Top 10 Differences Between Bridgerton Series and Books

Let’s begin with our humble narrator. If you’ve only seen the show, you may be surprised to learn that Lady Whistledown isn’t nearly as important in the books. The show borrows heavily from “Gossip Girl” and makes her a major character, even revealing her identity early on. In the books, “Lady Whistledown’s Society Papers” are used as framing devices to bookend the chapters, but there isn’t as much interest in finding out her identity. She also doesn’t do anything as scandalous in the books – never ruining Colin and Eloise’s reputations, for instance. It’ll be interesting to see how season 3 handles this and whether she’s finally revealed to the rest of the Ton.

Another huge change to the show is Queen Charlotte, who is rarely, if ever, mentioned in the books, and the Ton certainly doesn’t live or die by her opinion on certain matters. But she’s become such a popular character that she got her own spin-off series, which was also very well-received and had a stellar cast. Her rivalry with Lady Whistledown is one of the show’s best throughlines, and we can’t wait to see how she responds when Whistledown’s identity is ultimately revealed, as we’re expecting it to be in season 3. Because the Queen remains hooked on Whistledown, so does everybody else, making her column even more important.

The handsome, Prussian prince who arrives in London in search of a bride is another royal who doesn’t exist in the books at all. Simon and Daphne have far fewer obstacles to overcome in the books, and the short-lived love triangle between them and the Prince never happens. But we like the character of Prince Friedrich, and it’s hinted at that Queen Charlotte eventually sets him up with Edwina Sharma. This doesn’t happen in the books, but after everything Edwina goes through, she and Friedrich deserve to be happy together. But he WAS a real person and married a princess in reality.

She was a major character in season 1 and returned for a brief cameo in season 2, along with her new husband Sir Phillip Crane – who readers will know eventually marries Eloise in the books. In fact, it’s only through Phillip and Eloise’s story that we learn anything about Marina at all, who never appears herself, as she’s already died tragically by the time the fifth book rolls around. Whether she’ll meet this very unfortunate end in the show is yet to be seen, but it would definitely be a sad way to begin the romance between Phillip and El. Perhaps Eloise will get a new love interest entirely – though, readers of the books wouldn’t be happy about that.

While the Featheringtons are always present in the books, and one of them, of course, marries into the Bridgerton family, they’re not as important as they are in the show. There’s no gambling subplot involving Lord Featherington and no scheming, new heir to take over the household. These subplots needed to be added to make the story work for television, since in the books, we’re always glued to the perspectives of the two leads. And readers will also know that there’s a fourth Featherington sister who’s thus far missing from the show completely, Felicity. It’s a point of contention in book four that Portia thinks Colin wants to marry Felicity, as opposed to Penelope.

This iconic scene plays out in a much weirder way in the books, and it’s something we’re glad Netflix decided to change when they translated it to the screen. In the show, when Kate is stung by a bee in the garden, she and Anthony share an intimate moment as she calms him down while he panics, and then they very nearly kiss. In the book, however, Anthony tears her clothes off and tries to suck the venom from the sting on her chest – yes, really. Not only is this strange, it’s also not the way to treat a bee sting if it happens in real life. Maybe Netflix didn’t want people trying to imitate it.

In the season 2 finale, Eloise finally listened to what Penelope said as she observed the ballroom and put two and two together. She searched Penelope’s room and found her money and her stash of Whistledown papers, realizing that Penelope has been Lady Whistledown all along. This never happens in the books. In fact, only Colin and, later on, Cressida, work out the truth – though Lady Danbury, of course, has her suspicions. Eloise is far less obsessed with Whistledown, with Hyacinth instead leading the investigations, and is impressed when she learns what Penelope has been doing. It’s definitely an interesting change to see Eloise find out the truth for herself so early on.

Readers were surprised to learn that Colin and Penelope were being moved forward in the line-up, taking up the third season of the show, when they’re the subject of the fourth book. This is an interesting change, to be sure. Polin is an established ship already popular with viewers, but leaving them until fourth does give them more time to develop, as Colin spends years travelling and Penelope is meant to be twenty-eight by the time the book begins. As it stands, the viewing public doesn’t know who’s going to be the subject of season 4, Benedict or Eloise. It SHOULD be Benedict, but Eloise IS very popular…

The most controversial and talked about scene in the show, this season 1 moment left a sour taste in many people’s mouths when Daphne assaults Simon to prove that he CAN get her pregnant, he’s just choosing not to. It was already uncomfortable viewing, but in the books, the scene is even more notorious. Simon is actually drunk and half-asleep when it happens; there isn’t any room to argue that it may have been consensual, unlike in the show. We’re glad this was changed and maybe it should have been changed even more – that, or Daphne actually realizes that what she did was wrong and a violation of Simon, which never happens in either version.

Much was made ahead of release about the show’s casting, as it forgoes the usual trend of having predominantly white casts in period dramas. This decision has earned it widespread acclaim and enduring popularity, making it stand out from other Regency romances, but it’s not part of the books. Julia Quinn, however, has said she loves what the show is doing with the casting, as each season makes the cast more and more diverse. As well as this, it was finally announced that, in future seasons, there WILL be LGBTQ+ storylines. We don’t know how or who yet, but we already got some representation with Mr Granville in season 2, and Brimsley and Reynolds in “Queen Charlotte”. Will we finally get bisexual Benedict? Let us know in the comments which scenes you think needed to be changed, and which are too sacred for Netflix to alter.