It’s a big day for Bridgerton!
The Netflix romantic drama scored 12 nominations at the 2021 Emmys, including for best drama and lead actor Regé-Jean Page. For showrunner Chris Van Dusen, the news prompted an unexpected pause.
“I was in the car with my husband and we had just dropped our 3-year-old off at nursery. We were driving home when I started getting texts and emails, and we pulled over,” Van Dusen tells E! News of his busy morning. “I think we had a good cry for a couple minutes. I’m so excited and humbled and most of all, I’m proud of this cast and this crew and I’m just filled with tremendous gratitude, honestly.”
Van Dusen says it was Nicola Coughlan, who plays Penelope Featherington, who first reached out to him, but he’s spoken to most of the cast since then—and that includes Page, who chose to leave the show ahead of season two.
“It was such a privilege to work with him,” Van Dusen says of the star. “He’s our Duke and he will always be our Duke and I know about to continue to charm the world in some really amazing ways. And I couldn’t be happier for him.”
