See how Bridgerton season 3 differs from the book

Notice: This post contains spoilers for the first four episodes of Bridgerton season 3

Bridgerton, Netflix’s popular period drama series is based on a book series by Julia Quinn, in which the eight Bridgerton siblings meet their significant others in Regency-era England.

There are big differences between the show and the books. The Netflix series ups the ante on drama considerably and chooses which characters from the books to include, which to leave out, and how to tweak their personalities to maximize the audience’s investment in its results.

Here are the main differences between the show’s third season, the first half of which hits Netflix on May 16, and the book it’s based on, Dating Mr. Bridgertonthe fourth novel in the Quinn series.

See more information: Everything to remember before watching Bridgerton Session 3

Order and time

Season 3 follows the romance of Colin Bridgerton and Penelope Featherington, and as many readers have pointed out, Benedict’s love story actually comes next in the book sequence, not Colin’s. As showrunner Jess Brownell said Weekly entertainment, “We’re watching (Penelope)’s passion and seeing how oblivious Colin is to it. This is a dynamic you can only practice for so long before something needs to change. This really felt like the right time to delve deeper into what was agreed with them.” Plus, the show’s version of Benedict still has a few things to figure out before he meets his match.

Colin and Penelope’s love story also takes place about 10 years after the events of the first books. Penelope is 28 years old, considered a spinster in 1824 England, and has long given up on finding love, let alone a husband. There is no plot to find her in the novels, but she asks Colin for a kiss as she believes she is destined to die alone. This sets him on a journey to realize that she has always been the girl of his dreams.

The Queen

Golda Rosheuvel’s fabulous portrayal of the temperamental Queen Charlotte is a boon to the show, but the queen doesn’t appear in the books. Adding her to the series was a great decision on the creators’ part, however, presenting Lady Whistledown as a powerful and influential woman who is well-known, not one whose identity remains a mystery. Her presence also increases the drama because Queen Charlotte doesn’t like the competition to see who has the most social influence.

Lady Whistledown scandal sheet and big reveal

In the books, the pseudonymous Lady Whistledown’s gossip newsletter isn’t as scandalous as it is on the show. The bits of the Whistledown article revealed in Quinn’s novels are relatively harmless and don’t reveal any major scandals about the Bridgerton or Featherington families. They are quickly dealt with without much, if any, oversight from society. The scandal of the second book, An offer from a gentleman, It’s one that could actually be a serious problem, but is also planned to fly under Whistledown’s radar. The reader also doesn’t know that Penelope is Lady Whistledown until the fourth book, Dating Mr. Bridgertonwhich covers her and Colin Bridgerton’s love story, while the series does reveal it at the very end of the first season.

See more information: Breaking the Bridgerton Family Trees

Featherington’s finances

The Featheringtons are not having major financial problems on the books. Lord Featherington is still alive and there is no Cousin Jack. Lady Featherington is planning nothing but weddings for her daughter. No one is in debt and there is no drama regarding the bond.

The Featherington Daughters

Speaking of the Featherington daughters, the book version of Penelope has a younger sister. Her name is Felicity, she’s about the same age as the younger Bridgerton sister Hyacinth, and Lady Featherington wants to try to match Felicity and Colin. She gave up on Penelope at this point. Penelope tells her mother that Colin looks up to Felicity like a little sister, and later, when Colin realizes what Lady Featherington is doing, he says the same thing. Felicity is at peace with this and understands why the plot is abandoned, with no hard feelings.

Featherington’s two eldest daughters, Prudence and Philippa, aren’t that cruel, but just… not very bright. Plus, Nigel Berbrooke is married to one of them, and unlike the series, he’s not a creep in the books – he’s just annoying.

The mean thing Colin says

In the Season 2 finale, Colin tells some gentlemen at Penelope’s mother’s ball that he would never court her. Penelope hears him and runs away. In the books, he tells this to his older brothers, Anthony and Benedict – which is much worse, given her relationship with them.

At the show, Colin doesn’t realize that Penelope heard him. But in the books, the three brothers realize that she heard them and they all apologize. Book Penelope finally summons some courage and scolds him right then and there.

Francesca’s courtship with John

The books don’t really cover Francesca’s courtship and marriage to John Stirling, Earl of Kilmartin, who appears in season 3. This is mostly talked about in retrospect. Her book, the sixth in the series, titled When he was bad, It’s about finding a second love in life. The series is starting to explore this concept with the arc of Francesca’s mother, Violet, and perhaps this will be something the two team up on in the future. Meanwhile, Book Violet doesn’t try to find a new mate.

Eloise, entirely

Eloise’s debut season is not explored in the books, and although she is and continues to be Penelope’s best friend, there is no fighting in their relationship on the page (and there are absolutely no circumstances in which the book version of Eloise begins to date Cressida Cowper, as she will eventually do on screen). Although as curious as any of London’s elite about Lady Whistledown’s identity, she makes no illicit moves to track her down—in part because Whistledown hasn’t said anything too bad about her families in the books. When she finds out that Whistledown is Penelope, she is only a little surprised and congratulates her. But it could also be because she’s worried about other things when she discovers the secret.

Colin’s diary

Penelope reads Colin’s diary in both the book and the series, but under different circumstances. The first difference is that in the books there is no agreement between the two to help her find a husband – she just arrived at the Bridgerton house before meeting Eloise, and her boredom and curiosity got the better of her. The second difference is what is written in the diary. In the show, it’s a rather steamy account of Colin’s sexual adventures and something a Regency-era debutante should never lay eyes on. In the book, it is an account of his travels. Honestly, point out that Colin should be more ashamed of himself for keeping his smut open for anyone to read. What if his mother – or his nosy younger sister, Hyacinth – saw?

Marina

The shadow of Penelope’s revelation that her cousin Marina is pregnant out of wedlock (ostensibly to save Colin, who proposed to her, from the humiliation of finding out later) in season one hangs over the series. But in the books, Marina is totally different. First, she’s Bridgerton’s cousin, not Featherington’s. Secondly, there is no plot about her getting pregnant and trying to find a husband. In the book, she appears only in passing in letters and memories from her husband, Lord Philip Crane. Book Marina is described as having been extremely depressed and having attempted suicide, dying shortly afterwards due to complications. Lord Crane is left alone with his twins, who he doesn’t know how to raise. It remains to be seen how the show will handle its own Marina.