"Bridgerton" underwent significant changes from book to screen. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the biggest ways Netflix’s “Bridgerton” differs from Julia Quinn’s novels.
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00:00 "If you are going to make me say it out loud, I miss you."
00:03 "You miss me."
00:05 Welcome to Miss Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks
00:09 for the biggest ways Netflix's Bridgerton differs from Julia Quinn's novels.
00:14 "Where did you get all of this money?"
00:15 "Louise, what are you doing going through my things?"
00:18 "Answer me."
00:19 Number 10, Lady Whistledown.
00:23 Let's begin with our humble narrator.
00:25 "Truly another rumor provided by that vicious, scandal-mongering writer.
00:29 Should her degradation know no bounds?"
00:31 If you've only seen the show, you may be surprised to learn that Lady Whistledown
00:35 isn't nearly as important in the books.
00:37 The show borrows heavily from Gossip Girl and makes her a major character,
00:41 even revealing her identity early on.
00:44 "Look no further than Lady Whistledown.
00:45 She possesses a huge talent for writing, and yet she must hide away and publish under a false name."
00:50 In the books, Lady Whistledown's society papers are used as framing devices to bookend the chapters,
00:57 but there isn't as much interest in finding out her identity.
01:00 "If anyone knew who Whistledown truly was, she'd be strung up for what she says."
01:03 "That is not my point."
01:04 She also doesn't do anything as scandalous in the books,
01:07 never ruining Colin and Eloise's reputations, for instance.
01:10 It will be interesting to see how Season 3 handles this,
01:13 and whether she's finally revealed to the rest of the ton.
01:17 "Perhaps I will come forward one day.
01:21 Though you must know, dear reader, that decision shall be left entirely up to me.
01:27 Yours truly."
01:30 9. The Queen
01:32 Another huge change to the show is Queen Charlotte, who is rarely, if ever,
01:36 mentioned in the books.
01:38 And the town certainly doesn't live or die, by her opinion, on certain matters.
01:42 "It is not a difficult task.
01:44 Your father and I made 15 royal babies all by ourselves.
01:51 I do not see why the whole lot of you cannot make just one."
01:54 But she's become such a popular character that she's got her own spin-off series,
01:58 which was also very well-received and had a stellar cast.
02:01 "Are you in need of assistance of some kind?"
02:03 Her rivalry with Lady Whistledown is one of the show's best through-lines,
02:07 and we can't wait to see how she responds when Whistledown's identity is ultimately revealed,
02:12 as we're expecting it to be in Season 3.
02:15 Because the Queen remains hooked on Whistledown, so does everyone else,
02:19 making her column even more important.
02:21 "Is that why the sister's wedding was abandoned?"
02:24 "Oh, child, no. That wedding did not happen because I simply changed my mind."
02:31 8. Prince Friedrich
02:33 "Prince Friedrich, this is the young lady I was telling you about. The season's diamond."
02:39 The handsome Prussian prince, who arrives in London in search of a bride,
02:43 is another royal who doesn't exist in the books at all.
02:46 Simon and Daphne have far fewer obstacles to overcome in the books,
02:50 and the short-lived love triangle between them and the prince never happens.
02:55 But we like the character of Prince Friedrich,
02:57 and it's hinted that Queen Charlotte eventually sets him up with Edwina Sharma.
03:01 "Miss Edwina, have I yet told you about my nephew?"
03:05 "He is a prince, and he is available."
03:11 This doesn't happen in the books, but after everything Edwina goes through,
03:15 she and Friedrich deserve to be happy together.
03:18 But he was a real person, and married a princess in reality.
03:22 7. Marina Thompson
03:25 "I can hardly believe I'm saying this, but we cannot go further.
03:28 You are a lady, and I must maintain your honour and mine."
03:34 She was a major character in season 1, and returned for a brief cameo in season 2,
03:38 along with her new husband, Sir Philip Crane,
03:41 who readers will know eventually marries Eloise in the books.
03:44 "So, you compromise this young lady?"
03:46 "Certainly not. I'm a gentleman."
03:49 In fact, it's only through Philip and Eloise's story that we learn anything about Marina at all,
03:54 who never appears herself,
03:55 as she's already died tragically by the time the fifth book rolls around.
03:59 "Mr Bridgerton, Sir Philip Crane. Pleasure to meet you at last."
04:04 Whether she'll meet this very unfortunate end in the show is yet to be seen,
04:08 but it would definitely be a sad way to begin the romance between Philip and Elle.
04:13 "Marina, he is truly amiable, but, well, you do not seem happy with him."
04:20 "You've only been here a few short hours."
04:22 Perhaps Eloise will get a new love interest entirely,
04:26 though readers of the books wouldn't be happy about that.
04:28 6. The Featheringtons
04:31 While the Featheringtons are always present in the books, and one of them, of course,
04:38 marries into the Bridgerton family, they're not as important as they are in the show.
04:42 "What is this? More importantly, how did you get it?"
04:46 "I had an inside tip."
04:47 There's no gambling subplot involving Lord Featherington,
04:50 and no scheming new heir to take over the household.
04:54 These subplots needed to be added to make the story work for television,
04:57 since in the books, we're always glued to the perspectives of the two leads.
05:01 "The only empathy thing I have are those mines, Portia. They are a nut of failure. I have nothing."
05:08 And readers will also know there's a fourth Featherington sister
05:11 who's thus far missing from the show completely, Felicity.
05:15 It's a point of contention in Book 4 that Portia thinks Colin wants to marry Felicity,
05:21 as opposed to Penelope.
