‘Bridgerton’ announces fifth season with new teaser trailer

Streaming giant Netflix announced a fifth season for its hit show ‘Bridgerton’ on Tuesday, while also revealing a promising teaser trailer. 

In the trailer, the middle daughter of the Bridgerton family, Francesca (played by Hannah Dodd), can be seen as she is walking towards a balcony to join Michaela (Masali Baduza).

And while the two smile at each other and glance ahead with a hopeful look on their faces, their hands almost touch. 

Season 5 of ‘Bridgerton’ will be the first one to focus on a gay lead storyline, a bold choice (especially given the historical setting of the show), which is sure to have people on the edge of their seats. 

‘It’s hugely important’ to tell queer stories, showrunner says 

Back in January, just before season 4 of ‘Bridgerton’ was released, the series’s showrunner, Jess Brownell, told Out Magazine how significant it was for her to ensure the show was inclusive. 

“It’s hugely important to me to be able to tell queer stories in ‘Bridgerton’”, she explained.

“I feel like ‘Bridgerton’ made its name in many ways on being an inclusive universe, and for queer stories to be left out of that would not feel right”. 

“So, to be getting to tell Benedict and Francesca’s stories over the next couple of seasons is really thrilling,” she added. 

Benedict, the main character of the show’s fourth installment, was already confirmed as being bisexual in the earlier seasons.

In his season, however, he ends up choosing a nobleman’s daughter-turned-maid, Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha). 

As for Francesca, her relationship with Michaela will not come as a surprise to ‘Bridgerton’ fans. 

Hints of her plausible queerness were already dropped back in season 3, when the reserved middle daughter met Michaela for the first time and visibly experienced a few minutes of ‘gay panic’. 

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A major shift from the novels

Attention – spoilers ahead if you have not watched Season 4! 

At the beginning of season 5, we find Francesca as a young widow. Her husband, Lord John Stirling (Victor Alli), dies suddenly, leaving her devastated.

After two years, Francesca decides to give herself another chance at marriage, mainly for ‘practical reasons’ – it’s still a Regency show, after all!

But just as she starts to consider her options, Francesca will be swept away by her own feelings for Michaela, her late husband’s cousin. 

In the novels from which the series took inspiration, American author Julia Quinn wrote no queer storylines. 

Michaela was actually a male character called Michael, and the gender swap was a deliberate choice from Netflix.

“[Those love stories] have traditionally been excluded from things like period dramas – and queer people did exist, have always existed, and will always exist,” Dodd told Tudum.

“So they deserve a love story just like everybody else.”

Season 5 of Bridgerton is currently in production, although a release date has yet to be announced.

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