Bridgerton Season 3's Huge Francesca Controversy, Explained

After that shocking Season 3 "Bridgerton" season finale twist — preceded by a delightful third season that Looper loved — fans have had mixed feelings about Francesca Stirling's (Hannah Dodd) future romantic prospects changing. While she's currently quite content with and recently married to John Stirling (Victor Alli), fans of the book series know her husband will die young — and she will miscarry, leaving the dukedom heirless. This is where Michael Stirling, John's cousin and Francesca's close friend, enters the narrative — and presumably where Michaela Stirling (Masali Baduza), introduced to Francesca at her cousin's wedding, will do the same. As previously noted, this is quite a change from Francesca's book's storyline, which is strongly focused on her remarrying to have children. 

Audiences have been so loudly divided over this change that series author Julia Quinn has stepped forward to soothe those worries. While Quinn admitted she needed more information on the storyline before conferring her agreement to this twist, she showed her wholehearted support of the storyline. She reiterated her commitment to adding more diversity to the world of "Bridgerton" and added the show will stay faithful to her vision.

Quinn noted that even when the story was a purely heterosexual affair, she had to fight her publisher on the topic of Francesca's widowhood. "I actually had to fight to have the first four chapters, which establish that love, included," she continued. "My publisher was worried that writing about Fran's love for John would take away from Michael's role as the eventual romance novel hero."

On the other hand, Quinn praised the series for one particular deviation from her story.

Julia Quinn noted in her Instagram post that she expects Francesca's story to be the most moving and heartbreaking season of "Bridgerton" yet, "since John is getting a lot more time on the screen than he ever did on the page." 

Quinn's Instagram post ended with a plea for faith and patience as fans wait for the next season to film. "I ask that you grant me and the Shondaland team some faith as we move forward," she wrote. "I think we are going to end up with two stories, one on page and one on screen, and they will both be beautiful and moving."

It's worth noting that the "Bridgerton" novels all feature straight, white characters, so the series has definitely already deviated from its source material. Viewers already had one curveball thrown at them because Benedict's (Luke Thompson) story takes place before Colin's (Luke Newton) in the book series' order but Netflix jumped over Benedict's story to get to Colin's. How it will further change what the book has told us about its characters remains to be seen. Audiences will find out for themselves when the fourth season of "Bridgerton" debuts.