Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story

Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story is a prequel in the Bridgerton universe that explores the queen’s relationship with King George at its beginning. A fast-paced, energetic score opens the trailer as we see Charlotte apprehensive and asserting boundaries around her arranged marriage with King George. The instrumentation (as we’ll hear later in the trailer) is congruent with the late 18th century setting, with a strong strings presence accompanied by epic percussion. A major key theme keeps things sprightly, while interest is retained through the unusual 5/4 rhythm (whereas most music keeps to a steadier three or four beats per measure). Notice also at 0:25 the tonal modulation just when the title card comes in touting the new series’ pedigree (… “who brought you Bridgerton)”).

By 0:34 the strings come down to the relative minor, adding dramatic flair. The music stops at 0:38 for the first one-liner, a standard convention in modern trailers—“and?”, emphasizing her lack of care for King George’s social position. A chance meeting in a garden seems to change her tune, however; at 1:02, a strained chord in the strings represents a turning point for their nascent relationship, as King George seems to insist on at least some kind of equality and reciprocity in the proposed relationship. The busy strings now sound the unfolding of a drama rather than the anxiety of the opening.

The second minute of the trailer bears the second act, adding a romantic flair with rapidly ascending flute lines and fluttering, arpeggiated strings. Notice at 1:17 the strings appear on the string, crossing over into diegesis—after having been played the full minute or so prior, it’s a long play. At 1:20 we get a quick pause for another one-liner, and then at 1:22 heavy, epic percussion presages a snippet of the lovemaking scene. The third part of the trailer follows a montage sequence, as many do; this time, the strings follow a new descending melodic motif against the arpeggiation. Ultimately, it ends triumphantly, in the original major key; as with quite a few prequel series, the intrigue is not what or whether Queen Charlotte became the person she did, but how. The music, then, is a celebration of that idea and character progression, moving through a period of drama but ultimately and primarily presenting the outcome as sunny and jubilant.

While the occasional percussion hit betokens current scoring practices for trailers, the reliance on traditional orchestral sounds—without a cover song—solidly establishes Queen Charlotte as a historical drama. Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story arrives on Netflix on May 4th.

— Curtis Perry