If there’s one benefit to Bridgerton Season 3 being split into two parts, it’s that fans have all the more time to theorize about Colin and Penelope’s happily ever after — and who might get theirs next. Netflix’s Bridgerton rollout has been the subject of much speculation ever since it was announced that Benedict’s love story would not be the focus of Season 3, despite his book being third in Julia Quinn’s novel series.
That simple switch has kept fans on their toes, and showrunner Jess Brownell confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that it’s “possible that we will continue to go out of order.” But if you’re a fan of the affable, artistic, second-eldest Bridgerton brother, fear not. There are several clues that Benedict will lead Bridgerton Season 4.
1. Bridgerton Doesn’t Want Fans To Feel “Weary”
Colin and Penelope’s season wasn’t moved up arbitrarily. In fact, Brownell’s reason for putting them first sets a precedent for why Benedict may very well be next. She told THR that both she and Shonda Rhimes were “growing weary of the dynamic where Colin has no idea that Pen has feelings for him. So, it felt like it was the right time to lean into what’s going on between them and spin it in a new direction.”
What does that have to do with Benedict? It shows that the Bridgerton team doesn’t want to play out specific patterns too long. As Nancy Meyers once said, something’s gotta give! Several fans expressed on X (formerly Twitter) that they’re ready for Benedict to move on from his fleeting love interests and find his match.
“What else is Benedict gonna do at this point to put it off? He's running out of hobbies/bad decisions!” one viewer wrote — with another replying that Benedict was “spinning his wheels” this season.
Brownell’s comment suggests that Bridgerton doesn’t want storylines to get stale, so there may indeed be a change (i.e., true love) ahead.
2. Benedict’s Arc “Comes To A Head”
Similarly, back at a sneak peek event in February, Luke Thompson teased that his character’s story “comes to a head” in Season 3, adding that Benedict “confronts” a pressure that’s been brewing since Season 1. The comments, tied with Thompson’s hesitance to give too much away, convinced fans on Reddit that he might be sitting on some juicy material. Like, perhaps, his own season?
Plus, in her THR interview, Brownell teased a shift for Benedict. “I think by the end of the season, he’s going to know a lot more about what he wants out of life and where he belongs,” she said. If that doesn’t scream leading man...
3. The Pall-Mall Theory
If you keep up with the Bridgerton discourse online, you might be familiar with the popular theories surrounding the family’s Season 2 pall-mall game. Fans used the gameplay to predict the order of the siblings’ seasons, and noted that Adjoa Andoh (who plays Lady Danbury) told Decider that “Who ends up succeeding and getting through the wicket and who ends up in the bushes ... [is] a great analogy for relationships and how things go in the show.”
The theory correctly foresaw that Colin would displace his brother for Season 3 — and also predicted that Eloise would lead Season 5. That leaves Benedict for Season 4!
4. It Would Feed Into Eloise’s Story
Speaking of Eloise...
While she certainly feels like another contender for the Season 4 spot, it’s not her time yet. In her book, To Sir Phillip, With Love, Eloise corresponds with her future husband, Phillip Crane, in part because the rest of her family is preoccupied with their own love lies and she’s not able to talk to them about her feelings of loneliness or approaching “spinsterhood.”
“Benedict was too much of a dreamer, and besides, he almost never came down to London anymore, preferring the quiet of the country,” she muses about her brother.
He is particularly close with Eloise on the show — so if he’s still around, it would be hard to imagine her storyline playing out the same.
5. A Character Reveal?
There’s yet another clue that Benedict’s season could be nigh. Bridgerton wig artist Grace Gorman recently shared a photo of Lady Cowper on Instagram, and wrote in the caption that the character’s first name was Araminta, the same name of the stepmother of Benedict’s love interest, Sophie Beckett, in the books.
This fact has actually been floating around for several years now, but given the anticipation of Benedict’s season, fans took the note as a sign of what’s to come. “SOPHIE BECKETT IS AMONG US,” one fan commented. “OMG!!! I think we are going to see Sophie soon enough,” commented another.
With Cressida Cowper taking on a bigger, more fleshed-out role in Season 3, it certainly would feel like the right time to introduce a connection to Sophie.
