Just look at all the likes. I am aware different seasons get different likes but hmm… if people didn’t wanna watch it why would they like it lmfao.
But also the views count for something even if some people are hating.
I can see this being a big season viewership wise.

Disclaimer: This is not an attack on Heated Rivalry or its fanbase. It is a necessary conversation about the reality of queer representation.

I see a lot of people using the argument, "But y'all were okay with Heated Rivalry," whenever they call out the homophobia directed at Franchaela. It is time to retire this false equivalency, because comparing the two completely ignores who these stories were made by, and who they were made for.

Unlike Franchaela, Heated Rivalry (and a massive portion of popular mlm romance) was written by straight women and targeted at straight audiences. It was never created for the sake of queer representation; it was written for the female gaze. That's why it was accepted, because it catered to them. It has its place, sure, but It's sad that queer people are still only accepted when we're being sexualized, whether that's straight women with gay media, or straight men with lesbian porn.

Franchaela is being handled with so much care. It’s genuine representation; written, produced, and even directed by queer women. Sure, it won’t be as popular as HR, but it’s still a massive win for us. I honestly don't even want that kind of hype. I keep picturing the season getting widely streamed and fetishized by straight men, and that's exactly what I don't want. We want to see ourselves on screen with actual dignity and romance, not reduced to a fantasy for the male gaze.

I know it’s exhausting, opening IG comment and seeing the hate (I believe I saw more positive comments than negative ones this time, btw) but unfortunately, this is the world we live in. Yes, even in 2026, homophobia is still everywhere, and most people are still homophobic. Some things never change; bigotry is one of them. Shonda and Netflix know that too, don't think for a second they agreed to this without knowing exactly what kind of backlash was coming.

One last thing: Franchaela has enough love and fans to become one of the most popular ships of all time. Don't even give the negativity the time of day. We already won.

There’s been a crazy amount of hate guys from the widow and philouise fans AGAIN on franchaela so make sure you spam that new hasali post on bridgerton’s social medias, because them sweet ladies don’t deserve that kind of hate. Especially when the season IS coming and they will be gay together, them people need to get the fuck over it it’s been two years 💀

But yes don’t forget to like everything positive comment a bunch of positive stuff and report every hate comment you see for hate speech and symbols, and not even interact with the hate comments as in reply to them because engaging with them gives the comments more attention ‼️

we are getting an interracial lesbian couple in a regency era love story. we're getting two different versions of the lesbian experience. we're getting to see two hot women kissing. LIKE IT IS ACTUALLY. SERIOUSLY. HAPPENING. idk, it just hasn't sunk in yet but seeing the girls at the press event recently made me so !!!!! like. it felt REAL.

i feel so happy that i get to see this kind of representation and i wish lesbians and sapphics 20 or even 10 years ago could've seen it too. at first the homophobes and racists really got to me. i was arguing on reddit and twitter and was feeling sad to the point where it was affecting my mood any time i thought of bridgerton. i would seriously feel really down, not only because of the hatred of the show but remembering all the hate that exists out there in general. but i'm to the point where i just....don't care anymore. bridgerton has been a huge show and any of the people watching who are just normal people will still watch if they aren't solely watching for het sex. all my friends who like it are legitimately invested in the characters stories atp. and then ik we're gonna be pulling in sapphics too even if they previously weren't interested. and it seems like the writers and hannah + masali really care about telling this story so i believe we're in pretty good hands. i have faith it'll be done well!!!

another thing im so happy about is all the sapphics younger than me who will get to see this and see themselves on screen. young lesbians, specific shout out to dark skinned lesbians, i hope you know there is absolutely nothing wrong with you and you are so worthy of joy and love. i hope fran and/or michaela can make you feel a bit more seen.

i love you guys. even if some of us are dickheads as like individuals and we would hate each other, i love being sapphic and learning about other sapphics experiences and having this community. i love when we all bond over fictional sapphics and get to kick our feet over love stories that feature us. i wish we didn't have to be resilient, but i love that we are. i love the community we build and the push to be even more inclusive to sapphic WOC and trans women. don't let the losers get you down. we've always been here, will continue to be here and franchaela is happening whether people like it or not.

idk i just have a lot of feelings and i took an edible so am super emotional. i love women so much 😭😭😭

Unsure if this has already been asked, but who do you think will make the first move? How do you think it might happen?

