'Queen Charlotte': Shonda Rhimes, Cast on 'Bridgerton' Prequel Not Shying Away From Race (Exclusive)

etonline.com:

's Queen Charlotteis stepping into the spotlight.Netflix launches the six-part limited series, , which delves deeper into the origin story of how Charlotte became the queen and her life beyond the crown.

Told through two different time periods — one that charts young Charlotte's (India Amarteifio) early days of her reign and marriage to King George (Corey Mylchreest), and the other set decades later with an older, hardened queen ('s Golda Rosheuvel) lording over the kingdom.While  briefly dipped its toe into Queen Charlotte's real-life mixed race ancestry and depicted a Regency era that was a more racially inclusive interpretation of the time period, where people of color also held titles and positions of power, -- in many respects — fills in the blanks on how the Ton got there in the first place.

As the series establishes, uniting George and Charlotte through marriage was a political and social chess move (aka «The Great Experiment») meant to serve as a unifying force for the people.«It was incredibly important to infuse the narrative with these themes mainly because the character that we're talking about, Queen Charlotte, [we] already created a very simple backstory for her on Their love united the countries is the explanation for the society and I really wanted to explore that part because what does that actually mean?» creator/showrunner Shonda Rhimes told ET's Deidre Behar as she discussed addressing race, as well as mental health specifically with regard to King George's story.«We never really get to see the true united society, but we do get to see the effects of them starting out and trying things,» Rhimes elaborated. «I think it's an important issue to discuss.