The Bridgerton leads for seasons 5 and 6 have officially been chosen — but whose love story will be featured first?
Showrunner Jess Brownell confirmed that Eloise (Claudia Jessie) and Francesca (Hannah Dodd) are the focus of the next installments of the hit Netflix series when she wore two white pocket squares with the initials E and F at the season 4 premiere on Wednesday, January 14.
“Both characters with the initials on my pocket squares will get seasons in 5 and in 6,” Brownell told Deadline. “In what order? I can’t say.”
Jessie, 36, was also asked what she knew about when her character would take center stage.
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“I wish I could say that I have started working on [Eloise’s story],” she told the outlet on Wednesday. “That would make me seem like such a professional as well, if I was starting to work on it.”
Based on Julia Quinn‘s book series, the show follows a different sibling from the Bridgerton family in every season on their journey to find love in the Regency era. Season 1 focused on Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor), moving on to Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) for the next chapter. Season 3 tripped up the audience by veering from the original book order and pivoting to Colin (Luke Newton) before Benedict (Luke Thompson).
“We are working to try and put the seasons out more quickly, but they do take eight months to film and then they have to be edited and then they have to be dubbed into every language,” Brownell told The Hollywood Reporter in June 2024 about finding time for every member of the Bridgerton family. “The writing takes a very long time as well, so we’re kind of on a two-year pace. We’re trying to speed up, but somewhere in that range.”
Looking ahead, fans presumed that Francesca could be a potential contender to lead season 5, since her marriage to John (Victor Alli) has already taken place on the show. This set up her romance with John’s cousin Michael despite Bridgerton making another shocking change by making the character Michaela (Masali Baduza) instead.
Eloise, meanwhile, is expected to make her long-awaited debut, but she has not had any interactions with her love interest, Phillip Crane (Chris Fulton). According to Quinn, Netflix does plan to release eight seasons to correspond with all the books.
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“I know who is scheduled next,” she exclusively told Us Weekly in May 2025. “It could always change, like [the order] has changed in the past.”
The author continued: “My hope is that all the siblings will eventually take the lead because we love them [all]. That was kind of the whole point of the books is that you’ve got these eight separate stories, but they’re all connected.”
Although some fans have expressed frustration with the seasons going out of order from the books, Quinn defended the decision.
“With books or film or television, they have different needs … to make them work well, and they have different strengths,” she explained at the time. “Certain things that work great in the book don’t necessarily work well on television. And so, one of the things about the television show, which they changed up a bit [that] was necessary, was to turn it a little bit more into an ensemble.”
Season 4 of Bridgerton releases part 1 on Netflix January 29, while part 2 premieres February 26.
