Bridgerton Season 3 Kanthony clip highlights Anthony’s character growth

I’m just gonna say it – I adore Anthony Bridgerton. Played by Jonathan Bailey, Anthony is the eldest-born Bridgerton child (of eight total) on the Netflix and Shondaland hit historical romance series Bridgerton – and he’s also my personal favorite character from the entire show. He served as a prominent supporting character (and, occasionally, a force of opposition to his sister, Daphne) in the first season in 2020, and ascended to the status of co-lead for his very own love story in the second season in 2022 (alongside Kate Sharma, portrayed by Simone Ashley). Now, as the show prepares to return for its third season in May and June of this year, his role will transition yet again – this time, he’ll operate as one half of “Kanthony” (the fandom ship name for his and Kate’s relationship), assuming the role of doting husband (and perhaps even doting father, if the wildest fan wishes turn out to be true…).

For those of us who've experienced the many twists and turns that came with Anthony and Kate’s enemies-to-lovers slow-burn romance from Season 2 of Bridgerton, the feeling of satisfaction that will be generated by finally seeing these two get to live out their happily-ever-after on-screen will no doubt be immense. As someone who became invested in this show in the first place thanks to my interest in the character of Anthony, I think I can speak for many Kanthony fans when I say that all I want this May and June is to watch this couple be happy, adorable, and very much in love.

And it looks like that’s exactly what we’re going to get. 

In fact, we’ve already received a few small tastes of blissfully married Kanthony from this upcoming season, courtesy of some early promotional material.

First, there was the official still of the couple, an image taken from the opening episode of Season 3 and unveiled to the world on Christmas Day last year.

Then, in mid-March, Netflix surprised fans with a minute-long sneak preview of a scene prominently featuring the couple as they share a sweet dance together during the opening ball of the season.

Finally, on the two-year anniversary of Kanthony’s season of Bridgerton, March 25th, which also coincided with the conclusion of the streamer’s official Season 2 rewatch, we saw the first “moving poster” for Season 3. Of course, this short video starred none other than Kate and Anthony themselves, and fans were quick to pick up on how far the couple has come from their demeanor in their Season 2 promo videos.

As a tried and true Anthony Bridgerton devotee, what immediately stood out to me the most amongst these three promo items, and what I will devote the remainder of this article to discussing, was how well the aforementioned 60-second clip showcases Anthony's character growth.

I’ve previously praised Bridgerton for its uncanny ability to select tantalizing teaser clips that perfectly capture the dynamic between the main couple of each upcoming season, and this new Kanthony clip, despite not exactly featuring the main couple (in this case, Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton, known as “Polin”), is no exception.

The scene starts with Anthony speaking at a ball with his younger sister, Francesca (recast as Hannah Dodd in 2022), who we know will be debuting into society this season. Francesca, the introvert amongst her large family, asks Anthony if she may have a moment alone. We don’t know the full context of this interaction yet, of course, but it’s apparent she’s in need of a reprieve from the evening’s festivities. Her brother, clearly having matured substantially since his days terrorizing Daphne during her debut season, does not hesitate to grant Francesca her request.

Next, the camera pans to Kate speaking with Violet, her mother-in-law and the dowager Viscountess Bridgerton, before feeling Anthony’s gaze on her and sharing a secret smile with her husband from across the ballroom. Anthony approaches his wife and mother, quickly reassuring Violet that Francesca is alright, she “simply needed a moment.” He then goes on to elaborate: “As do I. And…I should like to use that moment to dance with my beautiful wife.”

Kate and Anthony then head out onto the dance floor arm-in-arm, and we’re treated to a few blissful seconds of the couple enjoying a very sweet dance that couldn’t be more different in tone from their previous tension-filled, angsty, restrained dances from Season 2. Anthony even steals a kiss from Kate at the end of this clip, mid-dance, which both delights and surprises her.

If it wasn’t already clear, I adore this particular sneak peek, and I genuinely did not think we’d ever get something like this for last season’s lead couple in the promotion for the upcoming season. This represents uncharted territory for the show, as Season 3 will be the first time there is an already-established endgame couple present on screen alongside the new main couple. (Perhaps in recognition of this, the Still Watching Netflix YouTube channel posted two heartwarming videos last week that had the Season 2 leads “passing the torch” to Penelope and Colin as the incoming leads of Season 3.)

As many fans know, Bridgerton’s original leading man, Regé-Jean Page’s Simon Basset, departed from the show after the first season. Season 1’s co-lead, Phoebe Dynevor’s Daphne Bridgerton, did remain for a few key appearances in five of the second season’s eight episodes, but now even she is not making a return in this upcoming third season.

