Shonda Rhimes shocker: Queen Charlotte is the character she enjoys writing most

The Shondaland dynasty has created an iconic array of characters, particularly of the female variety. Meredith Grey, Addison Montgomery, Olivia Pope, Annalise Keating—the list goes on. But for Shonda Rhimes, none of those legendary fictional ladies holds a candle to the young Queen Charlotte from Netflix’s Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, premiering May 4.

“It’s more than a romance story. It’s a story about a woman coming into her own, it’s a story about friendships, about power, about politics,” Rhimes gushes about the Bridgerton spin-off in a new interview with The Guardian. She goes on to admit: “I enjoyed writing her more than I’ve enjoyed writing any other character.”

Fans of the many great Shondaland series may be thrown by this bold declaration. In fairness, Rhimes herself isn’t the writer on all her projects; while she serves as executive producer, she wasn’t the voice behind Annalise Keating (How To Get Away With Murder was created by showrunner Peter Nowalk) or the original Bridgerton gang (Chris Van Dusen was the showrunner on the first two seasons, succeeded by Jess Brownell on the upcoming third).

But Rhimes was so passionate about Queen Charlotte that she stepped into the showrunner role for this project. “I think there’s a lot about her that feels like women today and what happens when they become successful,” she muses to The Guardian about the story’s appeal. “It was exciting to me to go backwards and figure out how she got to be this amazing, powerful woman. What were her hopes and dreams? How did she make this journey into power?”

No doubt this alternate history version of British royalty holds appeal. More so than current, actual British royalty, anyway: “I’m not necessarily interested in whatever is going on [with the royal family] now,” Rhimes says, adding that Meghan Markle did not inspire her while writing Queen Charlotte.

Still, it’s a bit of a surprise to hear that this character, one that Rhimes didn’t even create, is the one she’s most enjoyed writing. Charlotte over everyone from Grey’s Anatomy? Over the entirety of Olivia Pope & Associates? That’s pretty high praise for the young upstart queen. All the more reason to tune in and see how she stacks up compared to Rhimes’ prestigious portfolio.