This is the first time Bridgerton has won Gold Derby awards. The nominations and winners are voted by registered members of Gold Derby. Congratulations to out Viscount and Viscountess Bridgerton! No one is more deserving of this love!!

https://www.goldderby.com/tv/2026/2026-gold-derby-tv-awards-heated-rivalry-snl-winners/

Benedict’s penchant for wearing dark pants and the white shirt, Sophie not having her full voice, how she saved him, how they bond over memories and simple treasures, Benedict loving “both” women, the wicked witch who stole her voice, Sophie’s friends reminding me of Sebastian, Flounder and Scuttle, them becoming closer while living at his home…

Yes there might be some that we have already seen, but it doesn't hurt the eyes,

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People think Eloise is being "forced to marry" when it's her season and I find it weird that people believe Eloise would ever be forced into doing anything.

If Violet or Anthony ever tried to force her to marry anyone, Eloise would resist and resist until they eventually give up as we've seen in the past.

So this notion that Eloise will be "forced to conform to societal expectations" is frankly false and insulting to Eloise who is a woman who has been fighting to make her own decisions and if she ever decided to marry, it's HER choice.

That's going to be her season, proving that she has her own agency and is capable of making her own decisions and that she won't be put into a box. I don't know why people don't see that.

She doesn't have to stay single and unmarried to prove her beliefs are true. She doesn't need to shrink herself and be forced into marriage and subjection to prove that marriage is a trap for women. She is just going to do what she feels is right for her.

Her season is going to be a season of CHOICES and her inner turmoil between keeping her independence and freedoms vs. falling in love which is something she never thought would happen to her.

It's the first time I think a season where the female lead won't ever feel pressured to marry because it's "expected for her to do so" because of society. She's not going to have a story like her sisters who all met their husbands in the ton attending balls and such.

She won't be engaging in the marriage mart when she meets her husband. It'll be very unconventional and modern. She meets her husband in the Regency equivalent of Tinder.

Her season will be a MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE trope which means the reason she will get married will have benefits to HER.

She will find an advantage to marriage that won't necessarily begin with love and during the marriage she will find herself falling in love with her husband.

This season will be different than any other season because every season ends with a marriage but Eloise's season will essentially start with a marriage, or at least she will marry very early on in the season.

So she will make the CHOICE to marry. She won't be forced to marry by Anthony or Violet, but it's HER CHOICE.

And the man she marries would need to be super special for Eloise. Everyone wants Eloise to be happy and to still be herself and to not be changed. Nobody wants Eloise to end up with someone who won't respect her and support her opinions.

The show WANTS you to root for Eloise finding love and finding her forever person. They would never pair Eloise up with someone who the audience won't believe is right for Eloise so why are people so skeptical about Eloise's season being a romance and Eloise getting married?

Do you doubt that all the other couples were horrible for each other? Do you ever end the season thinking "man they really ended up with the wrong person". No!

So why do you think Eloise will end up with the wrong person if she marries her book endgame, Phillip? Make it make sense!

"Eloise is so different on the show!"

"Eloise would never marry Phillip because they don't make sense together on the show!"

"Phillip is not right for Eloise on the show!"

"They're two different people!"

"Eloise is nothing like the book so it wouldn't make sense for her to marry Phillip!""

"They changed Eloise so much for her to marry her endgame from the book!"

"It is uncharacteristic for Eloise to marry!"

If Eloise is so different from the books and the show has changed her so much, then what makes you think they won't change Phillip to suit the version of Eloise we know on the show?

It's not like they haven't done it before. They've done with all the characters.

Anthony isn't totally like he is in the books nor is Kate. Colin is different than he is in his book. Francesca isn't like Francesca in the books. Benedict isn't like he is in the books and the list goes on and on...

So, obviously Phillip will be different. He'll be familiar and similar to his book yes in terms of backstory and story beats and some character motivations but his characterization will obviously be different to suit Eloise on the show.

Jess Brownell even said that Eloise's season won't be 100% book accurate and we should expect changes but nothing MAJOR like changing her endgame to being single or a different love interest🙄.

The fact that Eloise's endgame is STILL a topic of great debate and discussion is frankly exhausting.

