Bridgerton Season 3 Release Date Continues A Controversial Netflix Trend

Historical fiction inhabits a unique place in the pop culture zeitgeist, as it allows fictional characters to populate all kinds of real-life events. This is an aspect that Netflix's "Bridgerton" taps into throughout its first two seasons and likely will continue to do as it heads into its upcoming third season.

However, the series is deviating from the release of the first two seasons of "Bridgerton" in one key way. Like "Stranger Things" and "The Witcher" before it, the show's upcoming season will be split into two parts, with Part 1 arriving on May 16, 2024, and Part 2 premiering on June 13, 2024.

While "Bridgerton" isn't the first series release that Netflix has handled in this manner, that doesn't mean that the practice will be accepted any more leniently by fans than it has been in the past. In fact, many Netflix subscribers have been very forthcoming with their annoyance about this kind of release schedule on social media. On the r/netflix subreddit, r/tylerthe_theatre maligned the practice in a thread, questioning the reason behind Netflix's change in its release strategy.

"What do you make of it, needlessly dragging out a season?" the user wondered. "Does it keep people watching rather than binging a season in a weekend? I don't hate it, but if the gap is like 2-3 weeks, I just don't really see the point, might as well be a few months to build up hype."

It's safe to say that the general consensus on the Reddit thread was that staggered releases like those used in seasons of "Money Heist," "You," and the upcoming third season of "Bridgerton," were not well accepted by fans. Still, one Redditor offered an explanation that makes a lot of sense. "The point and only point is you need to sub to two months instead of one to keep watching a series," wrote u/nytro308.

While this is a somewhat cynical take, it does make a lot of sense from a business perspective. After all, if fans of popular shows are only subscribing for one month to watch, this practice essentially forces them to either wait for all the episodes or subscribe for two months instead of one. All the same, that doesn't mean Netflix subscribers appreciate the strategy.

Love it or hate it, though, it looks like Netflix won't be dropping its staggered release schedule for popular series any time soon. With that in mind, "Bridgerton" fans will just have to hope that the final episode of Season 3, Part 1, doesn't end on too big of a cliffhanger.