Dearest gentle reader, we’ve hit the part of the Bridgerton cycle where everyone’s finished sobbing over Benedict (Luke Thompson) and Sophie (Yerin Ha) and are now feral over one question: which Bridgerton sibling will be the season five focus: Eloise (Claudia Jesse) or Francesca (Hannah Dodd)?
Luckily for you, I have done all the digging to find out which lucky lady could be the diamond of the season.
Which sibling will season five of Bridgerton focus on?
Netflix has now confirmed that season five will centre on Francesca Bridgerton and Michaela Stirling (Masali Baduza), her late husband John’s (Victor Alli) cousin, as the new romantic leads.
Before we had this confirmation, showrunner Jess Brownell turned it into a bit, rocking white pocket squares embroidered with “E” and “F” at the season four premiere and telling Deadline, “Both characters with the initials on my pocket squares will get seasons in five and in six. In what order? I can’t say.”
Book-wise, Eloise is technically next, with To Sir Phillip, With Love the fifth book in Julia Quinn’s series, while the Francesca-focused When He Was Wicked is sixth. However, the show has messed with the book order before, bringing Penelope (Nicola Coughlan) and Colin’s (Luke Newton) season ahead of Benedict’s. The timeline is more vibes-based than canon when it comes to decision-making.
What is the plot for the next season of Bridgerton?
Major spoilers ahead, you’ve been warned x x.
Since we’ll be following Francesca, the season will be building on the book When He Was Wicked, where Francesca’s seemingly idyllic marriage to John Stirling ends in tragedy when he dies young. She eventually falls in love with his cousin Michael, who in Netflix’s version is gender-swapped to be Michaela.
Netflix’s fresh character breakdown describes Francesca as the “Countess of Kilmartin — reserved and contained” and says that as Michaela “stirs up new feelings inside her, Fran will make discoveries about herself that could change everything.”
Michaela, meanwhile, is said to be “charming and vivacious” but also a “vulnerable young woman who is quick to run the second she feels discomfort”, and this season she has to face that vulnerability while navigating both John’s legacy and her relationship with Francesca.
“It’s so important to tell this story,” Dodd told PEDESTRIAN.TV of Francesca and Michaela’s storyline ahead of season four’s release.
“I just think Bridgerton is a show that celebrates people and love, and everybody deserves the chance to see their love story on screen. So we’re so excited. I’m so honoured to get to tell that story at some point. So yeah, over here it’s all celebrations.”
Showrunner Brownwell is also keen to bring a queer romance to the forefront. “To have sexuality be inclusive as well was really important to me,” she told P.TV, describing Bridgerton as “inclusive romantic fantasy”.
“[I’m] really excited to have one of our main lead storylines be a queer storyline in the future,” she said at the time.
Will we actually leave the Ton?
For season five, Netflix has teased that we might be swapping Mayfair ballrooms for misty Scottish vistas, with the first look showing Francesca and Michaela against sweeping mountains and dense forests.
The new teaser arrived alongside the log line and confirmation that the season is now in production, so the Kilmartins are well and truly open for emotional business.
Given Francesca holds the title Countess of Kilmartin and Michaela is returning to handle the Kilmartin estate, it makes sense that at least part of the season will pull us towards Scotland and away from the London marriage mart.
So yes, prepare for yearning looks in carriages, questionable weather, and lots of tartan!
Who will be cast in next season’s Bridgerton?
Casting hasn’t been locked publicly yet, but the broad strokes are already there. Whichever sibling leads, Bridgerton tends to keep its ensemble around even as couples rotate through centre stage, with Nicola Coughlan, Luke Newton, Luke Thompson, Yerin Ha, Claudia Jessie, Hannah Dodd, Adjoa Andoh, Golda Rosheuvel, Florence Hunt, Will Tilston, Ruth Gemmell, and Lady Whistledown narrator Julie Andrews all expected to return in some capacity in future seasons.
Hopefully Jonathan Bailey and Simone Ashley continue to make cameos in future seasons and personally I’d love to see season one’s Phoebe Dynevor make a return. What has the OG diamond been up to???
Author Julia Quinn is also keeping one eye on the cast as the younger siblings grow up. Speaking to Us Weekly, she admitted, “I don’t necessarily know how they’re gonna spin it or write it, or what they’re going to keep and change.”
Hyacinth (Florence Hunt) and Gregory (Will Tilston), who were introduced as literal children in the early seasons, were around 10 and 12 when the story first kicked off, which is why fans have always wondered whether they’d eventually be aged up or swapped out.
“It takes a few years to film, so by the time we get to Hyacinth and Gregory, the actors are going to be well into their 20s. So I think it’ll probably be OK. Will it be weird that we knew them when they were 12? We see child stars grow up all the time,” assured Julia.
She also reflected on how strange it was for her to age them up in the novels: “As a writer, it was hard to write those two books at first. I really had to let them grow up in my mind a bit and that was hard for both of them. I was really glad it took several years, but even so, I can’t remember how much time passed in the writing.”
Is there a trailer for Bridgerton season five?
Not quite, but Netflix blessed us with a little teaser when announcing which Bridgerton would be taking centre stage. Take a peep here:
When is the release date for Bridgerton season five?
There’s no official release date yet, but the maths is not exactly optimistic. Season one of the show came out in December 2020, season two in March 2022, season three in May 2024, and season four in January 2026, which means we’re living with gaps of roughly 18–24 months between each instalment.
With season five set to start shooting in spring 2026 and post-production on Bridgerton historically taking a while thanks to all those string-quartet pop covers and CGI swan extras, we’ll most likely see the show again in a late 2027 or even early 2028 drop.
Netflix has already locked in the show’s future, with season six also officially confirmed, so we’re not just arguing about which sibling gets the next social season — we’re basically booked and busy all the way through to the end of the alphabet.
Until then, all we can really do is rewatch Benedict and Sophie’s masquerade madness and argue over which emotional disaster gets dibs: the fire-breathing letter writer or the traumatised newlywed. Can’t wait!
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