Netflix's 'Bridgerton' Trailer Wants To Be The Next 'Downton Abbey'

Here at Telly Visions, we cover British programming. The initial plan was to focus on Masterpiece programming and British imports that air on PBS. But as the landscape has changed drastically, and the streaming era has brought a giant influx of British-made television to America, that brief has expanded to accommodate the changing world. Netflix especially has been a significant importer of British TV. It's been so successful, the streamer has taken to making its own faux-British programming, such as The Big Flower Fight and The Crown.

This brings me to today's trailer for a series called Bridgerton. Fans of romances, British historical novels, and regency comedy-of-manners will undoubtedly have heard of the books from which the series is adapted. Author Julia Quinn has been writing period set books since the mid-1990s, and her Bridgerton books are the most popular of the dozen or so series she's done. The stories, set between 1813 and 1827, focus on fictionalized prominent families among London's high society set during the reign of George IV.

But viewers should come in with an awareness that all this is filtered through an American lens. Quinn is an American author from New England, the producer, Shoda Rimes, is Chicago born-and-raised, and known primarily for hits like Grey's Anatomy. In many ways, this is a show much like Game of Thrones, based on an American's idealization of European history, albeit not filtered through a fantasy setting. But also like Thrones, it's a show positively littered with British actors.

All that being said, the trailer is utterly delicious. Netflix is looking for this to attract the Downton Abbey fandom. After watching shows like Victoria and Beecham House attempt (and fail) to recreate that dynamic, this may be the answer.