What’s up With That Bee in the Season 1 Finale of ‘Bridgerton’? (SPOILERS!)

If you, like millions of people, enjoy pretty much everything that Shonda Rhimes is even tangentially involved with, then there’s a pretty good chance you’ve been watching Bridgerton. In fact, since it’s a Netflix show, there’s a good chance that you’ve watched the entire first season of the show — after all, it’s only eight episodes long and is as addictive as Gossip Girl (if not even more so).

And once you reach the end of Season 1 of Bridgerton, you’ll inevitably have two questions. First: What does the bee mean? And second: Is there going to be a Season 2? Here’s what we know.

(Warning: If you haven’t watched the Season 1 finale of Bridgerton yet [or read the books], huge spoilers are coming your way!) In the very last scene of Bridgerton’s first season, we see Daphne and Simon — the couple at the center of the drama — welcome their first child together (even though Simon initially insists that he can’t have children for family drama reasons). The new family of three looks very happy together, and then the camera pans over to the open window.

There, on the windowsill, we see a bumblebee crawling around. It swoops up and then flies away, but the camera definitely lingers on the insect for quite a while, making it obvious that we’re supposed to know something is up. If you’ve read the books that Bridgerton is based on, you may already know what the deal with the bee is, but in case you haven’t (or you’ve forgotten), we have you covered.

Season 1 of Bridgerton is based on Julia Quinn’s novel, The Duke and I, which was published in 2000. That same year, the second book in the series came out, entitled The Viscount Who Loved Me. It focuses on Anthony Bridgerton, the oldest Bridgerton son (and a friend of Simon’s from Oxford). 

In the prologue of The Viscount Who Loved Me, readers learn that Edmund Bridgerton (Anthony’s father) died at the age of 38 from a bee sting. After his father’s premature death, Anthony had to become the man of the house at a young age. He’s also kind of obsessed with his own mortality and is convinced that he, too, will die young. And he’s afraid of bees.

Naturally, fans of the books are taking the bee at the end of Season 1 as a hint of what Season 2 may bring us, and they’re guessing the second chapter of Bridgerton will focus on Anthony just as the second book did. Makes perfect sense to us!

As of this writing, Bridgerton has not yet been renewed for a second season. That being said, judging by the reaction to the first eight episodes, we’d be very surprised if a second season isn’t ordered soon. We would expect that you might be watching new episodes of Bridgerton as early as the summer of 2021!

In the meantime, you can always read the books! That way, you’ll be sure not to miss out on any future Easter eggs!