05:22 5. The Bee Scene
05:25 "Do not tell me what to do!"
05:27 This iconic scene plays out in a much weirder way in the books,
05:35 and it's something we're glad Netflix decided to change when they translated it to the screen.
05:40 In the show, when Kate is stung by a bee in the garden,
05:43 she and Anthony share an intimate moment as she calms him down while he panics,
05:48 and then they very nearly kiss.
05:50 "I am unharmed. I am unharmed."
05:54 In the book, however, Anthony tears her clothes off
05:58 and tries to suck the venom from the sting on her chest.
06:01 "It was chest. A bee."
06:05 Yes, really.
06:06 Not only is this strange, it's also not the way to treat a bee sting if it happens in real life.
06:11 Maybe Netflix didn't want people trying to imitate it.
06:14 4. Eloise Discovers The Truth
06:18 In the season 2 finale, Eloise finally listened to what Penelope said
06:21 as she observed the ballroom and put two and two together.
06:25 "Hearing you repeat all that gossip tonight, it struck me.
06:27 Because I've never heard you like that."
06:30 She searched Penelope's room and found her money and her stash of Whistledown papers,
06:35 realising that Penelope has been Lady Whistledown all along.
06:39 This never happens in the books.
06:41 "I'm so sorry, you were right about all of it. I was trying to protect you."
06:43 "Is that what you were doing?"
06:44 In fact, only Colin and later on Cressida work out the truth,
06:48 though Lady Danbury, of course, has her suspicions.
06:51 Eloise is far less obsessed with Whistledown,
06:54 with Hyacinth instead leading the investigations,
06:57 and is impressed when she learns what Penelope has been doing.
07:00 "You have no idea how horrible it's felt to keep this from you,
07:03 from everyone, for so long.
07:06 Whistledown has been all I have had and I have given it up. I am done with it."
07:11 It's definitely an interesting change to see Eloise find out the truth for herself so early on.
07:16 Number 3, The Order.
07:18 "You've sworn off women then?"
07:20 "Not for the time being."
07:22 "I am a woman."
07:24 "You are Pen. You do not count."
07:29 "You are my friend."
07:31 Readers were surprised to learn that Colin and Penelope were being moved forward in the
07:35 line-up, taking up the third season of the show, when they're the subject of the fourth book.
07:40 "Your eyes, a most remarkable shade of blue."
07:44 This is an interesting change to be sure.
07:46 Pollen is an established ship already popular with viewers,
07:50 but leaving them until fourth does give them more time to develop,
07:53 as Colin spends years travelling, and Penelope is meant to be 28 by the time the book begins.
07:59 "Do you not need a chaperone?"
08:00 "Spinsters do not need chaperones."
08:02 "You are not a spinster."
08:03 As it stands, the viewing public doesn't know who's going to be the subject of season four,
08:08 Benedict or Eloise.
08:10 It should be Benedict, but Eloise is very popular.
08:14 Number 2, Daphne and Simon.
08:16 "How does a woman come to be with child?"
08:18 "You're your mother."
08:21 "My mother told me nothing."
08:22 The most controversial and talked-about scene in the show, this season one moment,
08:26 left a sour taste in many people's mouths when Daphne assaults Simon to prove that he can
08:33 get her pregnant. He's just choosing not to.
08:36 "How could you?"
08:36 "How could I? How could I? You lied to me."
08:41 "I did not lie."
08:41 "I trusted you."
08:42 It was already uncomfortable viewing, but in the books, the scene is even more notorious.
08:47 Simon is actually drunk and half-asleep when it happens. There isn't any room to argue that it
08:53 may have been consensual, unlike in the show.
08:55 "I told you I cannot give you children."
08:57 "Cannot and will not are two entirely different things."
09:01 We're glad this was changed, and maybe it should have been changed even more.
09:05 That, or Daphne actually realizes that what she did was wrong,
09:09 and a violation of Simon, which never happens in either version.
09:13 "You were the one who insisted on this union. You told me I was enough."
09:17 "That was before I knew you."
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09:33 1. It's diverse
09:37 Much was made ahead of release about the show's casting, as it forgoes the usual trend of having
09:42 predominantly white casts in period dramas.
09:45 "Look at our queen. Look at our king. Look at their marriage. Look at everything it is doing for us."
09:53 This decision has earned its widespread acclaim and enduring popularity,
09:57 making it stand out from other Regency romances. But it's not part of the books.
10:02 Julia Quinn, however, has said that she loves what the show is doing with the casting,
10:06 as each season makes the cast more and more diverse.
10:09 "She is accomplished in both Latin and Greek, in addition to Marathi and Hindustani, of course.
10:14 She not only plays the ta, Murli, but pianoforte, too."
10:17 As well as this, it was finally announced that in future seasons, there will be LGBTQ+ storylines.
10:24 We don't know how or who yet, but we already got some representation with Mr Granville in season 1
10:30 and Brimsley and Reynolds in Queen Charlotte. Will we finally get bisexual Benedict?
10:37 "Stealing your glances, disguising your touches. We cannot so much as
10:40 smile at each other, without first ensuring no one else is watching."
10:45 Let me know in the comments which scenes you think should be changed,
10:48 and which are too sacred for Netflix to alter.
10:51 "Lady Whistledown merely writes what she sees. Perhaps we need to help her to see things a bit
10:56 more clearly."
10:57 Do you agree with our picks? Check out this other recent clip from Ms Mojo,
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