With a colourful cast of characters whose lives are all interconnected, Bridgerton certainly has several plates to spin when it comes to giving screen time to multiple figures outside of the central romance.
With the fourth season of Netflix’s period romance drama concluding earlier this week, meaning Sophie (Yerin Ha) and Benedict’s (Luke Thompson) journey is virtually complete, attention will now turn to other characters.
With a large family being at the centre, characters inevitably come and go, but the Duke of Hastings (Regé-Jean Page) and Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) have been absentees since the the first and second season respectively, leading some fans to question if they would be recast.
This won’t be the case, however, with showrunner Jess Brownell telling Variety: “We are not interested in recasting the characters. I think it would [be] a disservice to everything Regé and Phoebe set up in season one, and all the beautiful work they put into those characters.”
“We would love to potentially have them back at some point, but I think, logistically, we want to make sure we bring them back when we have something really meaty for them.
Liam Daniel/Netflix
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“To have them come back to say a line at a funeral and just prove that they were there, it wouldn’t feel right for many reasons.
“So I think in my mind, the camera doesn’t capture everything. They’re hypothetically there; it’s television. But we would love to find a time to bring everyone back at some point in the future.”
Despite Brownell’s reasoning, some fans have questioned their on-screen absence, with one writing on X: “genuinely why wouldn’t it feel right?? god for forbid a family member supports their family members in a show about family members…”
Liam Daniel/Netflix
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“It’s less about what feels right and what feels wrong. Having Daphne miss her siblings getting married and the funerals of their spouses feels terribly wrong for a character that was very focused on family,” opined another viewer.
Whatever the case, it remains to be seen if Dynevor and Page will reprise their roles in future chapters, with Netflix having already greenlit the fifth and sixth seasons of the wildly-popular series.
Bridgerton seasons 1-4 are streaming on Netflix, along with Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story.
Read more Bridgerton news on our dedicated homepage
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Reporter, Digital Spy George is a freelance writer who specialises in Movies and TV. After graduating with a degree in Film Studies and Journalism from De Montfort University, in which he analysed the early works of Richard Linklater for his dissertation, he wrote for several websites for GRV Media. Â His film tastes vary from blockbusters like Mission: Impossible and John Wick to international directors such as Paolo Sorrentino and Hirokazu Kore-eda, and has attended both the London and Berlin film festivals.
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