Warning: This story contains spoilers for Season Three of “Bridgerton” as well as Julia Quinn’s “Bridgerton” books.
The Regency romantic hit “Bridgerton” delivered on one of fans' biggest hopes with the finale of Season Three — queer representation.
“Bridgerton” has seen secondary characters in the LGBTQ+ community, but until Season Three, the Bridgerton siblings all seemed to be pursuing heterosexual relationships, in line with the series written by Julia Quinn that started in 2000.
“Queen Charlotte,” the 2023 prequel series that follows Queen Charlotte’s love story with King George III, spotlighted butler Brimsley —as well as his relationship with George’s valet, Reynolds. Their love story increased fans hopes for a major queer storyline in “Bridgerton.”
Season Three's showrunner Jess Brownell said conversations about introducing queer storylines into the world of "Bridgerton" have been taking place since Season One.
The first season of "Bridgerton" introduced the character of Henry Granville, who welcomes second son Benedict Bridgerton into the art world.
Benedict's sexuality is "something we had been talking about in the writer’s room honestly from Season One, which is why I think people picked up on it," Brownell told Teen Vogue.
But in the world of "Bridgerton," Benedict's apparent flirtation with Henry seemingly led nowhere, and he continued a string of casual romances with exclusively women —until now.
Part Two of “Bridgerton” Season Three, which hit Netflix June 13, has brought queer love closer to screens, seemingly confirming that not one, but two Bridgerton siblings will have queer romances down the line.
Are any of the Bridgerton siblings LGBTQ+?
The final two episodes of Season Three of “Bridgerton” introduced apparent queer romances for two characters —Benedict (Luke Thompson), who fans have long suspected to be part of the LGBTQ+ community, as well as Francesca (Hannah Dodd).
Benedict
Benedict strikes up a romance with Tilley Arnold (Hannah New) over the course of Season Three. Eventually, he sees her kissing her friend, Paul, and the two invite Benedict to have a threesome. After initially rejecting them, he returns and has his first on-screen kiss with a man.
They sleep together multiple times, and he reveals that he especially enjoys a “party of three.” When Tilley asks for a monogamous, settled relationship, Benedict turns her down, saying she “opened his world” and he doesn’t want it closed again.
Luke Thompson told Bustle that he believes the best way to describe his character's sexuality is pansexual, or "being attracted to the way that someone thinks and feels, regardless of gender."
"That’s a word that could be used. But what’s refreshing about it, certainly in the way that it’s being discovered at the moment, is that there is a sense of label-lessness about it," Thompson said.
In the books, Benedict ends up with a woman named Sophie, the illegitimate daughter of an earl raised like a maid by her stepmother. In true “Cinderella” style, they meet a masquerade ball, and she leaves before he learns her name. In the end, to overcome their notable class difference, they move to the countryside, away from society.
While Sophie (or a character with a Sophie-esque backstory) is not introduced in Season Three, the show hints at the beginning of Benedict’s book, with the character declaring that next season he will be at his mother’s masquerade ball, “hiding out behind a mask, avoiding eligible ladies like the plague.”
As Benedict has had on-screen relationships with men and women, it’s unclear if his love interest will be Sophie or perhaps a gender-swapped equivalent, which the TV adaptation has confirmed it's open to.
Francesca
Enter: Francesca Bridgerton.
Francesca, originally played by Ruby Stokes in Seasons One and Two, largely took a backseat at the start. But in Season Three, with Hannah Dodd taking over the role, the character steps into the spotlight as she makes her societal debut.
Francesca’s storyline remains true to the plot laid out by Quinn in the sixth "Bridgerton" book, “When He Was Wicked.” She meets John Stirling (played by Victor Alli in the show), a quiet, shy man who shares her love of music, and they decide to marry and move to Scotland in a gentle, companionable match.
In the books, Francesca is notably the only Bridgerton sibling to have two marriages. Her story starts with her husband John dying of a brain aneurysm just two years after they married. The true romance at the heart of “When He Was Wicked” is between Francesca and John’s cousin, Michael Stirling, who fell in love with Francesca at first sight and buried his feelings for the sake of his close relationship with John.
The character of Michael is where the book and TV adaptation seemingly diverge.
Francesca and John marry in Episode Eight in a simple ceremony at the Bridgerton family home. But when they share their first kiss, a chaste peck, she looks briefly disappointed, almost confused, before plastering back on a smile for her family.
At the end of the episode, the reason why is hinted at with the introduction of John’s cousin: Michaela Stirling.
When they meet, Francesca seems taken aback and is left quite literally speechless when Michaela asks for her name.
“Uh — I am — Well, I’m… Francesca. Bridgerton. Kilmartin. Kilmartin is my name now,” she stumbles out.
Brownell told Teen Vogue that she got author Quinn's "blessing" to tell a "queer story with Francesca."
She also revealed that she had been "pitching" turning Michael into Michaela for the show since Season One.
"I didn’t want to just insert a queer character for queer character’s sake. I want to tell a story that accurately reflects a queer experience, and the first time I read Francesca’s book, I really identified with it as a queer woman," Brownell said.
In Francesca's book, "When He Was Wicked," the character grapples with feeling "different" but "not really knowing why," she said.
"In the book, I think it has a lot to do with her just being an introvert, but as a queer woman, a lot of my queer experience, and I think a lot of my friends’ (experiences have) been about that sense of feeling different, and navigating what that means," Brownell said.
Will a queer relationship take the lead in Season 4?
The cast and crew of “Bridgerton” have remained mum on which Bridgerton sibling will lead Season Four.
Brownell previously told TODAY.com that the ending of Season Three leaves “clues” for fans to pore over.
“I think that there are some clues,” she said. “I don’t know that it’s completely obvious where we’re going. But there are definitely some clues for fans to pick over and theorize about.”
Brownell has also said that future seasons will “foreground queer love,” though she didn’t specify when.
“This is a show about love in its many forms and I think that it’s only right for us to foreground queer love and to tell queer stories,” Brownell told Pride. “I want to see more queer joy on my screens and that was definitely a priority for me when I stepped into the showrunner role.”
“How exactly that plays out over this season and the next couple seasons, I can’t say specifically,” she added, “but I will say I’m excited for fans to see that.”
