This article references baby loss.
Bridgerton season four delivered a Cinderella-esque romance in many ways, as the humble Sophie Baek finally found her prince — or rather, her gentleman — in Benedict Bridgerton. For others, however, the season was far less fairytale-like.
Francesca’s romance with John Stirling is tragically cut short after he suffers a ruptured cerebral aneurysm and dies in his sleep. The season follows her grief in the aftermath, including a fleeting moment of hope when she believes she may be carrying his child — only for that hope to be heartbreakingly dashed.
Amid the sorrow, her growing friendship with Michaela, John’s cousin, offers a small glimmer of light. Still, the overall arc remains one of the season’s most devastating storylines.
Notably, this plot diverges from key elements of Francesca’s corresponding Bridgerton novel, When He Was Wicked. So why did the showrunners decide to change the book storyline for the Netflix adaptation?
What happened to Francesca in When He Was Wicked?
In the show, Francesca suspects she may be pregnant with John’s child and shares the news with Benedict, as well as the member of Parliament responsible for settling matters related to the estate. However, she is then forced to undergo an intrusive physical examination to confirm the pregnancy. The moment becomes even more heartbreaking when she is told it was a false alarm and that she is not pregnant.
A detail even Lady Whistledown might have missed.
In When He Was Wicked, the sequence of events unfolds quite differently. Francesca discovers John has died when she attempts to wake him the following morning. The next day, Lord Winston asks John’s cousin Michael to determine whether Francesca is with child, as the future of John’s earldom depends on it. If Francesca gives birth to a son, the title will pass to the baby; if not — or if the child is a girl — Michael will inherit it. Although Michael initially delays asking, Francesca later reveals on her own that she is pregnant.
In the following chapter, Francesca receives a visit from John’s mother, Janet. While speaking with her about the pregnancy, Francesca begins to feel faint and suddenly realises she has miscarried after noticing blood on the chair where she had been sitting. In the aftermath of the loss, Michael becomes the ninth Earl of Kilmartin.
Why was Francesca’s pregnancy loss cut from Bridgerton season 4?
While speaking with Swooon, showrunner Jess Brownell explained that she and the writers behind Bridgerton ultimately chose to remove Francesca’s miscarriage storyline because it would have made the tone of season four “too morbid.”
“Ultimately, I think John’s death and the funeral are already, in so many ways, such a departure from the tone of the show,” she said. “Episode seven still has hints of lightness, but it is a much darker version of Bridgerton in a way that I think is really interesting — especially in how we get to watch the family come together.”
She added, “I think it would be difficult for Fran to come back from all that.”
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Will Bridgerton explore Francesca’s fertility in a later season?
Some of the biphobic backlash surrounding Francesca’s storyline and the shift from Michael to Michaela stemmed from the assumption that it would erase the fertility arc central to her story. However, showrunner Jess Brownell addressed those concerns in her conversation with Swooon.
She confirmed that the team behind Bridgerton still intends to explore that theme. “We’re still very interested in honouring the fertility storyline,” Brownell said. “It’s something we tried to honour this season, and we will continue honouring in her future season.”
When Swooon also spoke with author Julia Quinn about the decision to alter the miscarriage storyline from When He Was Wicked, the author emphasised that the emotional core of the story remains intact.
“I think [Francesca’s] emotions are the same,” Quinn said. “I have experienced pregnancy loss. I had three failed pregnancies between my two children. And so I wrote her character very deeply from my own experiences. And I think changing up how her loss happened really doesn’t affect her grief with that.”
