Claudia Jessie has expressed support for her Bridgerton character to have a queer storyline.
Back in April, showrunner Jess Brownell revealed to PRIDE that LGBTQIA+-led stories were coming to the hit Netflix series, describing it as a major priority for her.
“This is a show about love in its many forms, and I think that it’s only right for us to foreground queer love and to tell queer stories,” she told the news outlet.
“I want to see more queer joy on my screens, and that was definitely a priority for me when I stepped into the showrunner role.”
Since announcing the exciting news, fans have wondered which Bridgerton character could be the new queer lead, with many singling out Eloise Bridgerton (Jessie) as the perfect option.
One person on X, formerly known as Twitter, wrote: “Eloise is Queer. You can’t convince me otherwise.”
Another fan added: “Wait, what if the queer story is between Eloise and Cressida.”
The sentiment has seemingly been shared by Jessie, who recently told Business Insider that there’s “definitely room“ for Eloise to be queer.
“I’ve always loved that there’s this coding that people have with Eloise,“ she explained.
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“There’s a strength in her that I think a queer storyline can connect. And I’ve always been touched by that as a notion with Eloise. But yeah, there’s definitely room for all that.“
While only time will tell if Eloise will have a queer romance, Jessie teased that her character’s love life could go anywhere.
“I don’t think Bridgerton would ever ignore romance. It is such a huge part of the show. But the great thing about Eloise is that there’s so much room to play,“ she added.
In addition to Eloise, fans have theorised that the second eldest Bridgerton sibling, Benedict (Luke Thompson), is queer.
Speculation on the character’s sexuality kicked off in the first season after he developed a close friendship with Sir Henry Granville (Julian Ovenden), the show’s only confirmed gay character.
Even though nothing romantic took place between Henry and Benedict, their electric chemistry seemed to suggest that the Bridgerton creatives were hinting at the possibility.
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However, former showrunner Chris Van Dusen crushed any hope of a Henry/Benedict romance when he told TV Line that their relationship was purely platonic.
Despite Van Dusen seemingly confirming Benedict’s straightness, Thompson didn’t rule out the possibility when speaking to Entertainment Weekly in 2022.
“Benedict has such a lovely openness and fluidity about him generally, and that’s really, really fun to play because it could go anywhere,“ he told the news outlet while promoting its second season.
“Obviously, there’s a way to go, so we’ll see what happens with Benedict, but we’re only on season 2, so there’s lots of space for him to explore all sorts of things.”
Part one of Bridgerton season three is now available to stream on Netflix.
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