With That Action-Packed Finale, Bridgerton Enters a Bold New Era, Says Showrunner Jess Brownell
Vanity Fair: Bridgerton has one of the most vocal fanbases on TV. What has surprised you most about the reaction to season four so far?Jess Brownell: Seeing the response to Benedict’s faux pas, asking Sophie to be his mistress. This was a giant mistake really based on his greatest character flaw, which is his lack of conviction or bravery when it comes to committing to something that requires Benedict stepping out of society. It really makes sense from a story perspective, but I forget that everyone doesn’t know the books. But just because it was really common for people in the 1800s to take mistresses of another class doesn’t make it morally acceptable, and we’re absolutely asking Benedict to pay for his crimes in the back half.A big trope of romance novels is the male hero saves the young woman. But when you have an actress as dynamic as Yerin Ha, it felt really important to see Sophie having a bit more of a hand in her own fate. So, we tried to preserve the element of Benedict being a dashing romantic hero by coming into the courtroom scene, but we wanted to give it some time to breathe. And I love the bravery when Sophie goes to Penwood House to confront the truth about her father’s will.After their first love scene, Benedict tells Sophie that he has unapologetically cared for both men and women in the bedroom. Was there a temptation to delve into Benedict’s bisexuality more this season?I wish we had longer to explore Benedict’s fluidity, but we knew people were really eager to get to his season, and that’s totally valid. We did talk about, is he hooking up with other people after he can’t find the Lady in Silver? But ultimately, his obsession with the Lady in Silver was meant to feel so all-consuming that we didn’t want to see him hooking up with anyone—man, woman, non-binary, it didn’t matter. We also didn’t really want to see him hooking up with someone once he met Sophie, as her true self. So, the answer is yes, in a perfect world, we would’ve had longer to play with that before Sophie, but given the circumstances, we felt like this was the line we wanted to tell.Luke Newton as Colin Bridgerton and Nicola Coughlan as Penelope Bridgerton in season four of Bridgerton.LIAM DANIEL/NETFLIXPenelope retires the Lady Whistledown persona and a mysterious new person takes over the gossip column. What can we expect from the new Lady Whistledown?
