Promotion: Netflix

“It’s kind of funny,” she tells E! News. “People saying, ‘How are you feeling?’ and I’m just like…every day something new and amazing happens and I just am smiling so hard that I just break out into spontaneous laughter. It’s insane and wonderful.”

JQ is interviewed by Alison Flood and talks about the Bridgerton show, the cast, THAT scene, and more. Here’s an excerpt:

The show switches the race of some of Quinn’s key characters, who are white on the page: the duke is played by Regé-Jean Page, while Adjoa Andoh is the magnificently acerbic dowager Lady Danbury. “I think it’s wonderful and joyous,” says Quinn. “Previously, I’ve gotten dinged by the historical accuracy police. So in some ways, I was fearful – if you do that, are you denying real things that happened? But you know what? This is already romantic fantasy, and I think it’s more important to show that as many people as possible deserve this type of happiness and dignity. So I think they made the absolutely right choice, bringing in all this inclusivity.”

Written by author Vanessa Riley.

“Race is celebrated. Regé-Jean Page, Adjoa Andoh and Golda Rosheuvel play Black characters, not amorphous shape-shifters with tans. “Bridgerton” entwines culture into the story but without the burden of the colonial past. With everything from the solidarity dap, the arm tap between Hastings and Mondrich, to a jeweled Afro-pick comb, Black is on the screen. It’s bright and happy and shiny in a post-racial afterglow.

The duke, the lady and the baby-face queen — these characters’ struggles are not framed by slavery or prejudice. The Duke of Hastings is broken, consumed by a vow made against a horrid father. Lady Danbury’s pain is physical. Her knees aren’t as adept as her meddling. Queen Charlotte seeks excitement to avoid hours of dwelling on her husband’s mental illness. These troubles are universal. They hit at the soul. Viewers of color can feel safe watching the story without waiting for that moment when our breath is punched from our lungs because of an epithet, an othering action or plot point constructed on historical pain, pain that still runs deep.”

Quoted from the article’s beginning:

The new Netflix series “Bridgerton” joins a tiny but growing handful of prestige shows adapted from mass-market romance books. What took so long?

Chris Van Dusen doesn’t describe himself as an avid romance reader. “I’ve dabbled,” he said in a recent interview. “I wouldn’t say that I have romance books lining my bookshelf.”

But as the creator of the new Netflix series “Bridgerton,” a courtship tale set in Regency England and executive produced by Shonda Rhimes, he joins a curiously exclusive club — the men and women bringing popular romance novels to television.

In the book world, romance is big, occasionally bodice-ripping business. Romance novels sell tens of millions of copies each year, with approximately 10,000 new titles appearing annually. “Our industry keeps the book industry running,” said LaQuette, the president-elect of the Romance Writers of America.

But even as networks and streaming services slaver over intellectual property with prearranged fan bases, few mass-market romance novels have found their way to screens. Character-driven and story rich, they would seem to have a lot of what television wants. But showrunners have played hard to get.

“Among romance readers, there’s been a kind of puzzlement,” said Eric Murphy Selinger, an executive editor of the Journal of Popular Romance Studies and a professor of English at DePaul University. “Why yet another superhero show? Why yet another detective show? Why yet another reboot when here are all of these interesting novels?”

Finish reading Alexis Soloski’s article on The New York Times online. If you don’t have a paid subscription to The New York Times, you can make a limited account for free. Simply click here to open the article, and sign up for a free account.

JQ, along with series showrunner and creator Chris Van Dusen, share inside secrets with Good Morning America as the show enters its fourth day of streaming worldwide. Check out the video!

Julia talks with OprahMag.com…
on how involved she was with the script.
on showrunner Chris Van Dusen making changes from the book.
on meeting the real Duke of Hastings, Regé-Jean Page.
on visiting the Bridgerton set.
on the period drama’s multiracial cast.
on what Quinn would like to see in future seasons.
on potentially writing more Bridgerton books.
on her favorite Bridgerton sibling.