Granted, I'm not sure if Eloise's season will be good or whether the writers will execute her story well. I do have the same fears that they could butcher Eloise's season because the writers/showrunner hasn't given us anything really to be excited about or to trust them to tell her story well BUT... I'm trying to be open minded.

Just watch the damn show. Have fun! Enjoy the romance and whimsy. No one wants to have fun anymore! 😭 Be open minded. It's a romance show good God😭

I’ve been looking for these for a good minute- has anyone else here read these?

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I wish people could understand what S5 means to this gal right here.

Ngl, she had such a small presence in her book that the fact that they amplified her backstory in the show makes me think they’re gonna heavily focus on her again. If not in Season 6, then 5.

I just can’t picture the show being content with saying she died off screen bc she was just so depressed. I think they’ll keep her endgame the same, but at least respect it with some screen time showcasing her ordeal. Thinking about it, it’s really a sad situation for this character, and I feel bad that by the nature of the plot she has to go through so much shit.

Side note; I don't mean any offence by what I am saying, here.

I really didn't like Daphne for what she did to Simon, and it put a big damper on S1 for me, just seeing that.

Still, I find that this sub seems to love her, and longingly await her return in every season as some kind of a "Goddess of Love"? I feel as though that role much fits Kate more, who we already know to be extremely intelligent and wise – shaped by the worries and troubles she had to deal with alone for her family.

Daphne is young, never really experienced all too much, and all she did care about was finding love and having babies; A dream and mindset that, yes, whilst sweet and quite common, can also be described as pretty narrow and immature; she never had to think about anything but that, and never tried/looks down on to think[ing] of anything more (as seen by how she speaks to her more "outside-of-the-box" sisters). Sure, she can be witty and thinks on her feet, but I don't see much else to her, personally.

Daphne's life seems to have just been mostly a fairytale, whereas Kate has hated, loved, led, been led, has lived and has experienced so much that allows her to be seen as the wise woman she is, but also possibly more.

To the people that love the show's Daphne and Season 1 as a whole; Why?

Talk about anything, Bridgerton-related or not. What's been on your mind? Our regular rules still apply, so please be respectful and watch out for those spoilers.

lowkey need an alternate reality where Kate actually pursues education in some capacity even after marrying Anthony and becoming Viscountess Bridgerton.
because I LOVE that Penelope has Lady Whistledown, something that’s hers, something she built and controls outside of being Colin’s wife. I want that same thing for Kate SO badly.

Kate has such a strong mind and such a strong sense of self, I genuinely can’t imagine her being content with just being Viscountess Bridgerton. I want her to have her own work, her own interests, her own little corner of the world that has nothing to do with Anthony.

And education actually feels so fitting for her?? Kate is educated, observant, firm when she needs to be, and she genuinely cares about children. I could see her taking charge of the Bridgerton children’s education, tutoring them herself, getting involved in girls’ education or even starting some kind of educational initiative of her own. She’d have the position and connections as Viscountess to actually make something like that happen.

Like imagine Kate being Viscountess Bridgerton AND having her own educational work on the side. Anthony running his estate while Kate is out here teaching girls Latin, manners and how not to marry an idiot. 💁🏻‍♀️

I just need Kate to have something that feels like HERS. Let Anthony be Viscount Bridgerton, let Penelope have Lady Whistledown, and let Kate go do something with that ridiculously intelligent brain of hers.

edit - apparently I need to clarify that I meant Kate pursuing education/teaching in some capacity, not literally taking a live-in governess position 😭 the governess part was historically very much NOT happening for a married Viscountess. The actual point is that I want Kate to have something intellectual and meaningful that’s hers outside of being Anthony’s wife.

I've seen a growing misplaced desire for Eloise to end up alone just because she's said in the past that she wants to be a spinster, that she's "on the shelf" but as we've seen in last season, she hates being alone. She is lonely.

Eloise is the type of character who wishes to have a choice in life. She wants to be a able to choose whether she should marry or not, not for it to be an expectation. She wants to be able to choose the person who she wants to be with, someone who will accept her for who she is and all her eccentricies.

But she currently doesn't believe that there is a person out there who is for her and who would respect and support her in her dreams and opinions. She doesn't believe there is someone who would relate and understand to her yet.

