Bridgerton Season 3 Recasts MIA Francesca With Hannah Dodd
Bridgerton‘s Lady Whistledown should be all a-titter over Francesca B.’s new Season 3 look.
Hannah Dodd, who can be seen in Netflix‘s recent release, Anatomy of a Scandal, has been tapped to take over as Lady Violet’s sixth-oldest child, in the wake of original cast member Ruby Stokes leaving to star in Netflix’s Lockwood & Co.
Francesca — who remained off-screen in Season 1 until the final episode — was intended to have a larger role in Season 2 of the Netflix smash, but Stokes had to leave after shooting just three episodes due to her Lockwood & Co. commitment.
“I love Francesca, but we lost her midway through Season 2,” showrunner Chris Van Dusen explained to TVLine. “After exhausting all other options, she unfortunately had to come out due to reasons beyond our control. Perhaps Season 3 will be the charm.”
Or… not.
Francesca Bridgerton is described “a bit of a mystery within her chatty, extroverted family. Despite her reserved nature, she goes along to get along when it comes to society affairs, fortified with a dry wit and pragmatism that confound the fickle ton yet seem to draw attention when she least desires it.”
Bridgerton has been renewed through Season 4, but if the chronology of Julia Quinn’s novels is any indication, Francesca will not take center stage until the sixth book, titled When He Was Wicked.
Production on Season 3 begins this summer.
Dodd’s other TV credits include Anatomy of a Scandal (where she plays a young version of Sienna Miller’s character), Netflix’s upcoming Enola Holmes 2, the teen dramedy Find Me in Paris, and Hulu’s Harlots (as Sophia Fitzwilliam).
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I don’t think anyone will notice as she was hardly seen in the series anyway so far :D
Hate it when they do that. Nothing wrong with the original.
Well, not being available is what’s wrong with her.
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Without revealing ANY spoilers, if they want to do Francesca’s book as Season 6 (if the series ultimately runs that far) there are things they will need to do with Francesca’s character arc this season and next season that are not negotiable, unless they start from scratch with her plot. Frankly, not having her around last year to start integrating her more into the family was iffy given the needs of her timeline.
In terms of timeline, yes, there are definitely things that need to happen if they follow the book at all. But in her terms of integration into the family, even in the books, I never felt she was that integrated,to the point that I had almost no attachment to her going into When He Was Wicked.