Now that Benedict and Sophie have their happily ever after, there’s so much to unpack about everything else that happened in the Bridgerton finale of the fourth season. (Consider this is your warning that major spoilers are ahead.)
For one, Michaela departed (to whereabouts unknown) after Francesca asked her to stay and keep her company following John’s death. But does this mean that Francesca and Michaela’s story will be the subject of season five? More on that in a minute.
On the other hand, there weren’t many clues that Eloise might lead next season, except for the fact that in that surprising scene at the very end, the marriage-mart-averse Bridgerton sibling proclaimed to actually enjoy weddings and the joy they bring. Could she be more open to meeting the person of her dreams?
Someone who won’t be getting married soon is Violet, who broke things off with a marriage-ready Lord Anderson. Is it really the end of her spicy new romance, or just merely a break?
But perhaps the biggest surprise in the Bridgerton finale was the reveal that there’s a new author behind Lady Whistledown, and no one seems to know who it is. That mystery is not a part of Julia Quinn’s books, which means only showrunner and executive producer Jess Brownell, as well as Shonda Rhimes, knows who it is.
So, what else is in store for season five? And when will we learn who the new lead is? Below, Brownell — who is about to start pre-production on the new season—answers all these burning questions from the finale and gives us just enough breadcrumbs to get us excited about what’s to come. We’ve got a lot to get to, dear readers…
GLAMOUR: Let’s start with that bonus scene at the end. Are we calling it a bonus scene? Or a surprise scene?
Jess Brownell: [Laughs.] We’ve just been calling it “the wedding.” Initially, it was supposed to be the scene that comes up immediately after the last scene ends, the way we’ve done in previous seasons. Usually, we go to black, and then there’s one future scene. But we decided to give it a little bit of a break this season with a longer credit run. The ending of season four has so many magical pieces that we felt like people needed a moment to breathe and take it all in before they got one more sprinkle on top.
It’s so good, but it threw me for a second because I was like, Wait a minute. Did Netflix just take me back to the first season? And then, Oh no, this is brand-new!
Yeah, other journalists have missed it and not realised that it was there. We’re counting on the fact that there’s always a lot of chatter amongst the fans; even if people miss it, they’ll probably hear about it and hopefully go back and watch it.
Were there any Easter eggs in the wedding scene that we’d be surprised to know about?
When we were talking about how we wanted to represent Sophie’s Korean heritage — because the idea is that she and her family have been in England for multiple generations—we landed on not wanting to other-ise her too much. We did feel like her name was important. We talked a lot in the room about how weddings are often one of the places where people show little bits of their heritage. So we didn’t want to go so far as, let’s say, having her wear a hanbok because that felt like other-ising her too much. It didn’t feel in keeping with the way Sophie would identify. But we did have our production designers place little traces throughout the wedding that were little nods to Korean wedding traditions. If you look around, there are pine cones, dates, and chestnuts. Pine cones represent loyalty for life. Dates and chestnuts represent fertility and children. There were few ways of just showing that Sophie had some imprints on having her culture show up in this wedding.
I love hearing that, and now I need to go back and watch. Speaking of fertility and children, will we see Sophie and Benedict expand their family and have a baby next season?
Kids are a big part of every book because it was expected in that time period, but for Sophie and Benedict, children are particularly important to their story because Sophie wrestles so much with what it means to be a child and what it means to be an illegitimate child. So I’m definitely interested in seeing them have kids.
It appears they’ve now moved to My Cottage, so how much will we see of them next season, given that other couples have technically been much closer to Bridgerton House?
Even though they get married at the cottage, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve moved there full-time. That’s a very special, significant place to them, so it made sense for them to get married there. But Julia Quinn provides a really useful plot point in her book, which is that Violet strong-arms Araminta into agreeing to this lie about Sophie being nobility, which allows Benedict and Sophie to move in society with a little bit more ease next season.
Tell me about Posy. In the books, she moves in with Benedict and Sophie at My Cottage and is a part of their inner circle going forward. Will she be around a lot more in season five?
Yeah, we wanted to give Posy a love story rather than seeing her just end up as a roommate. It felt like after everything she’d been through, she deserved a suitor. And actually, to be fair, in the book, in one of the epilogues, she does find a suitor. So we sped up that story and had her end up with Lord Barnaby.
I also loved seeing Hazel up there in the wedding party.
