An empowering chat with Shonda Rhimes

The regality, check! Romance? Check! The Bridgerton-verse recipe is already perfect as it is making a huge smash for Netflix. I remember when the series’ last season premiered, the Netflix Philippines team even had a huge activation as it dressed up and refurbished an old mansion in New Manila, Quezon City, just so fans could have an immersive experience.

Big time! This time around, a grandiose high tea in a posh Makati hotel is expected as the new spin-off offering Queen Charlotte arrives on May 4. We had the chance to virtually interview the cast and its creator, the Shonda Rhimes herself! Of course, we were awestruck. It was brief, but just absorbing the fact that the conversation we had was with the woman who made Scandal, How To Get Away With Murder and Grey’s Anatomy, among many other Shondaland shows, was a treat.

This columnist with Shonda during the interview for her upcoming Netflix show.

Now with Queen Charlotte, the point of view centers on Queen Charlotte’s rise to prominence and power. It also shows the intriguing love dynamics between Queen Charlotte and King George. The show also has amazing back stories of the characters we grew to love today, including Brimsley and the strong Lady Agatha Danbury.

Talking about it, the formed friendship between her and Queen Charlotte was particularly interesting. It was solid sisterhood right off the bat. In this competitive world, Shonda shared that fixing each other’s crowns as women was one thing to push forth in the storytelling.

“Female friendships are so important and in this show, they are the heart of most of the shows I write and that is because I have strong female friendships and continue to do so. And I don’t know how to represent a world of women, where they don’t have great relationships,” she said.

For Queen Charlotte, Shonda chose a brilliant cast with stellar backgrounds. One is Ivy league alum Arsema Thomas, who will play the Young Agatha Danbury. Her credentials are impressive and she speaks more than three languages such as French, Spanish and Yoruba. She felt more than honored to enter Shondaland and be around amazing women.

Arsema told us what she loved about Queen Charlotte and how Shonda handled the spin-off. “This story is not in the books. So, all of the audience will get to engage in this, and what Shonda has done is that she has leveraged what Bridgerton has done and used that to execute change because our TV and entertainment industry is such a powerful tool in engaging with people’s minds and creating the status quo. And what she has done is that the way we thought about things doesn’t have to be the way we continue to think about things and (it’s) something amazing to be involved in.”

Even the two leads, Corey Mylchreest and India Amarteifio, who play the Young King George and Young Queen Charlotte, respectively, had amazing things to say about how Shonda pushed the envelope, storytelling-wise, in the series, not just with diversity, but also with femininity and in bringing the audience a period adventure, where all castings are possible. They said, “There’s a lot of character mix that we in society are still dealing with and Shonda is not scared to bring these topics to light.”

Shonda’s principles are simple in choosing themes to talk about with her massive fanbase, “There’s no way I am going to create a show that I don’t see myself in. And I see myself in all kinds of women and I want to make sure that that point of view is represented,” she said.

With regard to her tips for upcoming storytellers, she had this to say: “For other writers, they should look at their pocket books and make movies with more color and even movies that don’t have that. Who wants to tell stories about a world who is not real?!”