it the most popular TV series in Netflix history when it comes to English-language.
193 million people or approximately 76.6% of that audience tuned into the period drama in the opening weekend alone. The closest competitor is Inventing Anna, which amassed 196 million hours. Overall though, Squid Game still reigns champion with an astronomical 571.8 million hours watched from September 27th to October 3rd, 2021. I think it's fair to say that it will take something special to surpass that figure.
Bridgerton stars Jonathan Bailey, Simone Ashley, Charithra Chandran, Adjoa Andoh, Phoebe Dynevor, Rupert Young, Shelley Conn, Julie Andrews and more. The first two seasons are all available to watch on Netflix now.
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