Bridgerton showrunner Jess Brownell has weighed in on the speculation over whether fan-favourite character Eloise Bridgerton could be queer.
The smash-hit Netflix period drama recently ended the highly-anticipated third season with part two, and many fans find themselves still wondering whether the second eldest sister, Eloise Bridgerton, could be queer.
Aside from a brief fling with the printer’s assistant Theo, Eloise (played by Claudia Jessie) has never shown much interest in men or marriage, yearning for a life outside the restraints of a woman’s place in society.
According to the novels written by Julia Quinn, Eloise does marry a man, but the series doesn’t always stick rigidly to its source material, having recently gender-bended Francesca Bridgerton’s future love interest, and confirmed Benedict Bridgerton’s sexuality.
But the Bridgerton showrunner has denied a potential queer love story for Eloise — at least, for now.
“We’ve talked about Eloise in the room a lot about the fact that to a lot of people, she does read as queer, and I completely understand why,” Brownell told TVLine.
“But we feel it’s really important to hold space in this show where everyone is obsessed with romance for there to be a character — specifically a female character — for whom that is not the priority.”
For Brownell, it’s far more important that Eloise makes her way in society without a romantic relationship. In fact, at the end of season three part two, we see Eloise agreeing to travel with newlywed Francesca to Scotland to live alongside her sister, her brother-in-law, and his cousin, Michaela.
It “is not that Eloise just needs to meet someone of the right gender but that, in fact, she is truly more interested in cerebral pursuits at this moment”.
Instead, she “is on a path of finding her place in a society that doesn’t make a lot of room for women who care more about ideas than they do love”.
Still, Jessie said she “loved” how the audience perceives her character as being queer-coded.
“There’s a strength in her that I think a queer storyline can connect. I’ve always been touched by that as a notion with Eloise. But yeah, there’s definitely room for all of that,” she told Business Insider previously.