Shonda Rhimes Says Bridgerton's Sexy Scenes Are Influenced By Her Own 'Wish Fulfillment' as a Single Woman

Shonda Rhimes is opening up about the inspiration for Bridgerton’s steamy scenes!

During an appearance on The Jennifer Hudson Show on Thursday, May 23, the Emmy-nominated show creator, 54, shared that third installment of the hit Netflix show is “probably one of our sexiest seasons.”

“Season 3 is good,” she shared. “I just love the couple that we're dealing with, you know, Colin and Penelope are people that we've already known. We're not bringing anybody new. We've been watching them all these seasons. And so now we really get to see them get together. Plus, Lady Whistledown finally gets her do and I love that.”

“It's really a season about, you know, people who are wallflower flowers, the shy people like coming out of their shell and that's exciting,” she continued.

When asked about inspiration from the show’s steamy scenes, Rhymes shared they were her “wish fulfillment a little bit.” 

She then told host Jennifer Hudson, “I’m single, in case you know anybody.”

Luke Newton, who plays Colin Bridgerton, previously told PEOPLE that he knew fans were anticipating his character’s friends-to-love romance with Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan), which is detailed in the fourth Bridgerton book, Romancing Mister Bridgerton.

“I think there's always been that underlying sort of question mark with these two characters,” he said. “And people have obviously wanted them to get to the point that we're getting to now, so I guess it was always in the back of our minds.”

“You kind of play that in previous seasons and in previous scenes, but you can't really prepare for stripping down naked in front of your friends,” he jokingly added.

Coughlan also teased that things got heated during the steamy scenes between her and Newton. She shared that they broke a piece of furniture while filming a sex scene, and found the filming process "really funny."

“We would be like, in between scenes, and they were like, ‘Do you wanna get up and put your clothes on?’ We're like, ‘We'll just chill here.’ Like, in under the blankets,” she recalled during an interview on SiriusXM Hits 1 in April. “But then we have the advantage of knowing each other for years.”

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The first part of Bridgerton season 3 is streaming now on Netflix and part 2 drops on June 13.