Though Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) and Sophie (Yerin Ha) have finally found their happy ending, Francesca Bridgerton (Hannah Dodd) ends Season 4 thinking hers has come and gone.
At the end of Episode 6, titled “The Passing Winter,” Francesca’s husband John Stirling (Victor Alli), Earl of Kilmartin, dies unexpectedly from a headache while taking a nap. The tragedy stretches to affect the whole Bridgerton family.
“It’s absolutely devastating, but I thought it was a really interesting thing to highlight that actually, especially with an infertility storyline, Francesca, in that moment, thinks that her husband’s gone, but also [that] her hope of having a family is gone. So it’s double as devastating,” Dodd told Deadline. “She really has just had the carpet ripped from beneath her, and she has to start again, which, when you’ve worked so hard to create the life that you wanted, it’s a horrible prospect, and I think she just doesn’t know where to even begin. Michaela was such a support system, and the only person that could understand completely how she felt. So for Michael to leave as well. I really feel for [Francesca].”
After Francesca and Michaela (Masali Baduza) became more friendly and further bonded through the tragedy of losing John, who was Michaela’s cousin, the slightest inkling that there could be romantic feelings can be gleaned from some moments between the two women followed by Michaela’s decision to leave Kilmartin house after Francesca asked her to stay.
Baduza attributes the departure to Michaela “definitely feeling an attraction” to Francesca, which mirrors how the male version of her character Michael Stirling reacted to his feelings for Francesca in Julia Quinn’s novel, When He Was Wicked.
In the below interview, Alli, Dodd and Baduza reflect on the combination of events their characters face in Bridgerton Season 4 Part 2 as well as what future seasons could look like for each of them.
DEADLINE: My first question is for Victor, when John sees Francesca and Michaela start to get along, do you think he has any idea of what could happen down the line between them?
VICTOR ALLI: Oh, man, I think it’s a massive relief — two people he loves and who he cares about deeply and so hat moment, when I’ve seen them doing the puzzle, I feel, anyway, that I’m like, ‘Yeah, I can sort of chill, and I can relax, have a glass of milk, have a cookie and watch it all unfold.’ That’s all I wanted, and when it happens, I’m like, ‘Yes!’ But yeah, no, when, when they evolve in their relationship, there was a there was a sense of relief, I think.
DEADLINE: Hannah and Masali, did you feel like there was a point during Season 4 Part 2 where your characters either subconsciously or without realizing, may have started to have romantic feelings for each other? Is there a shift from friendship to romance?
HANNAH DODD: What’s interesting is we’re on quite different paths at the moment. I can speak for Francesca, and only Francesca, and be like she is not aware of what she’s feeling. She’s feeling stuff, but she doesn’t know what that means. She doesn’t even know that that can exist. So no, and she’s got a lot going on. But she’s definitely feeling something, but she she can’t identify what that is.
MASALI BADUZA: I think Michaela is definitely feeling an attraction to Francesca, but she cannot act on those feelings because it’s literally her cousin’s wife. So any feelings that bubble up, she is really pushing them down all the way to the bottom of the ocean. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, but I think she knows.
DEADLINE: Is that why Michaela leaves at the end?
BADUZA: It’s a bit much for her. Yeah. When Francesca grazes her hand, she’s like, ‘I cannot do it. This is too much.’ It’s just too much for her, yeah.
DEADLINE: Victor, I’m wondering if you are open to appearing in flashbacks down the line in a season or two?
ALLI: I mean… [Makes a face].
Do you know what I do miss? I miss crafty. They do really good cookies. I miss those moments of the good snacks. So hey, if there’s a good snack, I’ll come back.
DEADLINE: Very food focused today, I love it. For all three of you, how do you think Season 4’s love story between Benedict and Sophie and the class divide may help set the tone or make way for Francesca and Michaela’s relationship and how that one will be super different for society?
DODD: I really hope that Francesca and Benedict get the opportunity to connect on that subject. I truly don’t know if that will ever happen, but I really hope that it does. We literally were in interviews the other day [and said] ‘We should probably chat.’ So I hope that we manage to connect on that basis. I feel like it’s something that Michaela was like, “Huh,” we have a scene where you’re like, ‘Oh, your family are quite surprising.”
So I think so. I don’t think we’re there yet to fully be understanding, but I hope that we’ve opened up the possibility already and people are a little bit more open is all I can say, really.
BADUZA: Yeah, no, absolutely. Exactly what she said. Yeah.
DEADLINE: Masali, what are you excited — when the time comes — to bring from Michaela’s perspective and point of view?
BADUZA: I’m excited to get to see the story from Michaela’s point of view and for people to find out how she felt having first laid eyes Francesca, and really having to keep all those feelings bottled in. I’m excited to explore the story more, and I think it’s gonna be great, like a good chocolate chip cookie, you know, you’re gonna love it. And want to come back for more and more and more.
DEADLINE: I have to say, too, I love the red dress and then the blue/turquoise one that you wear this season.
BADUZA: Oh my god. John [Glaser] and the team, muah [chef’s kiss]. Oh my goodness. I don’t know where I’d wear that red dress in real life, but I’ll find a place to wear it.
ALLI: Shopping.
DEADLINE: Hannah, I wanted to ask you about the moment Francesca has with violet when she says, ‘You think we’re alike, but we’re not,’ and how that theme could overlap again in future seasons as they try and navigate second love?
DODD: I was quite surprised because I think Ruth and I had always been like, ‘This is something that we connect on. I think the writers did such an incredible job to actually highlight what separates them and what is different. And I think we have been there sometimes when you’ve got somebody who’s like, ‘I understand how you feel,’ and you’re like, ‘Actually, no. You really don’t’.
I think it’s really sad the fact that Francesca is almost, potentially, delusionally trying to mirror her mom. Her mom was able to get through this horrible situation by knowing that she had to show up for her kids, and that’s exactly what Francesca’s doing. She thinks that she’s going to be pregnant, because that’s what she knows, she’s kind of obsessed with getting things right and doing things the right way — and that’s the way that you handle this situation.