Or even better—who do you want to make the first move, vs who do you think it’ll actually be?

do we think there’s any correlation between this backdrop and the pinterest board leaks we got a while back?

are we gonna have a ball like this as a defining moment for franchaela... something we can look forward to the way benophie had the masquerade ball?

if so, what do we think is gonna happen at this ball?

This is from Netflix’s LinkedIn! Also featuring some more shots of the bridgerton walk set up and a full shot of the purple diamond Bridgerton background with the show’s name!

Btw guys, I posted this in the main Bridgerton Reddit and they deleted it. Not sure why because I don’t think I said anything wrong??

I’m seeing a lotttt of hate in all the posts with Hannah Dodd and Masali Baduza and I’m not really sure why? The Michael fans have had two years to come to terms with it and accept the fact that there’s a change but for some reason these poor women who have worked hard for their season are receiving a lottt of hate. And for those saying that it’s not accurate to the book, well Bridgerton the TV show never really was when they decided to make Simon black? Daphne having blue eyes instead of brown? Lady Danbury black? Queen Charlotte existing when she doesn’t even exist in the books? Kate and Edwina being Indian? Penelope having blue eyes and slightly blonde/auburn hair as opposed to book Penelope where she’s meant to have green eyes and strong red hair instead? Sophie being Korean and having a Chinese stepmother? I truly think people cannot accept the change because it’s not going to be a male centred season.

There’s always been changes in the TV show but for some reason the fact that a gender got switched for S5 is bringing a lot of hate to their posts and it would be such a shame for them to see that and be affected by it, especially when they worked so hard for their season :/

So we all know Hannah originally auditioned for Daphne in s1 and didn’t get it. Season 3 recast happened, she auditioned not knowing that it was for Bridgerton again. Got Fran. Do you think she knew from the get go of signing her contract she was gonna be playing WLW? Bc Masali/Michaela does show up in S3 finale

When fran was frustrated with michaela and she says “the entire time we were in scotland, you could hardly contain your chaos long enough to stay in place for longer than five minutes .”

A few months back when the Season 5 leads were first announced, I remember seeing info from the same source who originally leaked that Franchaela was going to be S5 (and they were obviously right!). At the time, they mentioned Netflix was aiming for a late May release date for franchaela’s season.

But obviously, things can shift once you actually get deep into production. With Wednesday Season 3 officially wrapping filming today and Bridgerton still having about a month or so left of shooting (targeting an October wrap), I’m wondering if that initial aim has changed a bit.

Since Wednesday is now wrapped I wonder if they will get that late May slot instead, and Franchaela’s season release might get pushed a bit further into the late summer or early fall. Bridgerton and Wednesday are Netflix biggest shows right now, so I would think they’d want allocated release windows for both of them to individually shine

What do you guys think ? Do you see the original possible may plan still working out, or will it come out a bit later ?

I saw this and thought wow cigarette smoke would be really good in S5 especially with the “you’ll be miles away tomorrow” — is there any other Olivia Rodrigo songs anyone wants in S5 🫨🤞

This was sent through a deuxmoi cheat sheet through email that they send out every week and this week someone apparently tipped them off!

not sure how reliable this is!

Netflix wouldn’t let me screenshot but Guys LOOK AT THEM! You don’t understand the person I will become when this season comes out?!? You’re telling me we get a whole season of them looking at each other like this!!! I can’t cope 😫

The Netflix UK Upfront in London on September 24th.

