Bridgerton‘s Hannah Dodd he made a strange comment about Francesca and Michaela a much-anticipated romance after this gender-swapping twist.
Ahead of the show’s premiere, Dodd, 30, teased where Francesca and Michaela (Masali Baduza) standing, saying Swoon on Wednesday, January 14, “I think that moment of the ball, she doesn’t really know what it is. I think it’s just a different feeling.”
Francesca is not in the headspace yet Decipher his feelings for Michaela.
“She’s happily married and they’ve gone to Scotland together, and now they’re back in London, and I think she’s in a place where she’s really trying to invest time in her relationship with John,” Dodd noted. “I think people forget that they hardly spent time together in those relationships in those days, they didn’t spend that much time together, so now they live together, they have a house together, she’s the head of the family, so it’s a whole new life for Francesca.”
Bridgerton shocked fans of the books by switching Francesca’s future love interest from Michael to Michaela, but the show’s creative team is excited about the meaningful swap. Season 3 gave Francesca (Hannah Dodd) a much bigger role, after a review where viewers saw her fall in love with John (Victor Alli). Francesca and Joan finished (…)
Season 3 of the hit Netflix series expanded Francesca’s love story introducing her to her now husband, John (Victor Alli), during his debut in society. At the end of the second part, Francesca and John were making plans to move to their native Scotland with their cousin Michaela. The book about Francesca’s romance, however, actually followed her relationship with John’s cousin Michael, which upset certain readers.
Showrunner Jess Brownell has since revealed that it was always the plan to explore Francesca’s sexuality.
“The reveal of Michaela vs. Michael, from the books, is something I’ve been pitching since Season 1 of the show,” Brownell revealed to Teen Vogue in June 2024. “My approach to telling a queer story in Bridgerton has been to look to the books for thematic clues. I didn’t want to just insert a queer character for a queer character.”
Brownell cleared it up received support from Julia Quinn – who wrote the Bridgerton novels, before making it official.
“The fact is, the fan base is not a monolith and it’s never going to please all sides of the fan base,” he continued at the time. “In, for example, deciding to tell a strange story with Francesca, I talked to Julia Quinn, I got her blessing.”
Brownell added, “We talked about the fact that with almost any book, there would be a side of the fandom that would be disheartened to see their favorite characters change. I don’t think there’s a book that wouldn’t happen, so for me, again, it came back to the story and it came back to the character.”
The fourth season of Bridgerton will include many fan favorites, but not everyone will be back for more episodes of the show. Bridgerton, which is based on the book series written by Julia Quinn, focuses on members of the wealthy Bridgerton family as they search for love in 19th century London. Season 1 followed Daphne Bridgerton (…)
Quinn made her own statement after certain fans of the books had it frustrated by how she When he was evil novel would be adapted.
“Now I’m sure that when Francesca gets her season of Bridgerton, it will be the most emotional and heartbreaking story on the show, just as When He Was Wicked has always been the real tearjerker of the Bridgerton book series,” she wrote via Instagram in June 2025. “Honestly, it may be even more shocking as John I think has been on screen longer than him and I’ve been on screen a lot more than he has. It’s fair to say that we’ve all fallen a little bit in love with him.”
It remains to be seen which season will focus on Francesca and Michaela. with Season 4 focusing on Benedict (Luke Thompson) and Sophie (Yerin Ha).
Season 4 of Bridgerton is scheduled to be released on January 29th on Netflix, while Part 2 will be released on February 26th.