Here’s What To Expect From Francesca’s ‘Bridgerton’ Season (Based On The Book ‘When She’s Wicked’)
Francesca may have gotten married in season 3 of ‘Bridgerton,’ but her love story is far from over. In fact, we know from shortly after her marriage that there will be problems for her—especially regarding her feelings for her husband John’s cousin, Michaela Stirling.
But Francesca’s story changed dramatically in the second half of season 4, when John unexpectedly passed away. Of course, book readers knew this was coming—after all, it’s Francesca’s story I won’t to be told until she becomes a widow. Because his book, “When He Was Wicked” by Julia Quinn, takes place four years after John’s death.
So here’s what to expect from Francesca’s love story, based on the book “When He Was Wicked” by Julia Quinn.
First Things First: We Get a Sexier Michael Sterling
In the book, John’s cousin is a man named Michael, but the show obviously took its own creative liberties with Michaela’s character. Because of this, there may be changes that will change the course of their love story. For example, there may have been a lot of discussion about queer relationships, especially during the Regency period. Another possible change: In the book, Michael inherits John’s title, but it’s unlikely that will happen with Michaela, as she is a woman.
Francesca Decides To Marry Again
In the book, Francesca decides to remarry because she wants to have a child. However, there is a positive change to be made, given the fact that Francesca is clearly attracted to women. That being said, you can still choose to ignore these feelings and return to the marriage.
Francesca and Michaela reunited in London
If the show goes by the book, Francesca and Michaela will likely spend time apart, in part due to their growing feelings for each other. And when I say “time,” I mean literal years.
That said, they will meet again at Kilmartin House when Michaela finally decides to return to London, not knowing that Francesca will be staying there. Francesca will admit that she didn’t answer any of Michaela’s letters because she is angry that Michaela left her.
Francesca May Try To Convince Michaela To Join The Marriage Mart
In the book, while Francesca longs to join the marriage, she encourages Michael to do the same. It is possible that they will play the same game as Michaela, although Michaela may make it known that she is not interested in marrying a man.
Francesca Will Bring Nurse Michaela Back To Life
In the book, when Michael fails to show up for dinner with the Bridgertons, Francesca looks for him and finds him sick at Kilmartin House, where he finally confesses to her that he has malaria, but that he is not dying. It is possible that Michaela’s character may go through a similar story, especially if they have her journey to stay away from Francesca.
Michaela Grows Jealous of Other People’s Romantic Attention to Francesca
In this book, Michael is frustrated when he sees how many other men are interested in courting Francesca, especially because even though he knows that he is in love with her, he does not feel that he can be with her. He believes that his feelings for Francesca are a betrayal of John.
In the book, Michael fights other men who he believes have bad intentions with Francesca (something I could see they might have kept with Michaela) until Colin finally tells him that he should marry Francesca himself. While I don’t think Colin will give the same advice to Michaela, I wonder if he will see Michaela’s feelings for what she is in front of everyone.
Michaela Will Save Francesca From Unwanted Developments
When one suitor takes it too far and starts making unwanted moves towards Francesca, Michaela will likely come to save the day, just like Michael did in the book. This will allow Francesca to see Michaela’s protective side—and Michaela will probably admit that the reason she knows where Francesca is is because she’s always watching over her.
Francesca Will Sue Michaela Believing She Is Betraying John For Remarrying
In the book, Francesca believes that the rift between her and Michael is because Francesca plans to remarry. She thinks that Michael sees her as betraying John, and she finally confronts Michael about this. In the heat of the moment, Michael kisses her for the first time; Francesca, afraid of his feelings, chooses to go to Scotland to get away from him.
Michaela Will Decide She Wants To Be With Francesca—And She’ll Put It All On The Line
In the book, after Francesca leaves, Michael is down on her, but he finally finds his resolve: He will convince Francesca to marry him, no matter what it takes. He appears in a house in Scotland, where Francesca has been hiding. He asks to talk about the kiss and suggests to her, and nervously, Francesca asks if she can think about it. She says the kiss was a mistake, but Michael decides to seduce her anyway, and they end up sleeping together for the first time.
Although it’s not clear if Michaela will propose to Francesca at this point, I DO appreciate the possibility that Michaela will decide that she wants to be with Francesca before Francesca decides the same thing, and that she will go after what she wants.
Francesca Will Try To Run Away In The Rain, But Michaela Will Bring Her Back
In the book, Francesca is so distraught over what happened between her and Michael that she leaves the house, refusing to come back even when it starts to rain. Michael goes out to find her and brings her home, telling her he won’t leave her standing in the rain. However, they realize that they can’t get back to the house, so they stop at the farmer’s cottage. They have to take off their wet clothes, much to Francesca’s embarrassment. Francesca feels uncomfortable with him, but she tells him that she will not seduce him; when that was said, he finally asked her to kiss him, and he agreed. They end up sleeping together again, but this time it’s Francesca who seduces Michael.
Francesca Is Still Not Sure About Staying With Michaela, So Michaela Will Blame Her Rightly
In the book, when Francesca shoots down Michael’s proposal again, Michael decides they deserve to be happy, and chooses to send Francesca away properly. Finally, Michael admits that he has been in love with Francesca, and he will have to be the one to leave her if he doesn’t want to, because he can’t break up with her. And just like that, Francesca decides to expire.
Francesca Decides She’s Done Running From Michaela
Finally, Francesca decides she is done running from Michael and returns to him, accepting his proposal. Not long after they got engaged, while spending a day together, they decided to get married on the same day, as there is no question of having a fancy wedding.
Michaela Will Be Sick—Again
In the book, right after their wedding, Michael gets sick again, and Francesca is worried about malaria. He is sure that Michael will die and that he will lose someone else. When she finally realizes it is not malaria, she is relieved but overcome with emotion and has to leave him. Michael realizes that he has visited John’s grave, so he follows him.
At John’s grave, she finally admits that she’s in love with Michael, and all her bottled up emotions come out. Michael finds her like this, and they finally declare their love for each other.
In the end, it is not clear how much of this issue the producer and writers will follow, especially since Francesca and Michaela’s gender will probably play a major role in the story, and the fact that they are both women in society with certain expectations. That being said, they’re going to use the book as a loose framework for the season—so even though we won’t see it play out, we’ll still see a good number of these events unfold throughout Francesca’s story.
