*Warning: Spoilers ahead for season three of Bridgerton and Cressida Cowper.*
If you’d told us at the start of season three of Bridgerton that by the end of it we’d be rooting for Cressida Cowper to have her own happily ever after, we would never have believed you. Yet, here we are.
The former background character (nemesis) of Eloise and Pen startled us all at the beginning of this season when it was revealed that she and Eloise were now BFFs.
And what does this mean for Francesca and John in season 4?
As her role took a more prominent place in the show, we learned of her pressures at home and even started to feel empathy for the character played by Jessica Madsen.
We felt bad for her when she missed out on romance with Lord Debling, felt downright horrid for her when her parents tried to set her up with a man thrice her age, and (again, spoilers ahead) felt secondhand embarrassment when she pretended she was Lady Whistledown.
So, what actually happens to Cressida in the show, and how does it differ from the books?
Who is Bridgerton’s Cressida Cowper?
Cressida Cowper made her debut in society at the same time as Daphne Bridgerton in the first season of the series. She was seen as a love rival in some ways—particularly for the affections of Prince Friedrich of Prussia, but this romance did not pan out.
In the second season, Cressida was again seen as a villain, after scoffing at Eloise Bridgerton potentially being named the diamond of the season and saying that Eloise needed to stop being friends with “wallflowers”—insulting Eloise’s friend Penelope Featherington.
Which is why it was shocking to see Eloise and Cressida as close friends in the third season of the show, after both Eloise and Penelope had voiced their distaste for her in the past.
As for Cressida’s family life, it appears that she is an only child and is often seen with her mother. By season three, it is clear that Cressida’s mother is desperate for her daughter to marry, and Cressida’s parents even threaten her with an arranged marriage if she does not find a husband soon; her father threatens to cut her and her mother’s allowance if she does not meet a match.
Executive producer Jess Brownell gave us some big clues about which book will be the focus of next season.
What happens to Cressida Cowper in Bridgerton?
Despite her villainous turn in the series, at the end of the day all Cressida (and her parents) want is for her to find a husband.
The first two seasons of Bridgerton show Cressida as an outsider to the main cast, mainly portrayed as a love rival and another one of the women of the ton who are keen to marry—she is even seen fawning over Anthony Bridgerton when his mother, Lady Violet, announces in season two that he is looking for a match.
Cut to season three and the Bridgerton writers have brought Cressida’s character into the forefront, fleshing her out and humanizing her a bit more. We now understand why she is so desperate to find a husband, as otherwise she’ll be paired off with a much older man.
When her parents start arranging a marriage with a friend of Cressida’s father, this is the same time that the queen is on the hunt for Lady Whistledown. Upon hearing that once Whistledown is unmasked she could never hope to marry, Cressida decides to lie and announces that she herself is Whistledown.
The queen, however, does not believe her and Cressida’s personal life begins to implode as Eloise cuts ties with her, and her father pulls her dowry.
Cressida and her mother write a full issue of the Whistledown newsletter, but unfortunately for Cressida, the real Whistledown (Penelope Featherington/Bridgerton) releases one discrediting Cressida.
Cressida’s parents then tell her that she is going to stay with her aunt in Wales, but not before Cressida does some snooping of her own and discovers that the real Lady Whistledown is a redhead.
While some fans hoped that there might be a queer love story burgeoning between Eloise and Cressida, Cressida’s banishment to the Welsh countryside makes for an uncertain fate about her future on the show.
What happens to Cressida in the Bridgerton books?
Cressida’s character has a vastly different fate in the Bridgerton books, which are a little out of sync from the series.
Colin and Penelope’s story is actually the fourth Bridgerton book (Benedict’s story is the third), but the TV runners have switched it around to make season three Polin-centric—meanwhile, we’re over here crossing our fingers for a Benedict-focused fourth season.
Anyway, by the fourth book Cressida had actually already married a man called Lord Twombley, but had recently become widowed and was depicted as struggling. So, there’s no happy ending for Cressida in the books either, boo!
This article first appeared on Glamour UK.