Where in the world is Francesca Bridgerton? The third Bridgerton daughter is more elusive than Carmen Sandiego. One minute she's waiting with the rest of her siblings to see Eloise in her coming out dress, and the next she's completely MIA during the Bridgerton/Sharma family dance. Season 2 of Bridgerton provides no explanation for Francesca's mysterious disappearance, but there is a real life reason why the character disappears midway through the season never to be heard from again.
As a viewer, it all feels very Morgan going upstairs on Boy Meets World and not coming down again until the next season (with a new face, might I add). After all, Francesca already spent most of Season 1 in Bath with Aunt Winnie, whoever that is. So it was only reasonable to expect she would play a larger role in Season 2.
For his part, Bridgerton executive producer Chris Van Dusen was hopeful fans would get to know the sixth Bridgerton sibling this season, but alas, actor Ruby Stokes landed a bigger role elsewhere. "I love Francesca, but we lost her midway through Season 2," Van Dusen told TVLine in a recent interview. "After exhausting all other options, she unfortunately had to come out due to reasons beyond our control. Perhaps Season 3 will be the charm."
TVLine revealed that Stokes only had time to film three episodes of Season 2 before she went to work on the upcoming Netflix series Lockwood & Co., in which she'll play the lead role of Lucy Carlyle. Since Francesca is unlikely to step into the lead role on Bridgerton until a hypothetical sixth season, it's understandable that she opted to headline her own show in the meantime. But what this means for the character going forward remains unclear.
If Stokes remains unavailable for Season 3, the show could recast the role. Given how little screen-time Francesca has received so far, it might be easier to introduce a new actor in the role. Then again, if Stokes is available for future seasons of Bridgerton, the enigmatic nature of the character could work in the show's favor.
Within the world of the books, she's a relatively lowkey character until her love story rolls around in When He Was Wicked. It's not until she becomes entangled in a friends-to-lovers romance with the notorious rake Michael Stirling that her personality comes into focus. That means Bridgerton still has time to develop Francesca into a richly drawn member of the family, and in the meantime, I suppose viewers can assume she's been sent to Bath to be Aunt Winnie's fulltime companion for the foreseeable future.
Images: Liam Daniel/Netflix