There’s no one more loyal than Brimsley. Sam Clemmett shined in Netflix’s Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story as the Queen’s right-hand man. From her arrival to her later years, Brimsley has always been by Queen Charlotte’s side. Through the years, Brimsley had a love story of his own with King George III’s right-hand man Reynolds. In the present Bridgerton timeline, Reynolds is nowhere to be found. HollywoodLife spoke EXCLUSIVELY with Sam about what happened to Reynolds and the state of Brimsley’s relationship with him.
“That’s not been covered yet,” Sam told HollywoodLife during the show’s press junket. “We leave at the end of our story, we have our dance, and then it cuts to Hugh [Sachs], the older Brimsley, dancing on his own. It leaves the doors open as to what’s happened to Reynolds. Where’s Reynolds? We’ve come up with like, maybe he’s lying on a beach somewhere in the Maldives having a good old lay down. But the one thing that we have held on to is that they are absolutely still heavily in love with each other. They are each other’s soulmates, and I hope one day that we get to see him in the present day or get answers as to where he’s gone and what’s happened. We’ll find out hopefully.”
Over the course of the season, Brimsley and Reynolds faced their fair share of challenges as they balanced their love for one another and their individual dedications to Queen Charlotte and King George.
“It definitely creates an atmosphere amongst their relationship because their number one duty and prerogative in life is to serve. It’s duty, duty, duty, and if they have to forego something within their own personal dynamic to make sure they are serving the respective king or queen, then so be it,” Sam said. “But as their relationship goes on, we’re constantly treading this fine line of duty versus desire and where they need to be at certain points.”
He continued, “When everything happens with King George, and we see him fall into his illness, we really see the two worlds kind of start to merge, and Brimsley understanding more of Reynolds and the King’s relationship and being a bit more forgiving about how much Reynolds has been bearing information to protect the king, to protect himself, to protect me, to protect the queen. He’s been holding on to so much for so long, so when it got to these moments of Brimsley’s sort of coaxing him to open up and be more present with him and be like, look, it’s okay to include me and to communicate, we really start to see the conflicts kind of start to merge into one for a healthier depiction of the crown.”
Brimsley’s allegiance to Queen Charlotte is depicted beautifully in episode 5 when the Queen nearly breaks down. Brimsley lovingly holds out his hand from behind her as if he’s her backbone.
“Ultimately, I think that moment is the foundation of their relationship, and everything that you then see in the present Bridgerton with Hugh and Golda [Rosheuvel], that moment solidifies who they are,” the actor said. “They could almost finish each other’s sentences, but they don’t. Everything is said with a look. It represents his dedication to her and also her loyalty to him, even if she can be a bit brutal sometimes. She also has a loyalty and a duty to him. I think the two of them are a total rock with each other.”
Sam pointed out that director and executive producer Tom Verica gave him a “brilliant note” about how to portray Brimsley’s devotion to Queen Charlotte.
“He doesn’t want us to show things too much or have an opinion on things too much. It was like, think of yourself as a Jedi. You are bestowing information on her without having to say too much,” Sam told HollywoodLife. “There’s one point where she gets something and she starts to get what she needs to do and how powerful her ladies in waiting can be, and the immense sense of pride that you then see in Brimsley’s face where it’s like, okay, she’s starting to get it. She starts to join the dots for that moment. The moment where she falters in the corridor, she could run 1000 miles and never come back. He could also run away from the situation because it has been so tricky and so tense up to that point. He feels like they’ve got away with it, and they’ve got past it, and then another whole load of trauma comes. It’s a dedication between the two of them in that moment. That is the foundation of who they are.”
In the later years, Queen Charlotte asks Brimsley if he ever married or had a family. He explains to her that he’s loyal to the crown and to her. That dedication comes before any personal happiness. Sam stressed that Brimsley doesn’t regret his decision.
“I think from the day he made a pact with himself that I don’t know what’s to come within my life, but this has to come first. That doesn’t mean to say that he doesn’t love Reynolds. That is his soulmate. That’s his person,” Sam told HollywoodLife. “But within the context of the job and how he’s grown up within the courts and his parents’ dedication to the crown, that does come first come what may. There’s that beautiful scene between Golda and Hugh where she’s like, ‘Brimsley, have you ever married? Have you ever had any family?’ I find it so moving every time because Hugh as Brimsley catches himself and as much as I think he loves and desired to have that relationship with Reynolds, and that being his number one in his life, he’s made the dedication to the crown and to her and his loyalty and his integrity withstands anything.”
One of the most touching scenes of the series is when Brimsley and Reynolds dance together on their own at the celebration ball, which mirrors the present timeline where Brimsley is dancing alone without Reynolds.
“He’s remembering the time that they had this moment together in solitude while everyone else was having the big ball and he’s distracted… And then again, he turns around and looks off camera and is just remembering, the wonderful times they had and the conversation they have in the bathtub in episode 6 where Reynolds was like, ‘Love can last forever.’ They sort of make a pact that they will be together come what may. Maybe we’ll get the answers one day,” he said.
As for a possible season 2, Sam simply said, “I don’t know. If you hear of it, please let me know because I’d love to do it.” Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story is now streaming on Netflix.