‘Bridgerton’ reveals surprising queer lead ahead of Season 4
There’s a curveball shaking up the ton.
“Bridgerton” just confirmed that not one but two of the main characters are queer, in a surprise twist.
Spoilers ahead for Season 3 Part 2.
In author Julia Quinn’s books on which the hit Netflix show “Bridgerton” is based, all of the characters are straight — but the show made a big change and revealed some queer main characters in Season 3.
Now streaming on Netflix, the second half of “Bridgerton” Season 3 confirmed that Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) likes men as well as women. It also may have confirmed a woman as Francesca Bridgerton’s (Hannah Dodd) love interest.
Set in Regency-era England, the show follows various members of the Bridgerton family as they find love. Season 3 has followed Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) and Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) — but in the background, Benedict has had his own sexual awakening and Francesca has had her own love story, too.
In Season 3, Benedict had a fling with a worldly widow, Lady Tilley Arnold (Hannah New, “Black Sails”). One night, Lady Tilley invites her other friend, Paul Suarez (Lucas Aurelio), to dinner, and Paul flirts with Benedict. However, when Tilley and Paul invite Benedict to have a threesome with them, Benedict gets flustered and leaves abruptly.
After Tilley later assures Benedict that her staff are “discreet” and that “There is so much in society that is unnatural, but a feeling between two people, whatever their sex, is the most natural thing in the world,” Benedict changes his mind.
He returns to Lady Tilley’s house, tells her he reconsidered her offer, and then kisses both Tilley and Paul. The three later have a bedroom romp. In their postcoital talk, when Benedict lies between them, he says, “I suppose I feel I have enough to give in abundance … love for a good party. Especially a party of three.”
However, he later breaks things off when Tilley pushes for a more serious relationship. Benedict tells her, “What happened between the three of us … has made me realize how good it feels to be free. You’ve opened my world, and I’m not ready to close it again just now.”
“It’s always been part of the writing that Benedict feels slightly curious about his desires, rather than certain in what he wants and is looking for,” Thompson, 35, told Bustle.
“Male sexuality, particularly, can feel boxy in the way that it’s explored. Let’s be clear, it was an extremely repressive period. By our modern terms, the closest [descriptor] would be something along the lines of pansexuality — being attracted to the way that someone thinks and feels, regardless of gender. That’s a word that could be used,” he continued. “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 further told Shondaland that the scene where Benedict kisses Tilley and Paul was “fun to play.”
“You live for those scenes because you have scenes ticking along and building and building, and then there’s this one scene, a real moment where you make this turn together. And it’s just super-exciting to play.”
He added, “Sex scenes are a big linchpin of the show, and it’s sort of the same as the dance scenes … it’s just another way of telling a story without words.”
Benedict hasn’t been officially confirmed as the Season 4 lead, so it’s still possible that it will be Eloise, or Francesca.
The show may also have a surprise in the form of Francesca’s sexuality, since in the book, she ultimately gets her “happily ever after” with Michael Stirling, her first husband John’s (Victor Alli) cousin.
In the show, Michael has become Michaela (Masali Baduza). Francesca is visibly flustered when she meets Michaela at the end of Season 3.
So, if the show follows the books, Francesca will end up with a woman, Michaela, making the show throw in not one but two queer curveball changes from the books.
Season 4 is up in the air as far as whose love story will take center stage, but it will be an LGBTQ story whether it’s Benedict or Francesca. There’s a major indication Benedict will take the lead: At the end of Season 3, after Benedict breaks off his fling with Tilley and Paul, his mom is having a masquerade ball.
He tells Eloise he’ll be “avoiding eligible ladies like the plague.” In the book, he meets his love interest, Sophie, at this dance.
“We just love to keep you guessing,” Thompson told Bustle about whether Benedict is up next.
“There’s a constant dialogue between the books and the show, and that’s what makes it fun to watch. You don’t quite know what’s going to happen.”
