Is Francesca Bridgerton Gay? This Clue Hints at a Big Change from the Books
Warning: Major spoilers for Bridgerton and the books. In the first part of Bridgerton season 3, it’s quite clear she’s more interested in her piano than finding a husband (relatable, honestly). But her indifference to finding a suitor has got some audiences wondering if Francesca Bridgerton is gay. Not only that, but wondering if her love interest will diverge quite significantly from Julia Quinn’s source material.
Related: Here’s who all the Bridgerton siblings end up with
Showrunner Jess Brownell has confirmed that there will be queer love stories in the coming season of Netflix’s hit show, telling Refinery29, “I think this is a show about the many ways in which people love. So it only feels right to show all the ways in which people love, including queer love. So we are exploring queer love stories across the next couple of seasons,” she said, adding, “I don’t want to say exactly how that plays out. But it was important to me to foreground queer love and to tell queer stories and tell stories about queer joy as well.” If Francesca Bridgerton is gay, that would confirm a lot of fan theories that have been flooding Reddit and social media.
Is Francesca Bridgerton gay?
In episode eight of Season 3, Francesca invites Eloise to go with her to Scotland with herself and her new husband, Lord Kilmartin. But a huge twist reveals that Kilmartin’s cousin Michael Stirling—who becomes a love interest for Francesca in the later novels—has been gender-swapped to Michaela.
Shortly after the first part of season 3 premiered on Netflix, Twitter and Reddit were full of speculation that this could happen. “did they make francesca gay on bridgerton??? or am i just reading into things? pls tell me if you got the same vibes,” tweeted one viewer. “Francesca Bridgerton is gay u heard it here folks,” wrote another, to which someone else replied: “Literally first episode of the season and i clocked it.”
In the books, Francesca marries twice. Her first husband, John Stirling, suffers from an implied brain aneurysm and passes away—leaving Francesca as a widow. In a very Bridgerton turn of events, John’s cousin Michael has always possessed strong feelings for Francesca, and after he inherits John’s wealth and estate, he and Francesca fall in love and get married.
Bridgerton showrunner Jess Brownell confirmed that Francesca’s main storyline would be a queer-centered one. “The reveal of Michaela versus Michael, from the books, is something that I’ve been pitching from season one of the show,” Brownell told Teen Vogue. “My approach to telling a queer story on Bridgerton has been to look to the books for thematic cues.”
She also confirmed that she got the blessing from author Julia Quinn for the change. “We talked about the fact that with almost any single book, there would be a side of the fandom that would be disheartened to see their favorite characters changed. I don’t think that there is any book that wouldn’t happen with, so for me, again, it came back to story, and it came back to character. Because Francesca’s book resonated [with me] in the way that it did, it felt like a natural adaptation.
