‘Bridgerton’ Showrunner Reveals If Benedict Will Meet Love Sophie After Gender Flip
With gender swapping introduced on Bridgerton, what does this mean for Benedict’s book love interest, Sophie?
After Bridgerton’s third season ended on Thursday, June 13, showrunner Jess Brownell was asked whether fans could still expect Benedict (Luke Thompson) to meet Sophie or whether Benedict’s love interest could also be gender-swapped after he was confirmed to be part of the LGBTQIA+ community.
“Introducing Sophie is definitely still in the plans, but we’re going to continue to explore his fluidity,” Brownell told TheWrap on Thursday. “This is not the end of that storyline.”
Season 3 of the Netflix hit finds Benedict learning more about his sexuality after having a threesome with both a woman and a man. “As any flexible person knows, being flexible is part of your identity, regardless of whether you end up with a man, a woman, or a nonbinary person,” Brownell continues.
Which ‘Bridgerton’ couple ended up together in the books?
However, the finale also dropped a major hint about Benedict’s future when his sister Eloise (Claudia Jessie) mentioned their mother’s masquerade ball. Fans of Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton series — which inspired the hit Netflix series — know that in An Offer From a Gentleman, Benedict fell in love with a mysterious woman known as Sophie after meeting her at the ball.
“At the end of Season 3, Eloise tells Benedict that she’s coming home in a few months to attend Violet’s masquerade ball, so there’s a masquerade ball coming up,” Brownell notes. “I’ll leave it at that.”
Viewers were initially expecting to see Sophie in season 3, as Benedict’s story inspired the third novel in Quinn’s series. However, the show didn’t exactly follow the novels in terms of details — or the order of the seasons. Season 3 was the first time Bridgerton pivoted by focusing on Colin (Luke Newton) and Penelope (Nicola Coughlan) instead of as seen in Quinn’s fourth book Romancing Mister Bridgerton.
Everything the ‘Bridgerton’ Cast and Crew Say About the Show Not Following the Books’ Order
“I’m really not trying to change things too much. I really believe in the vision of the show,” Brownell told Refinery29 in April. “I really want to serve the stories and the books in the best way I can. For Penelope and Colin, it made sense to lean into the romantic comedy tropes. So there’s a little more humor this season, and there’s awkward banter. So it’s something that feels a little more elevated in terms of being different than last season.”
For her part, Thompson, 35, doesn’t seem to mind the fact that Benedict’s story has been delayed.
“It would be great to be able to explore the whole character, that would be really fun, but the way the show is—it’s a big show for a lot of people,” he told Country and Town House in May. “As long as I’m given interesting things to do, I don’t really mind.”
Another plot twist came in the season 3 finale when Francesca (Hannah Dodd) met her future love interest. In the book When He Was Wicked, which focuses on Francesca’s journey, Francesca fell in love with her now-husband’s cousin, John (Victor Alli). The series replaced Michael with Michaela (Masali Baduza), something that not all book fans were happy to see.
Everything You Need to Know About ‘Bridgerton’ Season 4: Potential Changes, Leading Theories, and More
“The truth is, the fandom is not a monolith, and you’re never going to please every aspect of the fandom,” Brownell explained to Teen Vogue on Thursday. “For example, when I decided to tell a queer story with Francesca, I talked to Julia Quinn, I got her approval.”
She added, “We talked about the fact that with almost every book, there’s going to be a segment of the fandom that’s going to be upset to see their favorite characters changed. I don’t think there’s any book that won’t, so for me, again, it comes back to story and character.”
