Shonda Rhimes and Julia Quinn discuss their new book "Queen Charlotte," a "Bridgerton" prequel

Our next guest are the reason we even have that hit Netflix series, Bridgerton. Have you heard of it? Shonda Rhimes adapted the series for the screen from the best-selling novels by Julia Quinn. Now the two have written a new book together. Queen Charlotte is the name. It's a prequel to Bridgerton. It follows a young black German princess who marries a white king of England. Their interracial marriage transforms high society.

And the book is based on the scripts from Rhimes' new Netflix series, Queen Charlotte, a Bridgerton story. We sat down with Shonda and Julia last week and this is our conversation. I want to start with you Shonda because you have called Queen Charlotte the Beyonce of Bridgerton. Yes. Why did you want to tell her original story? You know she's so fantastic and fabulous and you watch her and I was always really drawn to her even from the first moment I saw her on screen. What do you think that since Charlotte wasn't in your original book series when you heard the idea that she wanted to include it, what did you think? I thought it was incredible and then the way it turned out she was hands down my favorite change to the series. She was.

She provided I think this incredible framework for the story and then the way that Golda Rocheville portrayed her. I mean she just owns the screen whenever she's there. She's just fantastic. How did you two work this out together? We talked about working together and how that would be. And then because I'm a screenwriter who doesn't ever write outlines or anything which is very frustrating for people. You don't write outlines ever? No, I just write and then things change as I'm writing and I discover things while I'm writing so I would write the scripts and send them to her and she would turn them into prose in this beautiful way. It was really each of us working with our area of expertise.

But the story is so fascinating because it's an interracial couple back in the day and how they transform society to bring in diversity. Why did you think that was an important story to tell? Well, I mean we really wanted to explain how the world of Bridgerton itself is populated. And in order to do that, you know, we saved their love United Society. So we had to go back and explore how that happened. And for me it was really gratifying to tell the story of this young woman of color coming in and clearly being different. Part of the fun too for me when you watch it is the writing. It always, always starts with the writing and then of course you have to have great people who can deliver your writing on the page.

And Golda, who plays Queen Charlotte, never disappoints to me. Shonda, I look at her lines. Some of my favorites are, you're lucky my face is a rare jewel. Or everything I do is a blessing. How do you see her as a character? You know, she's fascinating. I mean, Golda's an amazing actress. She brings such three-dimensionality to it.

But as a character, you know, she's lonely. Yes. Well, Golda was here last week and of course your name came up and this is what she had to say. She is all about representation, inclusivity. And I think we as artists, as people in the media, have a platform that we can celebrate those stories and we can talk about those stories in a way that maybe takes the pressure off a little bit. That's right. To help people lean in, to help people be entertained and then go out into the wider world and discuss what they see.

Yeah. I'm not going to write anything that doesn't reflect me or that I can't see myself being a part of. It's one of the reasons why I loved the Bridgerton books because even though the characters were originally, I assume, all white, I could see myself in those characters. There was a universality there. And to be able to bring that to the screen in a way that was representative was exciting. I assume they were all white too. Weren't they all white, Julia? Yeah, I don't think I ever said so.

But yeah. I mean, that's what I was doing. And I just have to say, my feeling toward Shondaland and Netflix, or the way that they have brought the series to life, my overwhelming feeling is gratitude because they were able to turn this world into a diverse and inclusive world in ways that by myself, I didn't know how to do. And again, coming back to this, what you can do with film versus books, like for example, if I'm going to write the couple walking down the street, I'm not going to describe every person they pass. There's no reason to. But if you have a television show, you've got these people in the background, and you don't have to describe them because they're there, and you can just say, this is the world. There's a writer strike.

Shondar, are you being affected by the writer strike as we sit here today? Well, I'm a writer. So I have a writer-led company, and it's very important to me that nobody cross a picket line. I'm a writer on strike. So for the next few months or however long it goes, I won't be putting pen to paper. And I think what's really hard are the people who are doing this because they need to make a living wage. And so if they are going to get to make a living wage, then I'm happy to be on strike. And what do you think it will take to resolve it? I honestly don't know.

I keep being optimistic and saying, maybe it'll only be a few weeks, but I don't know. I'm hopeful. We have to say congratulations in order to Shonda, because as we sit here, you've just received a special BAFTA award. That's a British Academy of Film and Television. It was very exciting. What does that mean to you? You know, it was such an incredible honor to be there, and I felt a little overwhelmed when I was there accepting the award. It just, I don't think I'd ever dreamed of anything in an international level, and it was a beautiful experience.

And because you've had so many successes, do you feel pressure on yourself to continue? No. You don't. I'm in this very lucky space where I hit a moment. I mean, to continue to knock it out of the park. That's what I mean. But I hit this very special place where I was in a moment where I could finally say, okay, you can relax now. Everything else you do is just for fun.

And so that's what I've been doing. Wow. Bravo. And congratulations. Bravo, Julia. Thank you. Queen Charlotte is on sale now wherever you like to buy your books.

And by the way, Queen Charlotte, the Netflix show number one on Netflix. You go, Shonda.

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