Who Is Lord Anderson? The Season 3 Newcomer Seems To Intrigue Violet

In the first two seasons of Bridgerton, family matriarch Violet worked hard to marry off her two oldest kids. She’ll keep at it in the upcoming Season 3, but some fans are hoping she’ll have a chance to address her own wants and needs. After all, Queen Charlotte reminded us that she’s a woman with… a garden of her own.

Back In Bloom?

Ruth Gemmell, who plays Violet, recently teased that her character will have a busier personal life in Season 3. “I’m quite pleased that Violet’s getting to dip her toe back into society and embrace life again,” she told First for Women magazine in mid-April. “That’s exciting, because ‘Dowager’ is quite heavy. And it makes me feel quite old!”

Between clues like that and a new promo, fans think her garden might be tended to sooner rather than later. In the short video dropped on April 28, Violet can be seen with a Season 3 newcomer, Lord Anderson (Daniel Francis), as well as Agatha, Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh). As he smiles in Violet’s direction, she looks over her shoulder at him with a small smile of her own, then turns forward again and bites her lip. Meanwhile, Lady Danbury catches the exchange and looks less than pleased.

“Only time may tell what should happen when a charismatic gentleman such as Lord Anderson enters the picture,” the caption teases.

“Violet’s face is everything,” one fan wrote in the comments, along with, “Lady Danbury doesn’t approve.” Others joked about her garden, including one fan who wrote, “Things are BLOOMING here!!”

A “Charismatic” Newcomer

The addition of Francis as Lord Anderson was first reported in July 2022. Deadline described the new character as “a charismatic man who lights up any room he enters.” He’s said to catch the attention of “certain matriarchs” and “the ire of others.”

Armed with those clues and the promo, fans started speculating on Reddit about his role in Season 3. Several people thought he might have a family tie to Lady Danbury, and some specifically guessed he is her brother. In that case, they don’t think Lady Danbury should disapprove of Violet’s interest. Lest we forget, Agatha had a romantic affair with Violet’s father in Queen Charlotte.

“My guess right now is this is Lady Danbury’s brother,” one Redditor commented. “Lady Danbury slept with Violet’s father so Violet sleeping with her brother seems like fair play, lol.”

Others made more garden jokes, and one looked forward to seeing Violet’s adult children deal with their mom possibly finding a love interest. “I have no idea where this is going or how serious it will be, but the idea of all the Bridgerton siblings finding out Violet has a beau is comedy gold,” they wrote.

Is Lord Anderson In The Bridgerton Books?

Though Violet is a key character in the entire book series by Julia Quinn, she doesn’t have a traditional happily-ever-after love story like her children do. Her big romance is with Edmund, the late Lord Bridgerton, and Quinn explained on her website that used to think Violet never found love again “because she was so devoted” to him. However, writing Book 6, When He Was Wicked, got Quinn thinking more about second loves and why she hadn’t written one for Violet.

“I’ve thought about it a while, and in all honesty, I don’t think I could come up with anyone good enough for her,” Quinn explained. “Seriously. I just adore her.”

The Bridgerton writing team, on the other hand, may have taken a crack at it with Lord Anderson. We’ll see when Part 1 of Season 3 arrives on May 16, followed by Part 2 on June 13.