Dearest gentle reader, now that the entirety of Bridgerton Season 3 has been released, it seems there is much to discuss regarding the biggest reveals that have completely shaken up the ton. Most scandalous of all is the fact that Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) has finally chosen to reveal herself as the popular Lady Whistledown, particularly on the heels of her lovely wedding to Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton). But there’s more than one Bridgerton wedding that takes place in Season 3, especially now that Francesca (Hannah Dodd) has officially tied the knot with John Stirling (Victor Alli) in a more private celebration. Now, the family tree seems poised to branch out even further, especially as Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) and Kate (Simone Ashley) are destined for India, while Eloise (Claudia Jessie) is set to accompany Francesca and John to Scotland (along with John’s beautiful cousin). What will Season 4 have in store, particularly for the wayward Benedict (Luke Thompson)? We’ll have to wait to find out.
Ahead of the premiere of Bridgerton Season 3 Part 2, Collider had the opportunity to sit down with Jess Brownell, who served as a writer on the first two seasons and has now stepped into the role of new showrunner. Over the course of the interview, which you can read below, Brownell discusses the biggest difference between writing for the series and taking the reins as showrunner, why they changed the order of specific events from the original Romancing Mister Bridgerton book, and why Eloise and Penelope’s relationship is the secondary love story of Season 3. She also discusses the importance of a storyline for Violet Bridgerton (Ruth Gemmell), why they wanted to lay the groundwork for Francesca’s (Hannah Dodd) love story this early, what Benedict’s biggest takeaway is from his situationship this season, a Polin exchange that didn’t make it to the final draft, and more.
Starting at the beginning with your journey on the show, you’ve stepped into the role of showrunner. What’s been the biggest difference for you now versus where you first began on Bridgerton?
JESS BROWNELL: Well, it’s a lot more responsibility. I would go up to the writers’ room, do my work, and then come home and… never entirely forget about it — I’ve always been a workaholic — but I could put it down for a little while. Now that I’m a showrunner, I don’t think I’ve put down the Bridgerton backpack for maybe three years straight, and it’s a comfortable backpack. I enjoy it.
Was there anything that you were most excited about in terms of showrunning Season 3 in particular, knowing that it would be Colin and Penelope’s story?
BROWNELL: I love the rom-com genre, and I knew that doing Penelope and Colin’s storyline, because it’s a friends-to-lovers story, we naturally could lean into that rom-com sensibility a lot more. Nicola and Luke are both so fantastic at both the comedy and the romance, so they were the perfect people to do it with.
Why Did ‘Bridgerton’ Change the Order of the Books for Season 3?
This is the first season that doesn’t follow the order of the books, and we’re getting Colin and Penelope’s story before Benedict’s. What fueled the decision to essentially have them jump the line?
BROWNELL: Penelope and Colin have been on our screens now for two seasons. We’ve invested in them, and they’ve also had this dynamic between them where Pen has had this unrequited crush, and Colin doesn’t get it. I think that dynamic is only interesting for so long before it starts just getting frustrating, and we didn’t want the audience to turn on Colin, so we needed to change up that dynamic and explore and push their relationship into a new dimension this season.
Queen Charlotte dropped in between the break between Seasons 2 and 3, but there are nuggets in that story that felt like they were going to inform Season 3 and beyond, especially in the present day. Were there conversations with Shonda Rhimes about the ripple effects that Queen Charlotte was going to have on Bridgerton?
BROWNELL: Shonda was writing Queen Charlotte, and I, with my writers, was writing Season 3 simultaneously, so we would have conversations as Shonda figured out where she was going with the show, making sure that everything would track. Our production happened after the fact, so we did have some time to update the scripts as needed. Shonda gave me so much incredible insight into those characters, like backstories, that we have tried to seed into Season 3and continue expanding upon. You see new depth, especially, from Violet and Lady Danbury and the Queen in Season 3.
Eloise and Penelope’s Relationship Is the “Secondary Love Story” of ‘Bridgerton’ Season 3
Eloise and Penelope’s estrangement really comes to a head in Season 3. Why was it important to emphasize their relationship, their friendship, and give it just as much emotional weight as Penelope’s romance with Colin?
BROWNELL: Their relationship is very much the secondary love story of the season. It was important to me and to the writers to portray the fact that a friendship breakup can be just as impactful as a romantic breakup, especially when you’re in your early twenties and you’re figuring out who you are, often based on who you’re surrounding yourself with. The question in Season 3 for them is about whether or not they are real lifelong friends who are going to grow in the same direction, or whether it was just a friendship of convenience based on living next door to each other. One of those childhood, easy friendships that you kind of outgrow.
Eloise’s friendship with Cressida feels like a very surprising odd couple based on their diverging interests. They don’t seem like the type that would get along, but through Eloise, we see more facets of Cressida as a character beyond the mean girl stereotype. How did you want to use that relationship to flesh Cressida out as a character?
BROWNELL: Especially in the Regency era, where women had such little agency and such little power, villainizing any woman in a one-dimensional way feels incorrect, because the women aren’t the problem. They are a symptom of a society that is pitting them against each other. So, it really felt right to dimensionalize Cressida and to understand that there’s a reason why she’s a mean girl. She is in a tough situation at home.
Their relationship also creates a lot of room for growth for Eloise. I love Eloise, and I know she’s a fan favorite in a lot of ways. In her breakup with Penelope, I think Penelope was in the wrong in a lot of ways, but Eloise still has a lot to learn about listening and about empathy. We felt it was important to open up Eloise’s worldview and to put her with someone who is so different from her in so many ways and allow her to see that other people are struggling in different ways, even if she can’t see it or understand it on the surface.
