Bridgerton boss explains why Benedict ends up with a woman despite being bisexual
Benedict has a brief male love interest in Bridgerton season 4 but quickly moves on to Sophie Baek.
Bridgerton showrunner Jess Brownell says it was important for Benedict to end up with a woman instead of a man.
Ever since Bridgerton first aired, the show has made allusions to Benedict’s sexuality. In season 1, he witnessed two men having sex at one of Sir Henry Granville’s parties and appeared to show interest in them. Then, in season 3, he had a threesome with Lady Tilley Arnold and Paul Suarez and told Tilley that he loved being “free” sexually.
Fast forward to season 4 and Benedict begins his romance with Sophie Baek from the books. However, he also has one sexual encounter with a man in episode 1 and Jess Brownell has confirmed that he is very much bisexual.
Bridgerton shares first look at Benedict and Sophie in season 4
Bridgerton season 4 begins with Benedict having multiple steamy liaisons and showing no signs of settling down. In a scene in episode 1, his mother catches him in bed with two women. Later on, Benedict kisses a man and has sex with him just before he goes to the Masquerade ball where meets Sophie Baek and starts falling for her.
Speaking to Variety about Benedict’s sexuality, Jess said: “It’s really important that just because someone might end up in a heterosexual-presenting relationship, that does not negate their queerness. I think Benedict’s queerness will always be a piece of his identity.”
She continued: “And when we were talking about representation, I don’t think there’s a lot of representation that I’ve seen of bisexual men. There is a really harmful and untrue stereotype that bisexual men are actually just gay men.”
Jess pointed out: “More often, we see bisexual men ending up in media in homosexual-presenting relationships.”
Explaining why Benedict ends up with a woman, Jess added: “It felt fresh and important to see a bisexual man ending up in a heterosexual-presenting relationship and still owning the fact that he is still queer.”
In the books, Benedict also ends up with Sophie. However, fans have already spotted that Francesca’s book love interest has been gender-swapped and a queer relationship will feature in the show.
