Fans just about lost their minds when the final moments of Season 3 of Netflix’s “Bridgerton” showed that in Francesca’s (Hannah Dodd) forthcoming season, her future husband Michael will instead be Michaela (Masali Baduza), allowing Francesca to better explore her “outsider” (i.e. queer) identity following her current husband John’s (Victor Alli) death.
While much of the online fan backlash to the Michael/Michaela swap is the same frustrating feedback that often happens when showrunners elect to put a more diverse group of characters onscreen (and should therefore be ignored), some people have simply expressed disappointed that a popular romance tale that thoughtfully wrestled with infertility may lose that well-done subplot in the new TV adaptation. But that doesn’t need to be the case.
In the “Bridgerton” book about Francesca, “When He Was Wicked,” Francesca deals with fertility issues following a miscarriage with first husband John, which are understandably very painful for her. Interestingly, that problem doesn’t resolve in the book with an expected baby happily-ever-after — at least, not in the original ending to the book that was published in 2004. Years later, when the show became a smash hit, author Julia Quinn went back and added “bonus second epilogues” that checked in with all of her couples. In Francesca’s book, she does ultimately have two biological children with Michael.
On the show, this subplot could simply be ignored, or could see Michaela and Francesca wrestle with becoming guardians for some other children, or even cook up some other historical drama with kids that would make sense to the time period and also honor their relationship.
But: One idea showrunner Jess Brownell and team should consider is this may be opportunity to have Eloise (Claudia Jessie) instead deal with that specific fertility plotline in her respective season (if they go in order of the books, it’s likely that Eloise’s main character moment will be Season 5 of the show, and Francesca’s Season 6). The show could find some lovely grace notes about dealing with this common issue that many women suffer with in silence, and given that Eloise’s own (bad!) book saga includes her ultimately much beloved stepchildren entering the picture, it could be smart ground for a switch that still allows her to be a mother.
Families! They come in all forms, even in Regency England.
This may be too much thinking for a show that is ultimately about hot people in ballgowns giving in to lust. But while the book series upon which the show is based isn’t exactly deep, it does regularly feature topics that elevate its stories beyond just bodice-rippers. The show adaptation does a fine job of teasing these moments out and making them part of the historical fantasy that fans around the world adore.
This is another one of those opportunities — let’s hope the show doesn’t waste it.
