Julie Andrews to Star in Shonda Rhimes Netflix Drama

East Ender Julie Andrews will voice Lady Whistledown in an as-yet-untitled show based on the Bridgerton novel series by author Julia Quinn for Netflix. Mega-producer Shonda Rhimes is developing the period drama for the streaming platform under her Shondaland label. Lady Whistledown is a major but unseen character in the Bridgerton series, which will debut on Netflix in 2020.

Deadline reports that the show is set in the “sexy, lavish and competitive world of Regency London high society. From the glittering ballrooms of Mayfair to the aristocratic palaces of Park Lane and beyond, the series unveils a seductive, sumptuous world replete with intricate rules and dramatic power struggles, where no one is truly ever on steady ground.” Lady Whistledown is an anonymous gossip writer who seems to know everything and spills the proverbial tea at all the right (or wrong) times.

Quinn has published eight Bridgerton novels, which are set between 1813 and 1827. Each stars one of the eight children of the late Viscount Bridgerton. Andrews’ character has also starred in two related novellas, The Observations of Lady Whistledown and Lady Whistledown Strikes Back.

Andrews has worked with Netflix before, on Julie’s Greenroom, a children’s show she created with her daughter, fellow East Ender Emma Walton Hamilton. Rhimes signed a multi-year deal with Netflix in 2017 after ending a 15-year relationship with ABC, where she produced hits like Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder and more.