Bridgerton Actor Says There's 'Room to Explore' Benedict's Sexuality

Will we ever get a queer Bridgerton romance?

The second season of Netflix's popular period drama series premiered less than a week ago, and although it's cool to see out heartthrob Jonathan Bailey in the lead role this season, playing the head of the Bridgerton family Anthony, we still have yet to see any substantial LGBTQ+ representation in the show.

After season one baited us with blink-and-you'll-miss-it moments that involved middle Bridgerton brother Benedict (Luke Thompson) befriending queer, bohemian artist Henry Granville (Julian Ovenden), and then subsequently catching him having an affair with a man, many were hoping that the recently-released second season of the hit show would, at the very least, start to explore the possibility of Benedict being queer.

But after showrunner Chris Van Dusen told TV Line recently that Benedict and Henry's friendship dynamic was more about a lesson in "tolerance" than it was about a potential romance, combined with the fact that Benedict's love interest in season two was a woman named Tessa and his flirty interest in men seemed to vanish completely, our hopes were quickly squashed.

Now, speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Thompson is opening up about his Bridgerton character's sexuality and what he sees happening in Benedict's future.

"Benedict has such a lovely openness and fluidity about him generally, and that's really, really fun to play because it could go anywhere," Thompson told EW. "What I would say is that we're only in season 1 and just getting into season 2. People get very excited and they want everything to be explored in the first few seasons and every corner of sexuality, gender. Obviously, there's a way to go, so we'll see what happens with Benedict, but we're only on season 2, so there's lots of space for him to explore all sorts of things."

He continued:

"As a final note, the only thing I would say is I tend not think in terms of hoping too much because an actor's job is to fully step inside the character's shoes. If I had an opinion on that, I would be one foot in and one foot out. It's very important for me to be two feet in, and that the writer is a bit of a god in the sense that they're controlling your destiny. I just need to go on the journey that they put me on. I would certainly love him to retain that because it's such a lovely quality, that fluidity and openness, but beyond that, I don't know."

For now, it looks like we'll just have to wait patiently (like we always have to) to see if an upcoming third season of Bridgerton will finally give us the Regency-era romance LGBTQ+ fans so rightfully deserve...

Bridgerton season two is now streaming on Netflix.

RELATED | Elliot Page Introduces World to Trans The Umbrella Academy Character