Bridgerton star teases “confronting” season 4 character dynamic between Francesca and Michaela

What does Bridgerton season 4 hold for Francesca and Michaela?

In among the romantic story of Colin (Luke Newton) and Penelope (Nicola Coughlan) at the end of Bridgerton season 3, fans of the period drama were also left on a bit of a cliffhanger as it related to Francesca (Hannah Dodd).

She may have had an intimate marriage ceremony and wed Lord John Stirling (Victor Alli), but there was a clear spark between Francesca and John’s cousin Michaela (Masali Baduza) once they met.

Their season 3 meeting only led fans into overdrive about what the future could hold and seeing as we now know that Francesca is set to be one of the leads of an upcoming season, many will be waiting to see what becomes of her connection with Michaela.

Teasing what’s to come between them in season 4, series star Hannah Dodd teased: “What can I say? I think Michaela is a character that challenges Francesca whereas John is a character that makes space for Francesca. They’re both really important for Francesca to move forward.”

Masali Baduza as Michaela Stirling in Bridgerton season 4. Liam Daniel/Netflix
Dodd continues: “I think Francesca is very inhibited by rules of society and rules she puts on herself and expectations she puts on herself. Michaela throws that away and even in life, in modern day, when you meet that person and you’re like ‘Why don’t you feel like this?’ I think that’s the dynamic between the two of them.

“It’s quite a confronting feeling for Francesca and a new feeling, a challenging one. I just think there’s an exploration of those feelings.”

As fans of the original Julia Quinn novels will know, the role of Michaela has been gender-flipped for the series. The original novels also see Lord Stirling die and Francesca fall in love with Michaela, but as for how that will play out in the series, we’ll have to wait and see.

In terms of what’s been happening with Francesca since we last saw her on our screens, Dodd also said: “Where do we start? She’s just got back from Scotland with Eloise and we’re getting the vibes that something’s gone down in Scotland, not really sure what.

“She’s in her marriage bubble with John but there’s still a lot of work to go, they’ve only just met really, they’ve not known each other for that long. There’s still a lot of growth and evolution in there to happen between themselves, to get out of their introverted spaces a bit so that they can grow together.”

This season, the main focus is of course on Benedict (Luke Thompson) and Sophie (Yerin Ha), with their love story also set to open up the world of Bridgerton by going downstairs in the lavish homes we often see in the series.

Enraptured by a mysterious Lady in Silver at his mother’s masquerade ball, “Benedict sets out in society to uncover the young lady’s identity. But in fact, his heart’s desire is not in society at all — she is a resourceful maid named Sophie, working for the formidable Lady of the house, Araminta Gun (Katie Leung),” according to the show’s description.

Bridgerton season 4 part 1 premieres on January 29th and Part 2 on February 26th, both on Netflix. Seasons 1-3 are available to watch on Netflix now. You can buy the Bridgerton book series on Amazon.