The upcoming Netflix schedule is on a roll right now in terms of new news. This week the streamer announced the subject of Season 4 of Bridgerton and Dear Reader you will likely be unsurprised. The streaming series is sort of shuffling back into regular order and will give us Benedict’s storyline next. Only I’m a little whatever about it.
If you are a book reader, you may know already that Julia Quinn’s novels go in this order:
- 1. Daphne
- 2. Anthony
- 3. Benedict
- 4. Colin (Penelope)
- 5. Eloise
- 6. Francesca (Romance 2.0)
- 7. Hyacinth
- 8. Gregory
The show made waves last season when it gave us Penelope and Colin's story out of order in Season 3. But during Season 3, there were hints that we’d get back to the more normal order of things and Benedict would come next, particularly given the ball at the end of the latest batch of episodes. It makes sense from a storyline perspective, as Luke Thompson's character has been a major character on the show since the beginning and has arcs outside of the Bridgerton household. It also makes sense he'd go next from an age perspective and from what we know about where Francesca's story is going from the books as well. And yet.
As one of the best streaming services , Netflix smartly released the news on Tuesday morning, writing, “Welcome to the marriage mart, Benedict.” Indeed.
Unfortunately, if you are a show watcher and not a reader of Ms. Quinn’s fun novels, I have to break it to you that Benedict’s story – despite being a spicy yet kind of too tame sexual awakening so far, is also one of the least exciting narratives in the book. It’s like Cinderella – and I’m gonna mention a bit more from the books in the next sentence, so skip down if you don’t want to know this. There’s literally a masquerade ball a woman named Sophie Beckett sneaks into and then she finds her “Prince Charming” and through a series of circuitous events the two eventually find each other.
Listen, Bridgerton has shown a penchant for making changes to the book series and has most certainly fleshed out Benedict's story so far. In another similar move, we already know that Francesca’s arc may take an LGBTQ bent along the way. Basically, I'm saying there’s plenty of room for the Shonda Rhimes-produced drama to continue to add meaningful additions to Benedict’s story.
If I'm being honest, I think Benedict is a nice side character in the Bridgerton world, but I'm way more excited about what's going on with both Francesca and Eloise. Given what we know about Francesca's arc, she'll need some time to be married, but I kind of wish we'd kept skipping around and done Eloise's story next.
Eloise’s narrative is the weirdest in the whole series and I cannot wait to see how they play it out on the small screen. At the end of Season 3, I kind of had some hopes her journey away from home might lead to a much longer journey and we might get to her next. Also, I personally find Eloise to be the most interesting character on the show, so I’m champing at the bit here to get her romantic arc.
In short, tackling Benedict next was teased and makes the most practical sense. But I don't have to be super happy about it.
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