Bridgerton's Golda Rosheuvel Explains Why Lady Whistledown Threatens the Queen So Much

[Warning: The following contains spoilers from Season 2 of Bridgerton. Read at your own risk!]

Bridgerton Season 2 is here, and we're just as excited to bury ourselves in the latest gossip of the Ton as we are to revel in the grandeur of Regency-era fashion. And no one delivers the glitz and glam of 1800s England more triumphantly than the queen herself. But this season, we get a closer look at the life of Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel) beyond her extravagant gowns and wigs. "It would have been easy to just write a one-dimensional character that's very surface, that is all about the balls, all about the fabulous dresses," Rosheuvel tells TV Guide. "But I think it's really beautiful that you get to see her vulnerability." It's the side to the character that Rosheuvel was most excited to explore in the second season of the steamy period drama from Shondaland and Netflix.

In the new installment that premiered March 25 on Netflix, Queen Charlotte names Edwina Sharma (Charithra Chandran) as the diamond of the season. Edwina is wooed by Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey), the eldest brother of Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) who found her happily-ever-after in Season 1 with the Duke of Hastings, Simon Basset (Regé-Jean Page). But Anthony's efforts are thwarted by Edwina's older sister Kate (Simone Ashley), who begins to stir the viscount's emotions in more ways than one. 

It's with Edwina, however, that the queen develops a particularly special bond — one that prompts "moments of humanity," as Rosheuvel describes. In Episode 6, following an incident in which the king bursts into the queen's chamber mistakenly believing it's his wedding day, Edwina is the one who resolves the situation. She and Queen Charlotte later have a heartfelt conversation about the power of true love. 

Rosheuvel spoke to TV Guide about filming those vulnerable scenes in Episode 6, what it's like to play a woman of color who represents royalty, and, of course, the queen's ongoing search for Lady Whistledown's identity.

This season we see Queen Charlotte continuing to hunt down Lady Whistledown's identity. What is it about Lady Whistledown that threatens Queen Charlotte so much? 
Golda Rosheuvel: On the one hand, her nose has been put out of joint. She's the one that controls all the gossip. Queen Charlotte is the only one that has this say of the community and society and then all of a sudden, this woman comes along and people are starting to listen to her and read her stuff. But also I think there's a lot of admiration there. I wonder what would happen if they ever met, whether there would be an embrace or a two, three-hour-long sit down girly chat. I'm not sure, I'll leave that to the writers. 

I think it's a complex relationship. It's mysterious, it's unknown, but yet fraught with frustration and anxiety and lack of control and loss of control. I love it.

Do you think Queen Charlotte is partly worried that Lady Whistledown would find out about the king's dementia?
Rosheuvel: Of course there's all of that going on. But also there's a really great scene that I play with Charithra when the queen and Edwina have a discussion after Edwina has witnessed the king. And there's this really beautiful speech that the queen does. She talks about Whistledown and she talks about the loss of dialogue, the loss of communication, the loss of verbal contact in contrast to this woman who is now in charge of the written word. And at that time in history, magazines, newspapers, were starting to appear so the loss of dialogue and storytelling with people one-on-one was kind of disappearing. 

What was it like to film that scene where the king appears and his dementia becomes evident to those who were with the queen?
Rosheuvel: There's a lot of components there in terms of relationships. The queen's got her best mates in Lady Danbury and Violet [Bridgerton]. And then the Sharmas are there as well. I like to play with myself and trick myself into little ideas and emotions and see what happens. The first take, I focused all the emotion on my best mates. The king would walk in, so then my emotions and my thought processes, what are my friends thinking at this precise moment? They know that this is my life, my private life, because they are my friends. We have talked about it, they have given me support about it. So all of that stuff is going on while I'm doing the first take. So then the second tape maybe my focus is on the Sharmas and how the queen feels about them witnessing what's going on. So to play, play, play all of those emotions and be surprised by them is a really important thing for me to do in all scenes. 

And then when Edwina is brave and courageous and shows her humanity and her kindness and her grace towards the man that I love, I think the queen is completely in awe and full of respect for this young girl. That is taken into the scene that we see the two of them talking. That scene was really important. I never wanted it to be a mother-and-daughter kind of vibe, or even a teacher-student. I wanted both of us to be senseis. I wanted both of us to have the power to teach each other, to learn from each other. And to really inject sisterhood into that scene.

By the end of the season, we see that the queen has once again failed to capture Lady Whistledown. Does she continue to suspect Eloise [Bridgerton]? Or do you think that she will restart the hunt searching for new targets in Season 3?
Rosheuvel: I'll have to leave that up to the writers. I'm very much an actress who doesn't like knowing what's going to happen. I love the surprise. I use my instincts as an actress so no two takes are the same. I'm driven by the immediate emotions of the character and how they react to people in conversation and interact on the whole. I think between action and cut is a really amazing magical space where lots of joy and lots of storytelling can happen. I never like to know what's going to happen. 

There's a spinoff coming about Queen Charlotte's early days. How much of the backstory are you becoming aware of as it's being developed?
Rosheuvel: Unfortunately, or fortunately, whichever way you want to see it, I don't know anything about it other than it is an origin story. I'm really honored that they've taken this character and they want to find out more about her.

How exciting is it for you to be a part of a series that has women of color representing royalty?
Rosheuvel: It's fantastic in this day and age to be telling stories that are relevant to the world that we're living in, that people can see themselves reflected and that we're talking about inclusion and diversity in something as fabulous as a period drama. The conversation has definitely changed and I'm so proud. Shondaland has that ethos of, in all their shows, that energy of pushing the boundary open so that people can be diverse and storylines can be diverse and we can reflect the world that we're living in at the moment.

Additional reporting by: Megan Vick

Season 2 of Bridgerton is now available to stream.