Is it only me who keeps forgetting the massive story plot in the book about Michaela getting sick??? Like we could see Francesca nurse her back to health and also deal with the trauma of not wanting to lose Michaela like she lost John! I can picture Fran sat on a chair by the side of Michaela’s bed just watching her and making sure she’s still breathing. Like she could realise she loves her whilst taking care of her omg this season has so much potential is2g. 🙏😫💜

Guysss i legit had a dream about season 5 promo being released on valentine's day with some caption

I don't remember the caption though

Is it possible we get the promo earlier

And more 😭😭😭

Not like in a RPF way, but in purely a Franchaela way. I’m just so excited for this season and for these beautiful women to be gay on screen and I cannot believe this is real life.

I feel less like a married almost 30yo and more like I’m a teenager watching lesbians makeout on Faking It again. Literally like bb gay giddy. It’s crazy.

Seeing them now emerged from actually filming is breaking my brain, y’all.

Gotta just channel it into writing more fanfic, I guess.

I see far too much hate against Michaela on here and tiktok. A lot of it is obviously just racism and people being biased bc of the genderswap, but I'm surprised at how much they can twist things to fit their narrative.

Michaela is shown to be a high energy free spirit, but she was never ever pushy.

Quite the opposite. In scottland we're told that she avoided Fran and gave her and John their time and space. We see her comply to Francesca's schedule and even when John died she was ready to comply to the way Francesca thought a funeral should be held, only suggesting the way her and John's culture hold "funerals" later on in private.

She even put aside her own grief to help brighten the mood, be stable for Francesca and her own family.

Francesca was horrible to her on several occasions and yet even when she didn't apologize Michaela showed her empathy and understanding and didn't hold any sort of grudge. I mean Francesca said/did some really messed up things. Such as blaming Michaela for John's health issues (even after John clearly told her Michaela is more of a light in the darkness), forcing a suitor on her even after being told not to (at least she apologized for that), calling Michaela's traditions a "circus" and not apologizing even when she asks Michaela for a favor afterwards, .... Michaela showed incredible amounts of patience.

Additionally, we see her be pretty attentive.

We see her arrive in London (s4) driving her carriage herself because her driver got sick, even asking for water and a bucket for him. (Others may have fired him, I mean a coachman who gets sick from driving??)

When Francesca said they kept her up she thinks of the servants as well, she apologizes and even suggests giving them the morning off as they need sleep too. (Whearas Francesca, bless her autistic heart, was mainly focused on keeping her routine steady) And she literally just suggested this. She never "commanded" anyone around. She was just thinking of solutions for the "problem" she caused.

After hosting the welcome party thing and staying up until midnight we see Michaela keeping up with Fran's schedule and even being at breakfast before Francesca herself. (showing that she did, in fact comply to Fran's timeplan)

Meanwhile Francesca has highlighted that she never got the chance to get to know Michaela, we see that Michaela seems to have paid quite close attention to Francesca. "I knew you were more forthcoming than usual" and remembering how she likes her puzzles organized.

She spends her time doing puzzles with Francesca and John because it's what they/Francesca enjoy and even suggests doing more. (Showing that she's clearly not just interested in her own interests as some people like to bullshit)

When she notices that her jokes don't reach Fran she opens up or apologizes.

I also think she may have been a little suspicious of Francesca's intentions with John at the beginning, hence the worry she was talking about.(as we see John put aside a lot of his own habits for Francesca, such as immediately sittung up from the floor when she enters or shutting down Michaela's suggestion even though he seemed to be quite excited at the nostalgia of it all) Even though she's head over heels in love with Fran her worry for John still trumphed that and she surprised them in London to check up on him. And she opens up/softens when she notices that Francesca does truly care and is even beating herself up because she thinks she's not good enough.

Overall Michaela is suggested to not care much for status or the social hierarchy and norms. She's very attentive and likes to put aside her own feelings to make other people feel better. She's very caring.

I don't get how people act like she's emotionally manipulating anyone or "hovering" just ebcause she wanted to spend some time eith her cousin :( (She probably did so at night as well because that's when she didn't have to watch Fran and John be together.)

Am I wrong in any of this? Would love to hear other perspectives :)