Bridgerton Showrunner: 'I Would Really Expect to See Kate in Eloise's Season'

[Warning: The following contains spoilers for Bridgerton Season 4 Part 2. Read at your own risk!]

Another Bridgerton season has come to an end, with Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) happily tying the knot with the Lady in Silver, Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha). But that's not before some truly devastating and alarming events took place across the Netflix drama's Season 4 Part 2, from the death of Francesca Bridgerton's (Hannah Dodd) husband Lord John Sterling (Victor Alli) to the arrest of Sophie following her stepmother Lady Araminta Gun's (Katie Leung) accusations. 

TV Guide asked showrunner Jess Brownell some of our burning questions following Bridgerton Season 4 Part 2, including the development in Francesca and Michaela Sterling's (Masali Baduza) relationship and the implications of Sophie and Benedict's story. And though Bridgerton has not announced which Bridgerton sibling Season 5 will follow, Brownell spoke to us about the thinking behind former leads' roles in future seasons and whether viewers can expect more of fan-favorites Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley) and Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey).

Michaela leaves without saying a word to Francesca. Why did you want their story to end on this note of separation this season?
Jess Brownell: This season for us with Francesca and Michaela was all about telling a narrative arc where they get to a place of friendship. At least for Fran, it's a genuine, platonic friendship by the end of the season. I think the moment where Fran asked Michaela to stay on with her, she's so caught up in her grief, and really, all she's thinking about is the fact that Michaela is the one person who can understand what she's going through. What Michaela is thinking in that moment is meant to play as more of a mystery. We've intentionally held back from playing any scenes from Michaela's point of view because we're setting something up that we want to explore in future seasons.

Ah, my next question was going to be how would you describe Michaela's reasons for leaving — so you're saying it's meant to be a mystery?
Brownell: It's meant to be a mystery at this point, it's a future story.

Sophie and Benedict's story ends on a happy note largely because they hide the fact that she's an illegitimate child. What takeaways about class do you hope viewers get from this season?  
Brownell: It's a lie at the end about her origins — Violet (Ruth Gemmell) is blackmailing Lady Penwood to agree to this lie. But what I really like about that storyline, and it comes from the books, is that it's based in an emotional truth. Society creates these rules about what legitimizes a person or not, but based on the way we've evolved in modern day, we would never see her that way. We would see that she is a genuine daughter by birth and education of Penwood House, as she says. It's interesting because in some ways, we haven't come as far as we think in terms of overcoming the class divide. But I hope that if it's too hard for people to look at that in the modern day, then looking at class in the 1800s and having empathy for characters like Sophie, Hazel, Varley, and Celia allows people to think more critically about class today.

On the note of Violet blackmailing — I was writing in my notes, Violet is the MVP of this season. What did you most want to show about her dynamic with Sophie? 
Brownell: I love the relationship between Violet and Sophie. I think it's something that leaps off the pages from [the book]. And I think for Sophie, who hasn't been parented in such a long time, we changed the book a little bit so that her dynamic with Lord Penwood is softer, and I think there is genuine fatherly love that he expresses. But he dies at an age where Sophie isn't quite sure she can believe in love. So for Sophie to be loved and cared for and fought for by Violet, by a parental figure, I think is really, really healing.

Fans have pointed out that Kate is not included in some first-look photos and other press for this season. How much are the writers talking to the marketing teams about highlighting the cast relatively equally?
Brownell: We want to make sure that everyone gets highlighted as equally as we can. For me, whenever I get the chance to sing Johnny [Bailey] and Simone [Ashley]'s praises, I try to because I'm so grateful to both of them for the generosity that they've shown in making time to come back for us. And I'll continue to try to highlight both of them in the show as we go forward.

Can viewers expect more Kate and Anthony in the coming seasons? 
Brownell: It comes down for me to obviously, availability and schedules is one part of it. But it's also about the themes of the season and what the connection is like between the leads of that season and past leads. If we're talking Eloise, for example, I would definitely expect to see Benedict in Eloise's season, because they have a very close bond. I would also really expect to see Kate in Eloise's season, because the two of them have this runner where they have kind of a special relationship, and obviously Penelope (Nicola Coughlan). It does depend on who we're focusing on. 

More on Bridgerton:

• Bridgerton Season 4 takes a welcome break from high society
• Benedict Bridgerton brings himbo charm to Bridgerton Season 4
• Bridgerton's muddled attempt at class commentary

Bridgerton Seasons 1-4 are available to stream on Netflix.