Bridgerton’s spin-off ‘Queen Charlotte’ has been gaining huge traction among queer fans for finally getting its queer representation right through Reynolds (played by Freddie Dennis) and Brimsley (played by Sam Clemmett). However, the same fans have been asking, with a rather open-ended storyline for its gay power couple when Reynolds’ character suddenly disappears, did ‘Queen Charlotte’ fall into the “bury your gay” trope?
(For those who are not sure what “bury your gay”, TV Trope defines it as “the presentation of deaths of LGBT characters where these characters are nominally able to be viewed as more expendable than their heterosexual counterparts.”)
We can never be sure, to be quite honest, but the actors have something to say about the elephant in the room.
In an interview with RadioTimes, Clemmett said that they have been asking the same question. “Ever since we got the final episode though, we’ve been like, ‘Where is he? What’s happened? Is he okay?’”
Regardless of Reynold’s fate, however, Clemmett is convinced that the two are “absolutely still in love with each other.” He described the two characters as “each other’s soul mates” and that “they mean the world to one another.”
He also described the connection between Reynolds and Brimsley and why the bond they formed is actually powerful. “It’s their duty to the king and the queen and I became fascinated when I came on board with this idea of what it means to serve someone else for your entire lifetime. I couldn’t comprehend doing something like that,” he said. “You have no agency of your own, they live underground. They are two isolated young men who seek solace in one another and have this almost emotional support system for each other.”
