Warning: spoilers for Bridgerton Season 1 ahead. The prayers of the ton go out to Lady Featherington and her three unmarried daughters, because they're about to get quite the shock. After the shocking death of Lord Featherington at the end of the season, the Featherington women are left in limbo, unable to inherit the estate due to their gender. They have no control. (The year 1813 really was a very misogynist time to be alive, guys.) And whoever inherits the Featherington Estate on Bridgerton will likely determine the rest of their lives.
Season 1 of Bridgerton ended with Lady Featherington learning the identity of the new Lord Featherington from Mrs. Varley, her housekeeper. "We located him, ma'am. The man who will inherit the Featherington Estate," Mrs. Varley tells Lady Featherington, handing her a folded piece of paper. "Only — well... look." When Lady Featherington looks at the paper, she seems immediately concerned, and maybe even scared (see below), two emotional reactions that do not bode well for the Featherington girls. And the audience never gets to see what name was written on the paper.
At this point, you might be eager to do a quick Google search and find out who inherits the Featherington estate in the Bridgerton books by Julia Quinn, but you would be disappointed. This Lord Featherington storyline is entirely made up for the series, and does not appear in the books. The new Lord Featherington could, quite literally, be anybody! As long as the line of succession abides by Regency-era social norms.
The identity of the Featherington heir is definitely the biggest cliffhangers of Bridgerton's first season, which in 2021 means there's a Reddit thread about it already. As user argentine1! pointed out in the thread, it seems likely that the heir would be Marina's father, Lord Featherington's cousin. After all, when Lady Featherington was trying to convince Marina to marry Sir Philip Crane, she seemed to suggest that she wanted Marina to marry into a good family that could, potentially, support the Featerington daughters. So, the idea that Marina is connected to the direct Featerington line makes sense. However, that doesn't really explain why Marina and her new husband would leave London so quickly, without settling any affairs first. It's not as if they left before Lord Featherington died, so they must have known that they were not going to inherit the estate.
Assuming we don't already know the Featherington heir, a new character would have to be introduced, which opens up the Bridgerton universe. And, if the show follows the Bridgerton books, then Season 2 will likely focus on Anthony's love story with Kate Sheffield, a character that did not appear in Season 1. As suggested by leiaflatt on Reddit, the Featherington heir mystery could be an opening for Season 2 to introduce the Sheffield family, thus creating some Featherington family drama and opening the door for Anthony to find true love at the same time.
Then there's the possibility that the Featherington heir is someone we already know. Mrs. Varley's comments seem to indicate that the name on the paper is an unpleasant surprise, meaning they know who the person is, but might not like them. This, as we know, could be literally anybody in London, as Lady Featherington doesn't really seem to like anyone other than her two eldest daughters. One Reddit user, Chanel1202, suggested that Nigel Berbrooke would be the heir, citing a book spoiler that suggests a connection between Nigel and the Featheringtons (which I won't ruin here.) Berbrooke's reputation has just been sullied by Lady Whistledown, so Lady Featherington's negative reaction would be well founded if it were him. Plus, he'd undoubtedly insist on marrying one of the Featherington daughters, which would create quite a lot of drama for a potential Season 2.
Personally, I would be more than happy to never have to look Nigel's exceedingly punchable face ever again, but if it means more Lady Featherington plotting, then it might be worth it. Hell hath no fury like Lady Featherington, that's for sure.
Image: NICK BRIGGS/NETFLIX