By Dominique Tassell
*This contains spoilers for the Bridgerton books by Julia Quinn, upon which the Netflix show is based.
Season two of Bridgerton has left many viewers, at least the ones who have read the books upon which the show is based, wondering how exactly the show plans to follow the aforementioned novels.
While the first two seasons follow the stories of the couples in the first two novels, season two showed that the writers of the show are not afraid to, and confirmed they are allowed to, deviate quite strongly from the plot for those couples.
While season two followed the same couple as the book, after a certain pall mall scene the show essentially abandoned the contents of the novel.
There are some fairly obvious reasons for this, as the second book admittedly is very similar to the first, and some scenes may not have translated well to the screen.
Comments by the show’s team and the current promotional material being released also hint at another deviation in the future: season three may not be based on book three of the series.
While the team behind the show has made it clear that they plan to focus on all the Bridgerton siblings, it seems there’s a strong possibility that season three will follow the story of Penelope and Colin.
Penelope and Colin are the focus of the fourth book in the series, while the third book follows Benedict and his love interest, Sophie, who comes from a different social class.
Books three, four, and five have long been pointed out by fans as needing plenty of work when they get adapted for the screen, and Benedict’s story in particular doesn’t quite fit the vibe of the Netflix show.
While many fans were hoping to see queer representation from characters like Benedict and Eloise, the team behind the show has not provided any information on this and the storyline for the two characters in season two gave fans little hope.
Reportedly, the deal Netflix and Julia Quinn agreed on includes that all original couples from the novels will be included and will be endgame, though this has not been officially confirmed.
Fans have questioned whether the addition in season two of Theo Sharpe, a love interest for Eloise, means that she and Benedict might see their storylines swapped, but if it’s true that Netflix has to stay true to the books when it comes to couples this won’t be the case.
Another possibility is that the writers will use Eloise’s experience to provide Benedict with a sibling who understands his situation when we do get to his season.
Fans have speculated that the swapping of Colin and Benedict’s stories may be so that Sophie can appear in season three, as in the novel she and Benedict meet at a masquerade ball and then do not see each for a long period of time.
We may also see other siblings’ series set up, such as the debut of Francesca and her first marriage.
Fans are also unsure how exactly some new choices in the show are going to play out, as decisions surrounding Eloise and Penelope’s plots might negatively affect future storylines.
In the books, Penelope is not nearly so damaging to those around her. But maybe they can work with that.
What is concerning to book readers is that in the books, Marina dies. Do you remember her, the girl who’s already truly been through it?
Fans are unsure how exactly this could play out and not have viewers feel icky about it.
It’s a point in of itself that while the show has a multitude of characters of colour, most of them have pretty tragic things happen to them. Maybe don’t do that.
Personally, I say just let Eloise go to university and become an academic then marry Phillip when she’s old and after Marina and Phillip have separated. Why not?
In the books, Eloise takes on Philip’s children and they have more together. In the show, it’s pretty clear Eloise doesn’t want children. And the whole “growing up to want them” trope just isn’t going to cut it here.
Honestly, it’s frustrating as a viewer and book reader that the show changes the contents of the books, and of history itself, but not all of it.
The show is basically historical fantasy at this point, why not lean into it?
They could achieve the same level of drama and fun while letting women go to school and gay people get married.
On a more positive note, a prequel series has been confirmed, focussing on Queen Charlotte. It has also been confirmed that we will see young Lady Danbury and Violet Bridgerton in this series.
This is interesting as an entire series of novels is dedicated to this time period, following the Rokesby family. The Rokesbys live next door to the Bridgertons, including Edmund Bridgerton, and two of the Rokesby brothers end up marrying Edmund’s sisters (and the Bridgerton siblings we all know from the TV show’s aunts).
There may or may not be a Bridgerton cousin thrown in there too; truly, the Rokesby and Bridgerton family trees are deeply intertwined.
Personally, I think the Rokesby novels are far superior to the Bridgerton novels and hope we will get to see them play out in this prequel series.
It would be interesting to see if the introduction of these characters would then translate into older versions of those characters appearing in the original series, as they are all related.
Julia Quinn has about a million novels, including ones set at the same time as the original TV show such as the Smythe-Smith family novels, so don’t be surprised if this becomes the next Grey’s Anatomy and your grandchildren’s grandchildren end up watching it.
