Netflix’s hit sensation Bridgerton had many fall in love with the Bridgerton family as well as their romantic leads. With wealth, lust and betrayal set against regency-era England, seen through the eyes of the powerful Bridgerton family. Season one’s focus was the eldest Bridgerton daughter, Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) and her love interest, Duke Simon Basset (Rege Jean Page). Season two brought the eldest Bridgerton sibling, Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey), and his quest to find a wife, but falling for Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley). Fans were shocked when Shondaland had announced they would be deviating from the order of the books in making Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) the new sibling to find love.

Julia Quinn has written eight books, each focusing on one sibling. The first focusing on Daphne and the sequel focused on Anthony. Fans had expected the order to remain, with Benedict (Luke Thompson) being next, but there was a mixed response when it was revealed that book four would be the focal point of the third season. 

With a new showrunner, Bridgerton is back for its third season and finds Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) has finally given up on her long-held crush on Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) after hearing his disparaging words about her last season. Despite this, Penelope had decided that she would give up on her long-held crush on Colin Bridgerton and find a husband who would allow her an independent life, far away from her mother and sisters and free to be Lady Whistledown. Lacking confidence, Penelope will struggle with marriage mart, not so different from Daphne’s debut season in the series. Colin returns from his travels, disheartened that Penelope is giving him the cold shoulder. Like the season one plot line, Colin will assist Penelope in finding a husband but must grapple with his growing feelings for Penelope, just like Simon Basset had to in season one. Complicating matters for Penelope is her rift with Eloise Bridgerton (Claudia Jessie), the fifth sibling of the group, who has found a new friend in a very unlikely place. Just like in season two, Penelope will find it very difficult to be Lady Whistledown with her making more of a presence during the social season. 

As the writers have swapped the book order around, many have come to doubt if Benedict will get his delayed fourth season, and so do we.

On Julia Quinn’s website, she has listed the siblings and their romantic leads. What is interesting, is the order after Penelope. Readers will see that, just like the show, it skips Sophie Beckett in favour of Penelope, but Sophie is pushed further back in favour of Eloise’s love interest, Sir Philip Crane (Chris Fulton). Given that this order is reflecting the official running order of the show, up until Penelope, it’s not a big jump to think this is a sign of who the season four of Bridgerton will focus on.

Given that Eloise is mentioned heavily in the plot and is known to be a second favourite of some of the writers and producers (Penelope coming on top for them), while Netflix has only greenlit up to four seasons, it would make sense for them to push their favourite characters through, even if it is at the expense of the book order.  Claudia Jessie has also been heavily involved in Netflix’s season three promotion, from the Tudum event to the EW cover photoshoot for season two despite not being a lead. It seems as if Shondaland and Netflix are gearing up to make her the new lead of season four.  On social media, Bridgerton’s official Netflix has noticeably more posts about Eloise than they have for Benedict. This is all speculation, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they announced season four would be focusing on Eloise Bridgerton.