Bridgerton’s Sexy Scenes Are Inspired by Shonda Rhimes’ ‘Wish Fulfillment’

Shonda Rhimes talks about the inspiration of The Bridgerton Chroniclesthe hot scenes!

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

“Season 3 is good,” she shared. “I love the couple we’re dealing with, you know, Colin and Penelope are people we already know. We’re not bringing anyone new. We’ve watched them all these seasons. And now we can actually see them come together. Plus, Lady Whistledown finally gets her comeuppance and I love it.

“It’s definitely a season where, you know, people are wallowing, shy people like to come out of their shells and it’s exciting,” she continued.

When asked about the inspiration for the show’s steamy scenes, Rhymes shared that they were “kind of a wish fulfillment.”

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

Luke Newton, who plays Colin Bridgerton, previously told PEOPLE that he knew fans were waiting for his character’s buddy romance with Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan), which is detailed in the fourth episode. The Bridgerton Chronicles book, Romancing Mister Bridgerton.

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

“You kind of play that in the previous seasons and in the previous scenes, but you can’t really prepare yourself to take your clothes off in front of your friends,” he added jokingly.

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 were like, between scenes, and they were like, ‘Do you want to get up and put your clothes on?’ We’re like, ‘We’re just going to relax here.’ Like under the covers,” she recalled during an interview on SiriusXM Hits 1 in April. “But we have the benefit of knowing each other for years.”

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