# Bridgerton - did the sex add or detract? (spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 4, 2021, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridgerton-did-the-sex-add-or-detract-spoilers/929640 "2021-01-04T15:03:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2021, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridgerton-did-the-sex-add-or-detract-spoilers/929640/41 "2021-04-14T19:18:13Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > Shonda Rhimes has really found a very economically successful formula But Bridgerton is based off a book series and, while there are _some_ changes, generally follows the story and characterizations of the first book. So not sure how it’s her formula. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2021, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridgerton-did-the-sex-add-or-detract-spoilers/929640/42 "2021-04-14T19:28:54Z")
Really good point. I can’t speak directly to how much the Quinn series was changed, manipulated, embellished, or re-imagined for the Netflix series, but … - This article seems to give some visibility into that: > **[How the ‘Bridgerton’ Novels Made It to Netflix](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/how-the-bridgerton-novels-made-it-to-netflix-4107822/)** > > Julia Quinn’s steamy romance novels are the basis for Shonda Rhimes’ Netflix debut. - I’m not sure that I’m implying that something _has to be_ dramatically massaged to fit into the Shonda Rhimes formula. In other words, some stories might need to _be_ re-imagined to come out of her studio, and some might be 90+% fits just as they are. But the article I linked to implies – at least to me – that there is some rather classic Shonda Rhimes sauce applied to Bridgerton. Wouldn’t you say ? ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2021, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridgerton-did-the-sex-add-or-detract-spoilers/929640/43 "2021-04-14T20:23:33Z")
I think I heard they did not come to terms w/ the lead actor. So we’ll need plenty of shots of some new guy’s butt! Can only imagine the casting call… ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2021, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridgerton-did-the-sex-add-or-detract-spoilers/929640/44 "2021-04-14T20:29:42Z")
He’s not really the ‘lead’ in the 2nd book (even book focuses on a different person). So it’s probably going to be fairly easy to just… not have him in the show much. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2021, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridgerton-did-the-sex-add-or-detract-spoilers/929640/45 "2021-04-14T22:46:21Z")
My wife has read the entire Bridgerton book series. If they follow those stories, the Duke’s character would become a glorified background cameo, speaking a handful of lines in one scene of one episode per season. To make anything more of the character, they’d have to invent new narrative threads for him which don’t exist in the books. That’s something they’ve already been doing — the Marina story is lifted from a later book and greatly embellished, and the boxer character is invented entirely. But it probably wouldn’t work for the Duke, because his story is now complete. He’s resolved his emotional conflict and settled into his happy life. Inventing new conflicts for him would grate against this satisfying conclusion. So it’s probably okay that he’s gone. It serves the larger series, even if the audience is disappointed they don’t get to continue enjoying the incandescent smokeshow in future seasons. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridgerton-did-the-sex-add-or-detract-spoilers/929640.md?page=2)