Gender Swapped Storyline
Viscount Bridgerton approves of his sister’s love. The Bridgerton Actor Jonathan Bailey reacted to the backlash of the show and the queer character twist of the Netflix Adaptation of the books for on-screen sisters Hannah Dodd’s Francesca.
Bridgeton’s Jonathan Bailey is keeping his All Faith and Trust to the Makers “Interesting” Choice
Viscount Bridgerton aka Jonathan Bailey addresses the negative backlash of the fans for the change in the book adaptation of the popular Netflix series Bridgerton. The Season 3 finale of the series, introduces Michaela Sterling (Masali Baduza) as the future love interest of Francesca (Hannah Dodd) by replacing the book character Michael.
The 36-year-old actor put light in this matter on his recent Happy Sad Confused podcast on 22 August episode saying, “It’s interesting to see their responses to shifts in the adaptation,” Jonathan also added, “Which, for me, is actually quite upsetting to see. [The writers] changed the gender of Michael Sterling to Michaela, which I think is brilliant and exactly what should be happening.”
In addition to this, The Author of the book Juila Quin also defended the negative responses of the season 3 finale on Instagram claiming, “Anyone who has seen an interview with me from the past four years knows that I am deeply committed to the Bridgerton world becoming more diverse and inclusive as the stories move from book to screen”, Quin also added, “But switching the gender of a major character is a huge change.”
Julia also addressed the fans’ concern and put faith in the maker’s decision to turn the gender of Michael, Francesca’s husband John’s (Victor Alli) Cousin into Michaela.
Quin said, “I trust Shondaland’s vision for Bridgerton, but I wanted to be sure that we could remain true to the spirit of the book and of the characters, talked for a long time about it.”
She also added,”I am grateful for your understanding and touched by your deep commitment to the characters of the Bridgerton world. I ask that you grant me and the Shondaland team some faith as we move forward.”
On the other hand, one of the showrunners Jess Brownell addressed that she thinks the storyline of Francesca’s book ‘When He Was Wicked’ is perfectly reflected through this decision.
Quin said in her interview with Teen Vogue, “I didn’t want to just insert a queer character for queer,” she also told “I want to tell a story that accurately reflects a queer experience, and the first time I read Francesca’s book, I really identified with it as a queer woman. Maybe not in the way Julia Quinn intended.”
With Julia’s blessings, she also noted, “The fan base is not a monolith, and you’re never going to please every single side of the fan base. She claimed “We talked about the fact that with almost any single book, there would be a side of the fandom that would be disheartened to see their favorite characters changed. I don’t think that there is any book that wouldn’t happen with, so for me, it came back to story and it came back to character.”