Yeah, we talked a lot about how Footman John was kind of like the bachelor of the downstairs world and the idea that he and Hazel… It’s kind of implied that they may end up together, so that was really fun for us to play with.
During the wedding, we hear Eloise and Francesca talk about their futures. Eloise isn’t necessarily ready to get married now, but she seems to genuinely enjoy herself and comments on the joy of weddings because it brings all her favorite people together. Meanwhile, Fran says she’s already had her one great love and doesn’t think she’ll ever want to get married again. What did you want those particular moments to convey?
We were just checking in on where each girl was at, and I think you nailed it that Eloise—with her journey with Hyacinth…it’s not that she is suddenly like, Gee, forget all that stuff I said the first four seasons, and now I want to be married necessarily. But I think she’s appreciating the beauty of love around her and for other people. And maybe slightly for herself, even if she’s not ready to admit that. Whereas we wanted to make it really clear that Francesca feels like she has her great love, and she’s in no headspace to go looking for that at this point.
Speaking of John, even though I know he dies, I didn’t expect it to happen so soon into part two of season four. What was your reason for having it happen then?
When we thought about where in Francesca’s overall storyline across multiple seasons that John’s death should occur, we talked a lot about where it could most affect the story and be the most meaningful. And in this season, because you have such a giant obstacle between Benedict and Sophie, it actually felt like an interesting time to have the family go through such a big loss. That really puts everything in perspective. And reading the book, Violet is this amazing matriarch who is always willing to support her children in love matches, but knowing the stakes, we wanted to set up for how difficult it is for Benedict to be with a maid. We needed to really understand why Violet is able to get there. Watching her daughter lose John, similar to how she lost Edmund, was narratively useful in getting her to the point where she could accept Benedict and Sophie’s love.
Also, we placed John’s death where it is in the season so that we will have enough time for Francesca to grieve. If we let John go too late in the game, it may feel like we’re speeding through the grief. It felt important to give a full episode and beyond to grieving John.
That’s what I was wondering too. In the books there’s quite a bit of time that passes as Francesca grieves while Michael—now Michaela—is away. In the show we see Fran grieving, and she asks Michaela to stay, which she does, but then in the finale, Michaela has run off. What can you say about why she left and how soon into season five might they come together and address that absence?
So, we’ve been very intentional about staying out of Michaela’s point of view. It’s pretty much exclusively been through Francesca’s POV and a little bit John’s as well. This season with Michaela’s storyline, it was more important for us to get Francesca and Michaela to a place where they build a really strong friendship. We get to see that there is this real deep bond, which is based in their shared love for John. Michaela’s leaving is meant to be the first time that we’re switching into her perspective a little bit, and it’s meant to play as a bit of a mystery to be unfolded in future seasons as to why she leaves.
Can you say when we might see Fran and Michaela reunite in season five?
I will say that Masali [Baduza, who plays Michaela] is in season five, and we will definitely explore more about that character.
When do you anticipate we’ll find out who the new lead of season five will be?
I would say that, historically, we do an announcement close to the start of production or soon after the start of production. We’re not too far away from that, so people will know soon enough.
By the way, I loved your look at the season four premiere in Paris and the nod to Eloise and Francesca with their initials. That was so fun.
Thank you. The secret of that is that the E and the F are actually just the initials of the designer of the suit…
Stop it. Are you kidding me?
No. The designer is Elisabetta Franchi.
Oh my God. Did you see that everybody ran with it and assumed you were paying homage to the next two seasons?
Yes. My partner beforehand was like, “Oh, that’s funny. Those are the initials of Eloise and Francesca.” I was like, “Oh yeah, great.”
Jess, that’s amazing.
Both things could be true. It felt fated. Meant to be.
So going back to this fourth season, what was the most challenging part in bringing the second half to life?
The thing, rightly so, that we worked the hardest to pay off was to have Benedict earn Sophie back. It’s been really interesting to see fans reacting with so much outrage. We expected that, and that’s certainly something that he deserves in that moment, but I’m hopeful that in the back half, people are getting a little bit more of an explanation around the stakes for the family and what may have led Benedict to make that decision, but also that he does the work to earn his way back to Sophie. Finding that line of letting him make a mistake, but then making sure that he became a worthy romantic hero in the back half, was something we really worked hard on.
I think he earned it. Meanwhile, what were some of the biggest changes from the book in the finale episode?
