Shonda Rhimes (‘Queen Charlotte’ creator): ‘I wanted to tell a story about complicated love’ [Exclusive Video Interview]
Shonda Rhimes had no interest in writing a fairy-tale love story when she sat down to write “Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story.” Rather, the superstar producer, writer and 2017 Television Academy Hall of Fame Inductee had a very different goal when writing the prequel series to the Netflix period drama “Bridgerton.” In creating this series about the marriage between a young Charlotte (India Amarteifio, played later by Golda Rosheuvel)) and King George III (Corey Mylchreest), Rhimes– who wrote or co-wrote five of the show’s six episodes– argues, “I wanted to tell a story about complicated love.” Watch more of Gold Derby’s exclusive video interview above.
Rhimes says that she was both aided and challenged by having a story where the ending is already known, given the well-known historical accounts of Charlotte and George’s marriage as well as the king’s well-documented physical and mental ailments. “We know how it ends and we know that it’s not a perfectly happy ending at all,” she says. “So for me that was a real challenge, to really make this feel like a true story of a couple, but also have an ending that felt satisfying and not just devastating.”
In discussing her process, Rhimes points to one constant that informs all of her writing. “What really matters is the research,” she argues. “I spent tons of time delving into the history of Queen Charlotte and talking to historians about that. Any show I’ve done I do all that research, and that’s what fills me up to the place where I can translate that research into something creative.”
Rhimes took great pains to make both George and Charlotte complex human beings rather than seeing them reduced to just their reputations. In the case of George and his mental infirmities, Rhimes says she put a great deal of care into portraying the character as more than the embodiment of his moniker of “The Mad King.” “I really wanted to be respectful of the man that he was,” she claims. “I’ve never been that excited about just calling him a madman.”
Similarly with Charlotte, Rhimes says it was just important to show the queen as complex and flawed, particularly in her depiction of Charlotte as a mother. “I didn’t want this sort of magical motherhood,” she claims, explaining that a woman in Charlotte’s position would struggle to carry the burden of her nation and be emotionally accessible to her children. “That was really fun to write,” she says. “I love writing mothers who are not these wonderful cake-baking, apron-wearing, ‘listen to all your hopes and dreams’ moms. I think women come in all shapes and sizes in terms of that.”
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