Bridgerton author Julia Quinn broke her silence on concerns that possible changes in future seasons could include important book characters — and leads — being recast.
“I don’t necessarily know how they’re gonna spin it or write it or what they’re going to keep and change,” Quinn said during an exclusive interview with Us Weekly pegged to her partnership with Spotify, teasing Eloise’s (Claudia Jessie) upcoming season of the hit Netflix series.
Quinn added that she’s excited to see her novel To Sir Phillip, With Love come to life.
“I love her story,” she added about Eloise’s romance with Phillip (Chris Fulton). “He’s got two kids who she has got to wrangle, which is awesome. The fact that Eloise is going to have an instant family is awesome. His twins are pretty ruthless to her so I hope they keep stuff like that in.”
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When asked whether Fulton — who appeared in seasons 1 and 2 — would reprise his role or if a new actor would be brought in, Quinn noted that she doesn’t know the plan after changes have been made in other adaptations.
Quinn also addressed the chances of younger siblings Hyacinth (Florence Hunt) and Gregory (Will Tilston) being played by other actors by the time it’s their turn to be at the center of their own seasons.
“It’s funny because they were, like, 12 and 13 when they started. If you asked me that back then [about the same actors playing them as adults], I’d be like, ‘I don’t know.’ But when I saw them again at the premiere, they were both drinking wine,” Quinn told Us. “They’re both 18 now and Will was there with his girlfriend.”
The author pointed out that there were still a few years before It’s In His Kiss and On the Way to the Wedding will be featured with their own seasons.
“[Showrunner] Jess [Brownell] has said the next two seasons will be either Eloise and then Francesca or Francesca and then Eloise, which makes sense. It takes a few years to film, so by the time we get to Hyacinth and Gregory, the actors are going to be well into their 20s,” Quinn explained. “So I think it’ll probably be OK. Will it be weird that we knew them when they were 12? We see child stars grow up all the time.”
She continued: “As a writer, it was hard to write those two books at first. I really had to let them grow up in my mind a bit and that was hard for both of them. I was really glad it took several years — but even so — I can’t remember how much time passed in the writing. I really had to let them grow up. It was tough.”
Quinn said there’s a lot for fans to look forward to, adding, “With Gregory, there’s that whole classic Regency hero who doesn’t want to get married. I was like, ‘But here’s this guy who’s now seen seven brothers and sisters fall in love. Why would he think that?’ So his story is very different. He’s desperate to fall in love. He’s this total romantic and he’s so excited to fall in love. He falls in love with the wrong person to start out with.”
Based on her book series, Bridgerton centers around the different members of a wealthy family as they each search for love in 19th century London. Season 1 centered around Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) and Simon Basset (Regé-Jean Page), who were the leads of the first book, The Duke and I.
Season 2 took inspiration from The Viscount Who Loved Me, which followed Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) as he found love with Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley). Despite Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) being the subject of the third novel — An Offer From a Gentleman — his love story with newcomer Sophie (Yerin Ha) wasn’t explored until season 4.
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The third season instead focused on Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) and Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) as seen in Quinn’s book Romancing Mister Bridgerton. Brownell recently confirmed that Eloise and Phillip Crane or Francesca (Hannah Dodd) and Michaela (Masali Baduza) are next in line.
Off screen, Quinn is launching her JQ Editions to recommend similar historical romance novels.
“I get so many readers who want to know, like, ‘What do I read after Bridgerton?’ And, ‘I’m new to historical romance, and what should I read?’ And now I can be like, ‘This. This is what you should read. These are my very favorite books,’” she shared. “I do recommend books on social media. But this one, it’s going to be six books a year to start out. So these are the top, these are the very, very best. This is me saying, ‘This is the one you should read and I’m mailing it to your house.’”
The famed author is also partnering with Spotify to promote the streamer’s first-of-its-kind Page Match, where readers can connect physical and e-books to audiobooks on Spotify with a single scan.
“My jaw dropped,” Quinn said of seeing the feature for the first time. “I know so many people who have one book that they read and one book that they listen to because they read in bed and they listen to things at the gym. And now, with the Page Match, you can go back and forth seamlessly. You can stay with one book, which I think is incredible for people like me, who don’t split their attention very well.”
Bridgerton returns with the second part of season 4 on Thursday, February 26. All of the Bridgerton audiobooks are available in Spotify Premium.
