Pride and Prejudice gave audiences Elizabeth Bennet’s unforgettable love story — but one sister was left almost entirely in the background. Now, The Other Bennet Sister is finally bringing Mary Bennet into the spotlight.

But this isn’t just another retelling. The story explores the loneliness, pressure, and quiet heartbreak of being the overlooked sister — the one nobody expects to stand out. As Mary’s journey unfolds, everything begins to change in ways no one saw coming.

And suddenly, the Bennet sister many fans barely noticed could become the one viewers can’t stop talking about.

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Why the ‘Other Bennet Sister’ Might Be Better than ‘Pride & Prejudice’ and ‘Bridgerton’

Is Other Bennet Sister Better than Bridgerton?Courtesy of BritBox
 (Courtesy of BritBox)

Mary Bennet has always been portrayed as the awkward Bennet sister. When she’s not torturing people with her piano playing or saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, she’s hovering in the background. In The Other Bennet Sister, those qualities get an endearing interpretation that makes her the main character. Mary (played here by Ella Bruccoleri) was born to be the star of her own incredibly awkward, funny, and realistic love story. Ella, Dónal Finn (who plays one point in Mary’s love triangle, Tom Hayward), and Laurie Davidson (playing the other point, William Ryder) sat down with Cosmopolitan to break down why Mary is the best Bennet sister and what makes their show different from not only Pride & Prejudice, but Bridgerton as well.

“I don’t want to completely throw shade on the other Bennet sisters,” Ella starts, “but obviously Mary is my favorite, I just think she’s the most relatable Bennet sister. She’s the one that hasn’t figured it out yet, and she’s the one that finds everything difficult, everything comes as a struggle to Mary. She’s trudging through the mud trying to figure out who she even is. It’s really nice to see a character who doesn’t know what to say, when to say it, and says the wrong thing at the wrong time. I think she’s very human.” Mary’s ability to say the exact wrong thing is impeccable and highly watchable.

Courtesy of BritBox
 (Courtesy of BritBox)

Dónal and Laurie quickly agree, Mary is their favorite. “Oh God, yeah!” Ella interjects, “Imagine if they said, ‘I actually would prefer Jane or Lizzie.” Dónal brings up a dinner scene example that shows just why Mary is so special. In the scene, there’s a man sitting next to Mary who stonewalls her. “Mary just asks him what he is interested in and then he feels seen. I think she has that effect on everyone. It’s so easy to fall in love with that quality in a person, that makes you and people around you feel seen.” Dónal literally just wrote Mary’s dating profile for her. Adding on to Dónal’s deep thoughts about Mary, Laurie says, “What’s so nice is we see the best things about Mary through the lenses of different people. Because they all see something different. And often, something that she doesn’t see.”

The slower, quieter kind of love story is part of what separates it from a show like Bridgerton. But the two series do have one great thing in common: Ella. She played Winifred Barrigan in season 3, so she folds under pressure when asked whether The Other Bennet sister is the better show. “Oh my god, I can’t! I really like a lot of the people in that show, so I can’t.” Dónal confesses, “As someone with a terrible attention span, there are 4 seasons of Bridgerton, this is only 5 hours! So, you can manage that.”

Ella finally relents and says there is one thing that makes The Other Bennet Sister stand out. “There’s no sex in The Other Bennet Sister and there’s loads of sex in Bridgerton. Do you prefer a little tease of a forearm and the rest is left to your imagination?” She’s referring to Mary’s thirsting over Mr. Hayward’s forearms when he rolls up his sleeves in front of her. Laurie jokes, “The hysteria over Dónal’s forearms!” And Dónal asks, “Surely there are people in Bridgerton with forearms?” Laurie quickly corrects him, “But we’ve seen too much of everything else so you don’t appreciate the forearm.” Ella ends the debate, by joking, “Do you like sex or not?” The Other Bennet Sister will deliver the art of the slow yearn and burn, and of course, a great pair of forearms.

The Other Bennet Sister premieres May 6 on BritBox and releases weekly, ending its 10-episode run in mid-June.