Note: The following contains spoilers for Bridgerton season 3, as well as the Bridgerton novel When He Was Wicked.
While Bridgerton fans have long speculated that there could be a twist in the works of Eloise or Benedict, the Season 3 finale took a turn by introducing a possible female love interest in Francesca.
In the final episode, Francesca and her husband John Stirling (Victor Alley) are preparing to move to Scotland when John introduces his cousin Michaela Stirling (The Parable of Baduza) to Francesca, who quickly clams up when Michaela asks her name. .
Michaela is a sex-swapped version of Michael Stirling, Francesca’s love interest in Julia Quinn’s novel When She Was Wicked, which focuses on Francesca and Michael’s love story following John’s early death.
Season 3 of the Netflix romance series followed the Queen novels by introducing John as Francesca’s first husband, although Michael’s introduction comes a little early in the book, when Michelle falls in love with Francesca just days before the wedding. The John. In the book, just four years after John’s death, Francesca and Michael meet again and fall in love.
Showrunner Jess Brownell told TheWrap that it felt “natural” to adapt Francesca’s story into a paranormal romance, and hopes the story will not only give paranormal fans a character to identify with, but also “tell a story about a paranormal experience.”
“As a queer woman, I really got to know her book. “Her book talks a lot about how she feels different and she doesn’t know why,” Brownell said. “I think Julia Quinn intended it to be more about the fact that she’s more introverted than the rest of her family, but I think for a lot of queer people, feeling different and strange is something we’ve always carried with us. We are young.”
Although Francesca has always been a part of the Netflix series, her reintroduction through new actress Hannah Dodd, who replaced Ruby Stokes, gave “Bridgerton” a clean slate to create the character. Brownell said the team “thought from the beginning that the story was going to be about her as an unconventional character,” referring to a scene from Season 3, Episode 1, when Francesca dreams of having a husband from her past. young man
Looking ahead, it’s unclear if Francesca and Michaela will be the focus of season 4 or if their romance will develop in the future. With the introduction of Michaela in season 3, it seems that Francesca’s book, which is the sixth after Quinn, can be taken as Colin’s book for season 3.
If the Netflix series follows the books’ schedule, there would have to be a significant time jump, especially with John alive and where we are now. But according to Brownell, Francesca’s story doesn’t need much adaptation.
“Fans of the book know where we are going with this story,” he said. “We plan to be very close to Francesca’s book, except for the gender swap, there are certain elements of the book that need to be changed. But actually, we realized that we can adapt the book exactly so that people can wait, which is done in a similar way.”
“Bridgerton” seasons 1-3 are now streaming on Netflix.
