Is Netflix About to Run Out of Bridgerton Siblings?

Warning: contains spoilers for Bridgerton seasons one to three.

Bridgerton’s creators have shown keen instincts when it comes to rearranging their adaptation of Julia Quinn’s book series for a TV audience. Instead of keeping in step with Quinn’s chronology and following Anthony Bridgerton’s love story up with that of his brother Benedict, they skipped ahead in season three to show us Colin and Penelope Featherington’s scandal-and-blackmail-hit romance.

It was the right move, not just because Nicola Coughlan’s Penelope had quickly become a fan favourite and it makes sense to meet the audience where they are, but also because it drew the show’s Lady Whistledown storyline to a welcome close. In the TV show, it was revealed that Penelope was the Ton’s gossip columnist in the finale of season one. In Quinn’s novels, that mystery was stretched out until book four. Pen and Colin’s story leapfrogging Benedict’s meant that the Whistledown scandal could be put to bed at the right time for the TV show without the search for her true identity becoming too repetitive or dragged out.

Now that Netflix has officially picked up Bridgerton for seasons five and six, the showrunners face a new choice: to stick with one sibling’s love story per season, or to run two concurrently. The latter makes much more sense for TV. In a book series, it’s less apparent that the rest of the characters are standing around with nothing much to do while the leads get on with their plot; on TV, that would be much more visible and much more of a problem.

After Benedict’s romance is told in season four, which is due to arrive in 2026, next up in the book chronology is Eloise’s story, followed by Francesca’s. However, there are already signs that the showrunners are planning to rearrange things. Michael Stirling, a pivotal character in Francesca’s story who isn’t introduced until book six in Quinn’s timeline is already on screen as the gender-swapped Michaela in the season three finale. That suggests Francesca’s story will come in season five, or will perhaps begin as early as season four.

Once again, that would be the right move for TV. Michaela’s arrival has piqued interest in Francesca’s story, and it would be a waste to stall for two seasons to deliver on that promise. The needs of the TV show are better served by overlapping the siblings’ stories than by continuing to separate them out into one per season. Season five could be both Eloise and Francesca’s, with season six telling the (aged-up) stories of remaining Bridgerton kids Gregory and Hyacinth.

But where would that leave the showrunners’ oft-stated goal of making the full eight seasons of Bridgerton?

There is, of course, one solution that Bridgerton’s creators are already showing signs of setting in motion: use the older women. Introduce non-book romances for TV characters who are better loved and more central on screen than they ever were in the books.

We’ve already seen it with Violet Bridgerton, whose frisson with Lord Anderson had a promising start in season three. Why not spend the next four seasons also relighting the fires of Lady Danbury, Lady Featherington, or even Queen Charlotte herself? By weaving in romantic plotlines for women at a different stage in their lives to the debutantes and twentysomethings, Bridgerton can serve the needs of its TV audience and its characters both.

Bridgerton season four is due to arrive on Netflix in 2026.