Bridgerton Boss Hoped To Defy ‘Harmful’ Stereotypes About Bisexual Men In Season 4

Bridgerton showrunner Jess Brownell has said it was “really important” to her that Benedict Bridgerton’s queerness remain a key part of his character in season four, which sees him pursuing a long-term romance with a new female character.

During a new interview with Variety, Brownell was asked about the fact that Luke Thompson’s character’s bisexuality was widely explored in the most recent season of the Netflix period drama.

She responded: “It’s really important that just because someone might end up in a heterosexual-presenting relationship, that does not negate their queerness.

“I think Benedict’s queerness will always be a piece of his identity. And when we were talking about representation, I don’t think there’s a lot of representation that I’ve seen of bisexual men.”

Brownell continued: “There is a really harmful and untrue stereotype that bisexual men are actually just gay men. More often, we see bisexual men ending up in media in homosexual-presenting relationships.

“And it felt fresh and important to see a bisexual man ending up in a heterosexual-presenting relationship and still owning the fact that he is still queer.”

Indeed, before Benedict begins his relationship with Sophie Baek, played by newcomer Yerin Ha, he is seen kissing another man in an early scene in the new season.

It was previously teased that when Hannah Dodd’s character Francesca Bridgerton gets her own central romance in a future season, this will be the show’s first LGBTQ+ storyline.

While in the books, Francesca falls in love with Michael Stirling, the cousin of her husband, the end of season three introduced Michaela Stirling, a gender-swapped version of the character from the novels.

Brownell said in 2024: “When we started talking about queer representation on the show, we started with a discussion that this is a show about happily-ever-afters, and that we’re not interested in queer trauma – that we really want to see queer joy. And if we’re going to tell a queer story, we would like to find a way for there to be a happily ever after.”

The first half of Bridgerton’s fourth season is now streaming on Netflix, with part two following towards the end of next month.