Bridgerton fans were happier than ever when the first full length trailer for the hotly anticipated second season of the romance drama dropped on Wednesday.
After picking apart every detail in the teaser clip, social media was ablaze with posts highlighting very obvious references to Mr. Darcy (Colin Firth) in the BBC adaptation of Pride & Prejudice and we must say, the fans are onto something.
Watch the trailer below:
The trailer includes a snippet from a scene in which Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) trips over Edwina Sharma's (Charithra Chandran) dog and falls into a lake. He emerges from the water, with his white shirt now soaking wet and see-through.
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Edwina and her sister Kate (Simone Ashley) watch in a state of absolute thirst.
"Come, it is not proper to stare," Kate says as she scolds Emma for staring, but neither sister can avoid staring at Antony's wet shirt.
Fans were quick to compare the scene to Colin Firth's portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the 1995 film version of Jane Austen's classic novel Pride & Prejudice.
The scene elevated Mr. Darcy to hunk status for many film fanatics and Austen obsessives. The wet shirt is part of a pivotal scene in which Mr. Darcy dives into a lake at his Pemberley country estate.
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He eventually runs into Elizabeth Bennet (Jennifer Ehle) visiting his abode and this awkward, similarly Regency-set encounter ultimately leads to both characters falling in love.
Anthony Bridgerton's wet shirt moment has started circulating social media in GIF form and fans are obsessed. "Sorry Mr. Darcy, Anthony #Bridgerton is here," one fan wrote in a tweet.
"They knew what they were doing here... it’s giving mr darcy #bridgerton," a second Bridgerton fan said in tweet including Anthony's wet shirt scene.
While another excited fan shared pictures of both Jonathan Bailey and Colin Firth as their respective characters. "They really are going full Darcy on us... I CAN'T —#Bridgerton," they said.
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There's actually a very good reason why Bridgerton included this reference to Pride & Prejudice because the '90s classic actually inspired the Julia Quinn TV adaption.
Producer Chris Van Dusen revealed in an August 2021 interview that he watched wet shirt Colin Firth scene "a lot" and it inspired the tone of Bridgerton as far back as season one.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, the producer said: "I’ve always loved the period genre. There’s that 1995 BBC Pride and Prejudice adaptation with Colin Firth, with him coming out of the lake and his white shirt. I remember watching that a lot, and that was inspiring in developing the show."
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It's official - Anthony Bridgerton is basically our new Mr. Darcy and we couldn't be more pleased.
Bridgerton returns 25th March on Netflix.
Featured Image Credit: NetflixTopics: TV And Film, Bridgerton, Netflix