Jess Brownell Explains Why ‘Bridgerton’ Season 3 Plants the Seeds for Francesca’s Story
Season 3 starts to plant the seeds for Francesca’s love story, which book readers know has a very different trajectory than non-readers might be expecting. Why did it feel important to really start laying the groundwork for that? Is it because it’s a bit of a heavier story?
BROWNELL: Yeah, absolutely. Her book, for those who know, covers a lot more ground and just a lot more time than some of the other stories, so it felt important to get her started so that we have enough time to develop all the facets of her story. Also, just on a practical level, now that several of the elder siblings have gotten married, and those actors are getting busier with other projects, there’s room on the show now to bring some of those younger siblings more into the foreground. So, it felt like it was the right time to develop Francesca a little bit more.
Was that also exciting, writing the genesis of a relationship that is going to be important to Francesca, but maybe not necessarily lesser? It’s something that can still have meaning, even if book readers know that it’s not necessarily where her story ends.
BROWNELL: “Book readers know it’s not necessarily where her story ends.” That’s the only way to put it without getting into some spoilers. [Laughs] One of our goals with her storyline this season was, in a very nonhierarchical way, to show that there are different kinds of love. I know that this show, in a way, prioritizes tortured, passionate love, and that type of love is important and has a place, but love that is based on friendship and companionship and respect is also a wonderful type of love. I was really excited to have the chance to represent that on this show, and send the message that that’s beautiful as well.
I also wanted to ask about Violet’s storyline this season. Even in the midst of trying to make sure her children have good matches and that everyone’s content and happy, she has to navigate an interesting dynamic in society. On a bigger level, it’s an interesting development for her friendship with Lady Danbury and builds from what we saw in Queen Charlotte. What did you want to highlight about their friendship this season through that shake-up?
BROWNELL: On the Violet side of things, it was important for us to give her a personal story that didn’t just revolve around her children. I think we worried that if her storyline was always about the kids, we’d be inadvertently sending the message that mothers’ lives have to be all about their kids, and we wanted to push against that and express the fact that mothers and grownups deserve to put themselves first.
As far as Lady Danbury, they have had a friendship in Seasons 1 and 2, but Queen Charlotte — you’re right — absolutely developed their friendship and gave new levels and depth to it. Lady Danbury has been an incredible friend to the family and has done so much for the siblings and for their relationships, but it was important to step back from that transactional part of the relationship and understand that there’s deep love on both sides and a real appreciation for Lady Danbury for who she is as she is, even if she isn’t doing something to help the kids out.
Jess Brownell Wanted To Let Kanthony “Live in the Joy” for ‘Bridgerton’ Season 3
I loved seeing Kate and Anthony, who seem to be as in love or more in love than ever. What did you enjoy about continuing their romance in the background and developing that next stage for them?
BROWNELL: I feel like Kate and Anthony worked so hard for their happily ever after last season that it felt like we wanted to just live in the reward of their work for a moment and not create any new conflict — certainly not between the two of them, and also not between them and any other characters for a moment, to let them live in the joy. It’s in many ways a continuation of seeing that joy. Their story goes a bit deeper in Part Two, and the question for them is about how much are they going to do to protect that piece. The answer is quite a lot.
Benedict’s a bit of a wayward soul, and this season doesn’t seem to have changed much in that regard for him. He’s still embarking on this affair, which leads to some interesting personal revelations. What do you think he’s realizing about himself through what seems casual but has deeper ramifications?
BROWNELL: It’s safe to say that something he’s really learned from his friendship, or situationship, with Tilley Arnold is the importance of following your own rules. Benedict has struggled a lot in the past with feeling of society but also not, and being unsure how to blend the two sides of himself. Tilley is someone who very confidently moves through the world knowing that she is a society woman, but she’s also going do things the way she wants to do them. So, if Benedict gets any clarity this season, it’s that. It’s about realizing that he has to define his own rules, and you’ll see him putting that into practice.
Jess Brownell Reveals a Polin Exchange That Didn’t Make the Final Cut for ‘Bridgerton’ Season 3
The show definitely changes up the order of events in Romancing Mister Bridgerton, especially with Colin and Penelope’s engagement and the revelations about Lady Whistledown. What fueled the decision to mix up how it all plays out?
BROWNELL: Obviously, in the book, the hunt for Lady Whistledown is something that’s kicked off by Lady Danbury by issuing a reward. We held back on that because it felt like we had already been playing the hunt for Whistledown very explicitly with the Queen for two seasons. In the writers’ room, we were just feeling a bit tired of that story, and we wanted to take a break from it for just a moment to emphasize Penelope’s new turn, which is more about her suddenly wanting to take a husband.
Almost all the elements of the book do exist in the season, they just exist in a slightly different order. The first half of Romancing Mister Bridgerton plays a bit more either internally or as conversations between Penelope and Colin about popularity and confidence, and so we really had to find ways to externalize those conversations and turn them into larger plot devices. So, that’s where you get the charm school plot and Colin helping Penelope find a husband. We just needed a very specific goal for Penelope, so there was something that we could follow and track over the course of the season.
I don’t know what the actual trope name is, but the throughline of “I’m going to teach you how to be more confident to find someone else, but then I fall for you instead” is a classic in romance.
BROWNELL: 100%. There was a line that didn’t make it between Penelope and Colin where, when they’re making the agreement to work together, he says, “We are friends, aren’t we?” And she says, “Friends.” And then we had a line for Colin where he goes, “More than that now,” and for a minute, you’re like, “Oh.” And then he goes, “Pupil and teacher.” [Laughs] It didn’t make it past the draft of the script, but I love that dynamic too. It’s a really fun one, and kind of sexy.
Bridgerton Season 3 is now available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.