Art has the quality of being surprising. Gripping. It keeps you on the edge and that is why, readers; that is why I like it. Then, there are adaptations. You know what is going to happen, but the really good ones can still shock you. It turns out that sometimes even the writers can get shocked by their book’s adaptations. In this case, author of Bridgerton, Julia Quinn was surprised by Shondaland’s adaptation of the series.
Julia Quinn, the genius behind the world of Bridgerton, was completely shocked by the ending of the adaptation. She had no clue that the identity of Lady Whistledown was going to be revealed at the ending of the season. Caution: SPOILERS AHEAD! In addition, she was even more surprised to see it be Penelope Featherington. Shocking, isn’t it?
Ahead of the release, Netflix had sent Quinn all eight episodes. Along with her family, she devoured the series. In the final moments, her jaw dropped. Quinn had relinquished her creative control to Shondaland but stayed on as a consultant during the production. The ending wasn’t told to her so when Penelope dropped her hood and revealed herself as the infamous Whistledown, the writer was taken aback.
She emailed ShondaLand saying “What just happened?!” Based on the script she was handed as a consultant, this wasn’t planned. It turned out that the series writers switched the script. The reason being that anyone could have searched up the identity because of the books, so they felt it right to lead the viewers on till the last minute and then give them the reveal.
Quinn further said “No one told me they changed the ending. So it was just kind of funny. It’s the ultimate twist ending, like shocking me. I mean, you would think I couldn’t be shocked.”
Bridegeton Cast Also In Dark
It turns out, she wasn’t the only one in the dark. The actors too had no idea. They were misled by incorrect scripts. Coughlan (Penelope) herself wasn’t sure even after shooting the final scene. Only when the entire team saw the final cut did they know of the identity.
The Bridgerton crew really pulled off the secrecy! Quinn has mentioned that this was only more motivation for her to revisit her series. The revisitation helped her in penning down her latest addition to the series, “The Wit and Wisdom of Bridgerton: Lady Whistledown’s Official Guide.”
Harper Collins will publish the book on Tuesday and will feature a collection of memorable lines and Whistedown’s society pages.
Featured Image Via ScreenRant