We’ve obviously honoured the bathtub scene, but we’ve changed it just slightly so that it feels like Sophie has a little more time after jail to come around to being in a sexy place with Benedict. The biggest change I would say to the ending is that in the book, it’s all one big set piece where Benedict and Violet show up at the jail and basically save Sophie. Posy’s there and admits that she is the one who stole the shoe clips, which, in the case of the book, is a kind lie.
We decided to step it out into two parts to allow Benedict and Violet to essentially save Sophie from the jail cell, but we didn’t want it to feel like Sophie was being saved by everyone else. It was really important to create a divide, where, in order for Sophie to fully get saved, she had to save herself. So giving Sophie the idea to go looking at the will and to do the brave thing of sneaking over there and uncovering it, and then getting to confront Araminta herself, felt like an important change for the screen.
You mentioned Violet, and I want to talk about her relationship with Marcus. I really enjoyed them together, but I always felt her hesitation, and it just moved so fast. Why did you want to have them part ways?
In the eight books, Violet doesn’t really date, or she certainly never remarries. I love Daniel Francis, I love the Marcus Anderson character, and I love their chemistry together, but it felt too soon for Violet. I know she hasn’t dated in forever, but for her to get into a relationship with the first guy she dated didn’t really feel right. She also hasn’t finished seeing all of her children out of the house and has a lot of self-exploration to do still, which we touched on a bit with chats about her youth. So, we’ll see some more of that going forward.
Will Marcus be back for season five?
I can’t say. Yeah…I can’t say.
Fair enough. Let’s move on to Lady Whistledown because the reveal that someone new is taking over threw me for a loop. It’s not in the books, so what excites you about telling this story?
We felt like we had really milked the Whistledown mystery for as much as we could because it was from the books. I remember being in the writer’s room, season one, and we played with the idea of holding back on Penelope’s reveal until later in the series. Ultimately, we were like, “People are going to Google it, and they’re going to know.” So we didn’t think we could really play that mystery too much. It felt right at the end of Penelope’s season, per the book, to reveal herself and give up her identity. But it does take a bit of the mystery and the stakes out of the story. So all the way back in season three when we talked about her revealing herself, we talked about how it would be really fun for her to eventually give it up and for someone else to take over. It allows us to create a genuine mystery for the audience and plant clues and play with it a little more for seasons to come.
Have you figured out who it is?
Shonda [Rhimes] and I had a conversation back in season three where we decided who we think it is. Shonda and I have a strong feeling that we’re writing to of who it is. And the writers know that too.
So it could change. That’s what you’re saying?
It’s funny. I have read interviews with the writers on Gossip Girl, where I think they were kind of changing who Gossip Girl was as they went along. I never say never, but so far from season three until now, where we’ve finished writing season five, Shonda and I have stayed on one person who we think it is.
I would love to be a fly on the wall in those conversations.
One person or many people…I should say. One person or many people. Who knows?
Will we as viewers find out in season five who it is, or is this something that might take longer to be revealed?
You’ll not find out in season five. It’ll be a mystery that we will continue to plant clues for over multiple seasons.
Oh. This is very exciting.
Yes.
Can we rule out Cressida or the queen?
Can’t rule out anyone.
By the way, I loved seeing Lady Danbury and the queen together in those scenes at the end, when they’re just laughing and having a great time. It was a much needed restart for their friendship.
That story was meant to mirror some of the themes from Benedict and Sophie’s story about there being a power [dynamic]. It’s really nice because now that the queen and Danbury have been through that conflict, I think for the first time, in many ways, the queen is treating Danbury like a true peer, and that allows us to go forward for when Danbury does eventually return from her travels, which she will. It also allows us to have Alice be more in the service role to the queen, and for Danbury to be a genuine friend to the queen, and for the two of them to just get to hang out and be real with each other. It shakes up the dynamics in a nice way.
How much of a time jump will there be going into season five?
I can’t answer that question. [Laughs.]
Okay, let me try a different question to make you squirm. [Laughs.] When do you anticipate season five premiering? 2027?
I was proud that we did air season four a little bit earlier than the two-year mark this time around, and I think we’re going to keep trying to beat that every year and try to get tighter and tighter. We’re doing our best.
The fact that it was only a year and a half, pretty much between season three and season four, is quite impressive.
Yeah, we feel good about that, and we’re doing a lot to get the trains running as quickly as they possibly can. We may be able to match that or possibly beat it.
A detail even Lady Whistledown might have missed.
A version of this article originally appeared on Glamour US.