Conversely, in a recent video shared by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) on YouTube, Bailey spoke, among other things, about his desire to remain involved with Bridgerton:

“It’s hard not to feel completely sort of emotionally connected to talking about it… You know, I probably wouldn’t be sat here rolling a dice if it wasn’t for Anthony Bridgerton. I look forward to supporting the rest of the family and the stories that go forward, because if there’s one thing I know about, you know, beloved worlds, it’s that you wanna see them through, and people invest their love and their time, and it means so much to so many people. So, yeah, me and Tony will be together for a while.”

To me, these wholesome reflections from Bailey also emphasize the magic of this show by how it’s taken on a pseudo-anthology format. By virtue of Bridgerton being an adaptation of Julia Quinn’s regency romance book series, the way the show is structured, each season tells the story of a different Bridgerton sibling falling in love, while the rest of the family (and the rest of the Ton) exists in the world around them. In some ways, it’s an entirely different show each season, featuring new leads and fresh story arcs.

There’s something reassuring, then, about the character of Anthony serving as the throughline throughout all of this – not just as the eldest sibling and the head of the Bridgerton family, but as the person who’s already experienced two drastically different aspects of this world and come out the other side, married and completely, utterly in love.

I mentioned earlier that Anthony acted, at times, rather antagonistically towards Daphne in Season 1, particularly when it came to her search for a husband, and, later, her ruse with Simon, Anthony’s oldest friend (he very nearly kills Simon in a duel in Episode 4, if you require further evidence of this point!). Even though I’m not in this camp myself, there was certainly a subset of Bridgerton viewers who did not take too favorably to the eldest Bridgerton sibling after the first season.

But the very next season, however, we spend eight hours experiencing Regency London from Anthony’s perspective. The show offers an explanation for much of his undesirable behavior from last season and delves into his deep-seated trauma surrounding the sudden death of his father and his being forced into immediately assuming the duties of Viscount in lieu of any sort of proper grieving process. By simply spending more time with this character and understanding precisely why he so strongly resisted the idea of marrying for love, and instead prioritized his duties in society, Anthony effectively transitions into the leading man we can and are meant to root for. As someone who’d been intrigued with this man from the very outset, this journey was a beautiful thing to witness, indeed.

Along with this much richer character exploration of Anthony, Season 2, of course, also presented viewers with the age-old question in any romance story, regency or otherwise: given everything we know about him, who could possibly be a match for this complicated person?

The answer, of course, is Ashley’s Kate Sharma, who rides in on a magnificent stallion at the 15-minute mark of Episode 1 and promptly turns Anthony’s entire world upside down. Over the course of the eight episodes, we get to learn more about Kate herself, her relationship with her family, especially her half-sister, Edwina, precisely why she has intentionally removed herself from contention when it comes to finding love in Regency London, and, most importantly, why she and Anthony were always destined to find each other.

“It is because I have never met anyone like you,” Anthony tells Kate desperately, in a climactic conversation between the two of them at the end of the seventh episode. “It is maddening, how much you consume my very being.” He goes on to explain how, despite his family currently despising him and being on the brink of ruin, all he finds himself caring about is Kate – being with her, living for her, losing sleep over her. For the man who has been shackled by duty since being 18 years old when his father died, this is quite the departure – and because it’s Kate he’s talking about, it makes perfect sense.

Shortly after this comment from Anthony, Kate attempts to reassert her own priorities, saying how “I came here resolved… to save my family. Everything I have ever done–”, but Anthony interrupts to say “Has been for them.” Kate responds in whispered agreement, “Has been for them.”, and it’s right here in this simple exchange that their fate becomes clear. These two are quite literally made for each other, they are the only two people who could ever possibly understand each other, and the season has dedicated the preceding seven episodes to pointing all of this out to us as viewers.

I mention all of this, about Kate and Anthony finally coming together in their season because it’s necessary context for why the Season 3 promo clip of this couple is so incredibly satisfying for me as a longtime Anthony fan. 

In the span of a single minute, we witness concrete evidence of Anthony’s immense growth, and, critically, how this is a direct result of Kate’s influence in his life. No longer is Anthony forcing one of his sisters into interactions with unpleasant suitors. No longer is he avoiding the dance floor at all costs. No longer is he at constant odds with his mother. No longer is he restraining himself from acting on his own feelings and desires while out in society. No longer is he so severely unhappy.

Thanks to Kate, thanks to their relationship, a deeply traumatized character has finally found peace. He’s finally found joy, and he’s finally found love.

Considering that I've always adored this show because of the idea that the Bridgertons are a family fighting for love in a time when marriages were expected to have anything but that, seeing my favorite character finally get to have it all, after suffering so much and losing so much, is everything I could ever ask for from a TV show.

Happy endings really do exist, don’t they?

And I’m so grateful for that.

Bridgerton Seasons 1 and 2 are currently streaming on Netflix. Bridgerton Season 3 Part 1 will be released on Netflix on May 16th, and Part 2 will be released on June 13th.