As “Bridgerton” fans speculate how Eloise might find her happy ending, star Claudia Jessie admitted her character has more room to “experiment” with a less traditional ending.
“I think what’s good about Eloise is that there is loads of room for her to play,” Jessie told TheWrap at the Season 3 premiere in New York City on Monday. “You can experiment more with Eloise.”
The Netflix series has already deviated from Julia Quinn’s original ending for Eloise, which saw her finding love with Sir Phillip Crane, who instead offered his hand in marriage to Marina Thompson on the show. With the book’s storyline no longer in the cards, fans have theorized that “Bridgerton” could embrace a queer romance for Eloise — or bring back printer’s assistant Theo Sharpe (Calam Lynch), whose societal standing is well beneath Eloise.
“I don’t think Shondaland would ever ignore romance or anything, but there is room for Eloise to go in a bit of a different journey,” Jessie noted. “The good thing about the books is we have this beautiful foundation, but Shondaland has always kept it fresh by adding in new things here and there.”
Jessie added that she “loves” hearing about any fan desires or theories, saying, “It makes me happy that people are talking about it.”
With the Netflix series already shuffling the order of the books as it moved up the love story between Penelope (Nicola Coughlan) and Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) in place of Benedict (Luke Thompson), fans are similarly speculating that fan-favorite Eloise could lead Season 4.
Other names thrown out to lead the fourth installment include Benedict — whose love story takes place in the third book — or Francesca, who is now played by Hannah Dodd after Ruby Stokes exited the show. Benedict’s love story has also been the subject of fan theories, as viewers similarly suggest he could have a queer storyline of his own.
“Bridgerton” Season 3, Part 1 premieres May 16 on Netflix.
