As the eagerly anticipated third series of the Netflix period drama Bridgerton finally hit our Netflix screens on Thursday, fans who have already begun to binge will have noticed one key character looks a little different.

Francesca Bridgerton, who is the sixth of eight Bridgerton children, takes centre stage in the new installment of episodes – and it comes just as her character has been recast.

While the main storyline follows the blossoming romance of Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton (Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton), it also sees Francesca step into a bigger role.

In the previous two seasons, the minor character was played by Ruby Stokes, 23, and was only ever seen in five episodes in total.

Now, the actress, 28, Hannah Dodd has taken over as Francesca’s storyline begins to become more important.

Season three sees the introverted younger Bridgerton sibling officially be presented to Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel) with the hopes of becoming the second ‘diamond’ in her family.

The sudden recast has left fans puzzled and they have taken to social media to question why Ruby stepped down from the Netflix role, just as her character was about to become a central focus of the plot.

However, the answer to the question is simply that Ruby had to step down due to other overlapping filming commitments.

The 23-year-old actress left Bridgerton to film the new supernatural drama Lockwood & Co – another Netflix show, where she starred as the lead role of Lucy Carlyle in season one.

Her character in the young adult series was a teenage ghost hunter who teams up with two other youngsters (played by Cameron Chapman and Ali Hadji-Heshmati) to set up a psychic detection agency.

However, Variety reported in May 2023 that Lockwood & Co would not be getting a second season, because ‘while Netflix was very pleased with the show, and especially the work that had gone into it, viewing numbers didn’t meet the threshold to greenlight a second season.’

The departure of Ruby from Bridgerton meant that Hannah was able to step into her place, after initially losing out in a battle for a key part in the drama when she auditioned a couple of years ago.

Hannah, who is best known for her roles in other Netflix shows such as Enola Holmes and Anatomy of a Scandal, is stepping up just as Francesca takes centre stage in the new episodes.

Record-breaking Bridgerton has a reputation for turning unknowns into hot properties – think Rege-Jean Page and Phoebe Dynevor from series one.

And Hannah’s racy role will undoubtedly spark watercooler moments, as intimacy co-ordinators have been involved from the very start.

In When He Was Wicked, the sixth Bridgerton novel, Francesca is the central character – and one fireside scene is described as one of the most sensual in period romantic fiction.

Despite the series only being released today, fans of the period drama have already flocked to X (formerly Twitter) to praise the Colchester-based actress’s performance as the quiet Bridgerton sibling, writing:

‘Yeah I don’t  care what y’all say I love Hannah as Francesca #BRIDGERTON.’

‘Forget diamond of the season, Hannah Dodd might just be my diamond of the entire #BRIDGERTON series… She’s literally the perfect Francesca and I cannot wait for everyone to fall in love with her work in the first batch of episodes!!’

‘I know she’s a different actress but Hannah is playing Francesca in this scene with the same mannerism Ruby did well done! #BRIDGERTON.’