Diksha Sundriyal
The third season of Netflix’s ‘Bridgerton’ delivers the friends-to-lovers story of Colin Bridgerton and Penelope Featherington, but it also sees a major shift in the storyline of other Bridgerton siblings, with the final scene laying the foundation for the fourth season. With Daphne, Anthony, and Colin (and even Francesca) out of the way, the floor is open for Eloise and Benedict Bridgerton to be the star of the next season, and several things point towards Benedict getting his time in the spotlight the next season. One of those things is the exploration of his sexuality, which changes many things about how the story may proceed for Benedict.
Benedict Bridgerton’s Bisexuality is Confirmed in Season 3, Part 2
While ‘Bridgerton’ adapts the book series by Julia Quinn, the show has made a point of not shying away from divergence from the source material. While the overall storyline remains pretty much the same, the writers of the show take creative license when it comes to the portrayal of the character and defining the arc of the character, something that Quinn has wholeheartedly supported, including the intention to add queer love stories into the mix, especially in the future seasons, and Benedict Bridgerton’s arc in Season 3 proves that the show is ready to go forward with that.
While Benedict is straight in the books, the show has been playing with the idea of his sexuality since the first season, giving the fans a strong reason to believe that he is not entirely straight. This suspicion is confirmed in Season 3 Part 2, when, via Lady Tilley Arnold, Benedict is introduced to a certain Paul Suarez and is invited to a threesome. He refuses the offer at first, mainly because he has never been with a man before, and the world he belongs to doesn’t look very kindly at people of the LGBTQ+ community. In Season 1, Benedict came across a man in high society who was gay but had to live a closeted life because his homosexuality would have the ton turn him into an outcast.
Encouraged by Tilley to explore his feelings, Benedict decides to give it a go and discovers a new facet of himself. It feels freeing because it shows him so much he still doesn’t know about himself. The relationship with Tilley and Paul had been casual, but it was an eye-opener to an already free-thinking and open-minded Benedict. He didn’t think he would like a man romantically, but he realized that he just needed to meet the right man to have feelings for one. What more had he stopped exploring just because he thought it wasn’t for him?
Benedict’s Bisexuality Will Play Into His Love Story in Season 4
The end of Season 3 shows great character development for Benedict and becomes even more important in the context of his taking over as the lead for Season 4. Nothing has been officially confirmed yet, but the Season 3 finale drops a pretty massive hint. Before Eloise leaves for Scotland with Francesca, John, and John’s cousin, Michaela, she meets Benedict, and the talk of their mother’s masquerade ball comes into the picture, which is followed by the suggestion that Benedict would be “hiding out behind a mask, avoiding eligible ladies like the plague.”
This is a clear reference to ‘An Offer From a Gentleman,’ the third book in the Bridgerton series, which focuses on Benedict’s romance with Sophie Beckett. They meet each other at the masquerade ball, and their story begins in a very Cinderella style, complete with Sophie leaving the party at midnight, hounded by her evil stepmother, and leaving Benedict wondering about her real identity. Every book in the series focuses on a different love trope, which is what the show sticks to as well. With Benedict and Sophie, the trope of class difference comes into play, and interesting as the concept already is, it will be intriguing to see how Benedict’s confirmed bisexuality plays into it.
Read More: Bridgerton: Are the Featheringtons Based on a Real Family?