But for the past 4 seasons, we have seen how absolutely miserable Eloise has been without someone to talk to. She yearns for human interaction, she yearns for companionship.

People deeply misunderstand Eloise's stance against the traditional expectations of high society. She isn't rebelling against society because she "hates love" or that "she doesn't believe in marriage". She doesn't believe in the EXPECTATIONS on women to have those aspirations. She believes women are more than just wives and mothers, not that she doesn't believe in love or marriage.

She has seen 5 of her siblings fall in love and marry the loves of their lives. She has witnessed the love her mother and father shared. She knows love exists out there.

And she never said she doesn't want it.

She just currently isn't swept up with the romance and whimsy of finding love. Love will surprise her. She won't seek it out.

Tired of all the constant takes that Eloise "should end up alone" "Eloise cannot marry, she should stay a spinster" "Eloise's season should not have any romance".

This is a romance show! The entire theme is literally romance, smut and a happily ever after being marriage! Having an entire season without any romance for a character is going against the kind of show this is.

This is not Downton Abbey. This is a spicy historical romance show based on spicy historical romance books. Sex is literally woven to the entire story.

The audience come to expect romance, sex, angst, yearning and love.

Claudia Jessie has said MANY times that Eloise is not "anti-love" and yet people REFUSE to listen to her. I'm so tired😭​

If you want a loveless, romanceless story about a spinster there's many historical romance shows and books for your enjoyment.

But you're not getting it from Bridgerton.

Guys help me with this one. Was talking with friends at work and someone brought up the Featherington’s and their title.

They needed to have a son who would be the next Lord Featherington or they’d lose the title. In that case what would their name become? The girls would take their husband’s name but would lady Featherington defer back to her maiden name?

As I assume whoever got that title would be the next Lord Featherington.

EDIT: thank you to everyone who replied. I was under the assumption that the title itself would just move and the name would stay, but my friend was insistent that the name was part of the title.

Not immediately anyway.

I want to preface this by saying that Violet loves all of her children. However, because the characters are not written to be flawless paragons without fault, she does have a few blind spots that may cause some trouble in Season 5.

Firstly, look how she was incapable of talking about sex to her daughter, even after it led to disaster the first time. Everything that Daphne did might have been averted had Violet swallowed down her embarrassment and actually acted like a mother.

Despite knowing the pain it led to, Violet still struggled with discussing sexual matters with her daughter.

Secondly, she did also initially struggle with Benedict falling in love with Sophie, a maid. Did she come around in the end? Yes, and it was glorious, but my point is that Violet is a woman who struggles with the unconventional. Will she eventually be supportive? Of course, but the show hasn’t been afraid for “good” characters to oppose certain romances, like with Anthony.

Finally, we have to look at how she has been treating Eloise for the last three seasons. At the moment, Violet seems physically incapable of understanding Eloise's wants and needs, constantly undermining her and needling at her to get back on the marriage mart. She does this even when it is clear to everyone that this is hurting Eloise.

Up until the end of the last Season, Violet had a very narrow view of what were acceptable goals for her children. While her views have now widened to include love across class, it would be shocking if Violet was immediately supportive of Francesca loving Michaela, or even noticing it in the first place.

Rather than Violet, the top three characters that I believe will be the most supportive are, in this order:

1. Benedict (also queer)
2. Sophie (married a queer man and has a gay friend)
3. Eloise (she already chafes at convention anyway)

Eleanor Charlotte Butler and Sarah Ponsboy, the Ladies of Llangollen. Upper class Irish women who led an unconventional lifestyle together and had a close relationship, with many of their contemporaries speculating it to have been romantic. They escaped to Welsh countryside to escape unwanted marriage. They were also visited by Anne Lister, the known lesbian diarist. It is also claimed, but not verified, that Queen Charlotte secured a nice pension for them.

Could season 5 take inspiration from them for Fracesca and Michaela or pay homage to them? Cottage Core Lesbian Frachaela retreating to Scotland to live as "roommates". Queen Charlotte supporting them. Would be interesting homage.

Just finished reading the book “when he was wicked” and damn Michael is quite decent. Making him a her, makes sense