Dearest gentle reader, the early days of the 2026 TV schedule delivered on our greatest hope that the romance of Benedict Bridgerton and Sophie Baek would fulfill all desires for a perfect pairing. While Bridgerton’s fourth season gave us adoring dialogue, memorable moments, plenty of longing and sexy scenes, we are now looking forward to Bridgerton Season 5, which will showcase the second-chance HEA of Francesca when she falls for Michaela. That Franchaela twist, however, led to some surprisingly mean responses for the author.
The Mean-Spririted Responses Bridgerton’s Author Got About Francesca’s Gender-Swapped Romance
Anytime there’s a book-to-screen adaptation you can bet that there will be a dedicated fanbase who wants to see their beloved novel adapted in very specific ways, which usually means that any and all changes immediately become suspect. When the third season of Bridgerton revealed that Michael Stirling from the Bridgerton books was now Michaela Stirling for the series (which you can watch with your Netflix subscription), a lot of fans were thrilled about one of the leading romances eventually focusing on an LGBTQ+ coupling.
Some readers, however, didn’t like the idea at all, and author Julia Quinn took a lot of heat for the move, which she revealed really surprised her. As she told US Weekly about speaking to showrunner Jess Brownell (which happened about a year before the Season 3 reveal) about the change:
Article continues belowI had more time to get used to the idea than everybody else, and also I have more information about it than everybody else about how it’s going to be done. So, I felt good about it.
Now that we all know about it, and that stars Hannah Dodd and Masali Baduza will lead the show in the fifth season, a lot of others feel very good about it, as well. However, there are always detractors, and their reactions (specifically how they came for Quinn) threw her. She continued:
I expected some disappointment, [but] I didn’t expect people, like, calling me names and saying like, ‘Oh, go deposit your big fat check,’ and ‘You sold out. You’re a terrible person.’ So, that was a little strange, but I’m fine. It’s just, like, if you can’t handle it, there’s always the book. I’m not going to rewrite the book, and you can have one of each.
It’s really sad that people can’t at least wait until they see what transpires between Francesca and Michaela before airing their disagreements, but it’s even sadder that the author had to be subjected to angry fans who actually lashed out at her with personal attacks. Let’s all try to remember: these are fictional characters. Also, as Quinn pointed out, you always have the book if you aren’t a fan of the change.
Though some fans think good ol’ Frannie needed more time to grieve before being thrust into a new romance, I do think that most Bridgerton fans are rarin’ to go when it comes to watching a fifth season focused on Franchaela, and thoroughly thrilled to see how their relationship takes shape.
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