Season 4 of Bridgerton addresses Francesca’s ongoing orgasm problems — but they have nothing to do with her sexuality after her love interest Michaela’s gender swap.
After the show returned on Thursday, January 29, showrunner Jess Brownell weighed in on Francesca’s (Hannah Dodd) inability to reach a “pinnacle” with husband John (Victor Alli).
“[We’re] more organically wanting to explore different kinds of intimacy from different characters,” Brownell told Variety. “The Francesca story specifically I’m really excited about because I think on the show, obviously, people are always having magical simultaneous orgasms, and that fantasy is really fun, but also it doesn’t represent accurately most women’s experience.”
Brownell was excited about how “empowering” the “relatability of Francesca’s story” will be.
“I hope it’s very clear from our storytelling that we’re not trying to indicate that, just because she can’t have an orgasm, that it means there’s something wrong with her relationship with John,” she continued. “They just have a different kind of slow-growing passion. Her situation is really common, and I think it’s great to represent all different types of love and different types of intimacy on screen.”
She continued: “It’s probably a combination of the fact that it is a common problem and also a problem that feels really specific to who Francesca is as a character. I wouldn’t say it’s about John vs. Michaela necessarily, but I think Fran is someone who is not in touch with herself, literally or metaphorically, and that may be part of the reason she’s unable to orgasm.”
Hannah Dodd as Francesca Bridgerton and Victor Alli as John Stirling on ‘Bridgerton.’ Liam Daniel/Netflix
Julia Quinn‘s When He Was Wicked is focused on Francesca’s marriage to now-husband John before his shocking death. Francesca would then go on to find love again with John’s cousin Michael. The series, however, swapped Michael out for Michaela (Masali Baduza), during the season 3 finale.
After backlash, Quinn showed her support for the switch while revealing the only detail she requested remain from her book.
“I made it clear that it was extremely important to me that Francesca’s abiding love for John be shown on screen,” she wrote via Instagram in 2024. “When I wrote When He was Wicked I actually had to fight to have the first four chapters, which establish that love included. 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.”
She added: “I felt that if I didn’t show how deeply she loved John, and how deeply Michael, his cousin, also loved him, then their feelings of guilt at falling in love with each other after John’s death made no sense. I didn’t want to just tell the reader that they loved him. I wanted the reader to feel it. I’m confident now that when Francesca has her Bridgerton season, it will be the most emotional and heart-wrenching story of the show, just like When He Was Wicked has always been the true tear-jerker of the Bridgerton book series.”
Brownell has since defended how Francesca’s marriage to John has played out.
“I would like to separate [Francesca’s] pinnacle troubles out from her relationship with John,” she mentioned in a separate interview to TVLine. “Her pinnacle troubles are a representation of the millions of women for whom orgasm from penetrative sex alone is merely impossible. I know we are a fantasy show, but when it comes to sex, I’m really interested in bringing a degree of representation of reality. This level of pulling back the curtain on the mysteries of sex has always been a part of the show.”
Brownell urged fans not to blame Francesca’s orgasm issues on her husband. She also praised John’s “green flags” after discovering Francesca’s conversation with him in the bedroom.
“I believe the love between them is very real,” she shared. “Love comes in many forms and it’s important to leave it open to viewers for them to form their own understanding about what the specific type of love Fran and John share is.”
Season 4 of Bridgerton returns for part 2 on Thursday, February 26.
