With season 3 of Bridgerton just around the corner, fans are eager to return to the sweeping Regency romance series. Based on the novels by Julia Quinn, each season of the series takes on a different book that focuses on a Bridgerton sibling’s love story.
But while the Netflix series is largely faithful to the novels, there have been some deviations from the source material. One such difference concerns the character Sir Phillip Crane (Chris Fulton). We first meet Crane in the season one finale, where he proposes marriage to Marina Thompson (Ruby Barker).
When we first meet Marina, a cousin of the Featheringtons, she is a bright and charming new addition to the Ton. But her arrival isn’t without scandal, as Marina reveals she is pregnant from a love affair with George Crane. When George goes off to battle, Marina is scared and unsure what to do. The Featheringtons attempt to marry her off to avoid scandal, and she shares a brief engagement with Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton).
But their engagement is canceled once Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) tells Colin of the pregnancy. Sir Phillip Crane, George’s brother, arrives and tells Marina that George has died in battle. Phillip offers to marry her to save her honor, and Marina accepts despite not loving him. When Colin visits the Cranes in season 2, he discovers that while Marina and Phillip may not be in love, they have made a happy and harmonious life together.
However, Sir Phillip plays a very different role in the novels. He’s the love interest and eventual husband of Eloise Bridgerton (Claudia Jessie) in Quinn’s novel, To Sir Phillip, With Love. It’s unclear whether the Netflix series will follow the novels, but they have plenty of time to figure that out. Season 4 is expected to follow Benedict Bridgerton’s (Luke Thompson) love story, so we probably won’t see Eloise’s romance take center stage until season 5, at the earliest.
Will the series kill off Marina to make way for an Eloise/Phillip romance? In the books, Marina dies by suicide, but her circumstances have already changed greatly in the series. The show might abandon the Phillip romance altogether and give Eloise a new love interest. We’ll have to wait and see how everything develops in the future.
Bridgerton is currently streaming on Netflix.
(featured image: Netflix)
