This post was prompted by a tweet that came to my attention that claimed season 3 had no Emmy award promotion, but season 2 did, but how did this misinformation come about? The account holder used the fact that there was an FYSEE panel in 2022 and not one in 2025 as the ‘proof’ that season 3 was not promoted for consideration for an Emmy (despite season 3 being included in the 2025 FYSEE event by Netflix). The idea that the FYSEE panel in 2022 was Emmy promotion for season 2 was discounted by the season 3 lead, whether intentionally or unintentionally, when she described it as a 'handover the baton' event at the end of season 2 promotion in a comment on TikTok. This description of the event gained traction within a subset of the fandom and became the narrative they spread at the end of 2024, a narrative they now appear to discount as they make the claims that the event was in fact promotion for season 2 whilst saying that season 3 did not have the same promotion for the Emmy Awards season.
Image Credit: Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Netflix
Before examining the changing narrative within the fandom, I will revisit the event in question. Held in May 2022 the Netflix FYSEE event - For Your Consideration - for Emmy voters included a panel discussion for Bridgerton. On the panel were Simone Ashley, the season 2 female lead, Charithra Chandran and Nicola Coughlan, as well as Chris van Dusen, the creator of Bridgerton and season 2 showrunner, Kris Bowers, the composer, and Sophie Canale, the costume designer for season 2. Whilst there were discussions around season 2 with Kris Bowers, Sophie Canale and Chris van Dusen on the production of the season, and discussions with the actresses present, though the focus did not appear to be on the season 2 lead. Many of the questions directed to Simone Ashley were not focused on her as the lead, but her and Charithra Chandran as 'South Asian' representation, which contrasted with the way the host directed questions to Nicola to respond to solo, and how she defaulted to Nicola a number of times during the question and answer panel. The way the panel was conducted sent the message that Netflix's focus was not on promoting season 2 itself, but using it as a way to put the focus on Nicola Coughlan (something that in itself is problematic, but won't be addressed in this post), who used the event to announce herself as the season 3 lead. This announcement at an event that Netflix erroneously presented as being for season 2 led to many of the published articles in the week following being about season 3, not season 2 which Netflix were meant to be promoting for Emmy nomination. In contrast the FYC event for season 3, whilst not including a panel discussion, was focused fully on season 3 for Emmy consideration with many published articles in the months around the FYSEE event focused fully on season 3, and its lead. This disparity has led many to believe that instead of trying to promote season 2 for Emmy nominations Netflix were more interested in promoting season 3, and setting up a 3 year promotion cycle for Emmy consideration. It is the way that Netflix allowed the season 3 lead to take over season 2 promotion that has upset and angered many fans, despite, others in the fandom downplaying the impact of Nicola announcing season 3, and claiming it was about transitioning from season 2 to season 3, something that was reinforced in the latter part of 2024.
In 2024 a TikTok content creator made a video discussing the season 3 announcement at the FYSEE event in 2022, providing an opinion that it was disrespectful to the season 2 leads generally, and Simone Ashley specifically as she was present at the event. Nicola Coughlan commented on the video with: "Hello! So the event which we announced season 3 was the final one for season 2 and it was a handover the baton moment as it was so lovely that Simone and I could be together for it". The comment from Nicola confirms that Netflix did not consider the FYSEE event in 2022 as the beginning of Emmy promotion for season 2 (as they did for season 3 in 2025), but rather as the beginning of promotion for season 3, and confirming the view of many fans that Netflix were not interested in promoting season 2 at the event. This comment was picked up by others within the fandom, and became the narrative that they then promulgated, using the comment as an excuse to instigate a bullying campaign against the content creators that spread across platforms from TikTok, to X, to Reddit where the link to the TikTok was widely shared in an effort to instigate more bullying and harassment. This subsection of the fandom also used Nicola's words to shut down discussions from those that would criticise the actions of Netflix, and the failure of Netflix to properly promote season 2. However, this narrative that the FYSEE event in 2022 was a handover of the baton from season 2 to season 3 did not last long, when Netflix failed to hold a panel discussion at the 2025 FYSEE event for season 3.
During the voting period for the Emmy awards this year a new narrative has emerged among this same subsection of the fandom that claims season 3 received no Emmy Awards promotion while season 2 had an FYSEE event - the same event that only months prior they were saying was a handover of the baton from season 2 to season 3 as per Nicola's comment. This new narrative from a section of the fandom is not confined to one platform, with users on both X and Reddit spreading it, many users being the same ones that were just months earlier saying that it was a handover the baton event.
Subsections in the fandom changing their narrative to fit the argument du jour is not new, the idea that season 3 had no promotion for the awards season while season 2 had a lot of promotion but wasn't good enough for nominations is just the latest narrative of the day. But what is the narrative they believe? Is it the narrative the fans were pushing towards the end of 2024, or is it the narrative they have been promulgating recently? Most likely it is somewhere in the middle with a healthy dose of alternating narratives depending on what agenda they are wanting to promote, or who they are arguing with in the fandom, or what the majority view is on the day.
IF the 2022 event was, (as is being claimed now), a season 2 Emmy promotion event why were all the articles directly after this about season 3 and Nicola? Why were the season 3 leads announced at this event? Why was the focus not kept on season 2 and the season 2 lead who was present? But IF this event was, (as Nicola said), an event to 'handover the baton' then why are a subset of the fandom trying to claim it was about season 2 promotion? Is it because their expectations on the Emmy nominations was higher for S3 so they now need an excuse to explain why the nominations they were wanting - and expecting - didn't happen? Or are they trying to dilute the terrible optics for Shondaland and Netflix, and for Nicola after she inserted herself in the discussion, around there being very little Emmy promotion for S2?
