Bridgerton has, across its two seasons, done a wonderful job of not only bringing author Julia Quinn’s stories to life, but bringing fans of Regency romance many things they didn’t even know they needed. This has led to massive viewing numbers as the series has reached people who weren’t even fans of the books, because of things like Bridgerton’s swoon-worthy romantic dialogue, the South Asian representation with the Sharmas and general diversity, and (of course) all of those sexy Bridgerton sex scenes. Now that we know that Colin and Penelope will be the focus of Bridgerton Season 3, though, the showrunner has revealed why they made that choice, and what they’re going to do about Benedict.
Why Is Bridgerton Focusing On Penelope And Colin’s Romance In Season 3?
Bridgerton has already switched up a number of elements when it came to adapting Julia Quinn’s books for the small screen. A number of those changes were to give Regency fans some much needed updates to the stories they’ve been seeing, and those behind the romantic hit are now taking a big departure from the source material by skipping over Benedict’s love story in the third book and jumping ahead to Colin and Penelope’s romance in book four, Romancing Mister Bridgerton. As for why the switch needed to happen, Bridgerton Season 3 showrunner, Jess Brownell, told Variety:
I really feel like it’s Colin and Penelope’s time. Because we’ve been watching both of these actors on our screens since Season 1, we’ve already invested in them a little bit. We know who they are as people. I feel like, especially in the last season, there are these moments of tension between them where it’s like, Colin walks up to the line of almost realizing that Penelope has feelings for him but doesn’t quite get there. Instead of treading water on that dynamic, we wanted to push it into their season. It really felt like the perfect moment to tee it up.
You’re darn tootin’ we’re all “invested”! While it’s also true that we’ve seen Benedict (who gets his love story in book three, An Offer From A Gentleman) since Bridgerton Season 1, we were much closer to him having a major romance in that set of episodes than with what we saw from him in Season 2. Pen and Colin, on the other hand, have had the tension in their friendship / one-sided romantic relationship build over the course of both seasons.
This culminated in the Bridgerton Season 2 ending, when Pen overheard Colin being a dummy and dismissing her as a romantic prospect to a group of men at a party. Luke Newton, who portrays Colin, has already admitted he’d like to see Season 3 kick off with Colin having to answer for that heartbreaking slight, and it seems like he might get his wish.
What Is Bridgerton Season 3 Going To Do About Benedict?
As you might imagine, fans who adore the second Bridgerton son are now dying to know when we’ll see his love story take center stage on Bridgerton, whether viewer speculation about Benedict’s sexuality turns out to be correct or not. His main story in Season 2 was getting dumped by the modiste and then going to art school for a while, where he had a temporary fling with a model / fellow student.
While Brownell wouldn’t confirm or deny that Season 4 would bring us Benedict’s romance in full, when she was asked if this departure from the book order would lead to other major changes in storytelling, Brownell noted:
Well, we already differ from the books a little bit because we’re an ensemble show. The books really focus on one on one romantic pair at a time and maybe the siblings have a little cameo here and there but they don’t have full stories. In that way, even though we’re reversing the order of the books, I think all the people you would expect to see — Benedict, who is book three, he will be a vital part of Season 3.
Soooo, I’m going to just go ahead and assume that this means that it’s incredibly likely that Bridgerton is going to more thoroughly set up Benedict’s big romance in Season 3, while Season 4 is probably (maybe) going to see him actually step into the glory of the spotlight. Until we know more about Bridgerton Season 3, though, you can revisit the first two seasons with your Netflix subscription.
