Take it From Here Media

Netflix has spent years building some of television’s biggest streaming franchises. Now, as several of those flagship shows reach the later stages of their runs, the streamer appears increasingly interested in finding ways for their worlds to continue.

The latest is Outer Banks.

Now that the original series has concluded after five seasons, creators Josh Pate, Jonas Pate and Shannon Burke are developing a prequel tentatively titled Kildare. The project is set 20 years before Outer Banks and will turn its attention to one of the conflicts that has defined the series from the beginning: the divide between the Pogues and Kooks.

Rather than simply recreating the treasure hunts of the original series with a younger cast, Kildare is being developed around the generation that came before the Pogues. The story will explore how Kildare Island became divided between its working-class locals and wealthy residents, with characters from the parents’ generation alongside new faces.

Deadline reports that the project recently entered formal development at Netflix. Josh Pate also told the outlet that the creators are currently working on the script with the streamer. That distinction matters. Kildare has not received a series order yet, but development gives Netflix another potential way to keep the Outer Banks world alive after the flagship series ends.

And Outer Banks is far from the only Netflix hit getting the franchise treatment.

Netflix Is Looking Beyond the Flagship Series

Bridgerton expanded with Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, while Money Heist gave Berlin his own series and The Witcher traveled more than a thousand years into its past with Blood Origin.

Other Netflix franchises have potential expansions in various stages of development. A Wednesday spinoff centered on Uncle Fester has been in development, although it has not received a series order. The Stranger Things universe has already expanded through the animated Tales From ’85, and a separate live-action spinoff is also in early development with new characters.

Not every idea ultimately becomes a series, but together they point toward a broader strategy. A successful Netflix show no longer necessarily has to end when its original characters do. If the world is large enough, another character, generation or corner of that universe can become the foundation for something new.

Which makes Bridgerton especially interesting.

Shonda Rhimes Has Already Mentioned Violet

Queen Charlotte proved that Bridgerton can successfully move outside the structure of Julia Quinn’s original eight novels. And Shonda Rhimes has made it clear that she sees more possibilities within that world.

During a 2026 appearance on Craig Melvin’s Glass Half Full podcast, Rhimes was asked whether audiences might see more projects emerge from the Bridgerton universe following Queen Charlotte. Her answer was “definitely.”

Rhimes then singled out Violet Bridgerton, saying she has long thought the Bridgerton matriarch would be a great person to tell a story about and calling the idea a possibility.

It is not the first time Violet has come up. While discussing Queen Charlotte in 2023, Rhimes said working on the limited series had made her more interested in Violet’s story. Queen Charlotte itself began laying some of that groundwork by introducing a younger Violet Ledger and giving viewers a glimpse of her family life before she became Lady Bridgerton.

A Violet series has not been announced by Netflix, but the idea is no longer based solely on fan speculation. The person overseeing the Bridgerton universe has repeatedly identified Violet as a character whose past is worth exploring.

Violet’s Story Already Has a Foundation

There is also existing material to draw from.

Julia Quinn gave Violet her own short story, Violet in Bloom, which is included in The Bridgertons: Happily Ever After. Told through different stages of Violet’s life, the story offers glimpses of the character beyond her role as the mother guiding eight children toward their own love stories, including part of her courtship with Edmund Bridgerton.

Quinn has explained that she never wanted to write a full-length Violet and Edmund romance because readers already know Edmund dies young. The shorter, episodic format allowed her to explore pieces of their relationship without turning their bittersweet history into a traditional romance novel.

For television, however, that history could provide exactly the kind of foundation Queen Charlotte used so effectively: a familiar character, an established love story and enough unexplored territory for the adaptation to create something larger around it.

Nothing has been announced, and development is never a guarantee. But between Netflix’s continued investment in franchise extensions, Rhimes confirming there is more to come from the Bridgerton world and her repeated interest in Violet, another trip into the Bridgerton family’s past makes more sense than ever.