‘Bridgerton’ Episodes Cost $7 Million Each, and That’s Just For the First Season
Bridgerton is a Netflix romantic drama that reignited fans’ interest in historical fiction. It immediately shot to the top of most-watched lists everywhere. With two seasons now on the streaming platform and a third on the way, many fans are even more invested in the series. So it makes sense that Netflix is putting a lot of money into the show.
‘Bridgerton’ debuted on Netflix in December 2020
Bridgerton is based on the popular series of Regency-era novels by Julia Quinn. The first season dropped on Netflix in December 2020, experiencing almost immediate acclaim from critics and fans. Many appreciated the show’s inclusivity and the way that the first season seemed to prioritize the female gaze, rather than the male. The first season followed Phoebe Dynevor’s Daphne Bridgerton and her desire to find a love match rather than a marriage of convenience.
By January 2021, an estimated 80 million households had tuned in to watch the first season of Bridgerton. Several of the show’s performers had become major stars, including Regé-Jean Page. His work as Simon, the tormented and handsome duke, made him quite the Hollywood heartthrob. While Bridgerton seemed to come out of the blue for many, Netflix was prepared to make the series a hit. The streamer invested a great deal of money into the show’s first season.
How much did each episode of ‘Bridgerton’s’ first season cost?
Bridgerton was a big-budget effort from the start. The team at Netflix trusted Shonda Rhimes and her crew to craft a truly winning drama. According to BuzzFeed, each episode of the first season of the show was given a $7 million budget – ensuring that the team could give a lot of attention to things like costumes, sets, and any needed special effects. This also included the salaries of the stars and the production team.
Netflix was more than justified in the cost when viewership numbers started to roll in for the first season. Just two weeks after the first season was released, Bridgerton became one of Netflix’s most-watched shows of all time, joining established shows such as Stranger Things and The Witcher.
‘Bridgerton’ is now considered to be one of Netflix’s most-watched shows
As it turns out, Bridgerton wasn’t a fluke, with the second season earning even more viewers than the first. The second season debuted on Netflix in early 2022, becoming the most successful opening weekend of an English-language series on Netflix. The record-breaking second season established Bridgerton as a franchise — and even before the new episodes dropped, Netflix announced that a third season would be coming soon.
To date, there has not been an exact release date for the third season of Bridgerton. But fans might expect to start seeing new episodes of their favorite period drama some time in 2023. Thus far, all fans have been able to deduce is that the third season will follow the love story of Colin Bridgerton and Penelope Featherington – a romantic duo that has been teased since the first season of the show. Could the third season of Bridgerton become even more successful than the first two seasons? Fans will have to wait and see. But in all likelihood, the Regency romance will continue to break records and barriers.
