Bridgerton Fans Want A Mary Sharma Spinoff

By all counts, Netflix’s Bridgerton spinoff Queen Charlotte was a streaming success: It became one of the platform’s most-viewed shows ever, and earned positive reviews from fans and critics alike (including, recently, Kim Kardashian herself). So while Netflix hasn’t announced any plans for additional Bridgerton spinoffs, it does seem possible that the streaming service will further expand the franchise — and fans have ideas about who should get the prequel treatment next.

In a recent Reddit thread about the topic, user u/ShipSenior3773 suggested Netflix pursue a spinoff about Mary Sharma, Lady Featherington, and Lady Cowper’s debut year on the marriage market. “All the women made readily different choices about marriage and it would be interesting to know why,” the user suggested, explaining a young Violet Bridgerton could be involved, too, “because of TV time.” Fair: There are lots of timelines to keep track of in the Bridgerton universe, and it wouldn’t be the worst thing to sacrifice continuity in order to spin a Lady Whistledown-worthy story.

Elsewhere in the thread, other users offered similar spinoff ideas for Mary — whether focusing on her “fleeing to Bombay,” as u/cordy_crocs suggested, or her, her husband, and her adopted daughter Kate “becoming a family,” u/doridori504 wrote. As you’ll remember from Bridgerton Season 2, Mary grew up in the ton and was considered the diamond of her season. However, she refused to marry the man the queen selected and fell in love with a commoner instead.

Naturally, this decision angered the queen — and caused Mary’s parents, the Sheffields, to disown their daughter. She then moved to Bombay with her new husband, becoming a mother to Kate (his daughter from a previous marriage) in the process. The couple later welcomed Edwina together.

All this is to say, there’s a lot to Mary’s story: choosing true love over societal expectations, moving across the world, raising a blended family, and — most of all — pursuing independence at a time when women didn’t have a lot of it. “When you cast me out, what you did was set me free,” Mary told her parents in Bridgerton Season 2. “Free to raise my daughters far from your constant judgment and craven demands that they should chase wealth and titles above all else.”

There’s definitely enough material to warrant a Mary Sharma spinoff, should Netflix want to make that happen. For now, Bridgerton executive producer Shonda Rhimes told Hello! that “there’s no plan to explore anybody in particular” just yet. But she added a caveat: “In writing [Queen Charlotte] I got very interested in Violet’s story. So, we’ll see.” As u/ShipSenior3773 suggested, a series dedicated to Violet could incorporate her future in-law, too.