Bridgerton has already made big book changes by making season 3 focus on Penelope and Colin, and these changes could mean season 4 is Eloise’s story. Bridgerton follows the lives and loves of the eight siblings of the Bridgerton family as they struggle with the pressures of the social season. Bridgerton has become a huge success for Netflix and, because of this, a prequel is being released titled Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, which focuses on the life of a young Queen Charlotte, which showcases how the franchise is aiming to expand.
Bridgerton season 1 and 2 followed the order of the books, firstly with Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) and the Duke of Hasting, Simon (Regé-Jean Page) in season 1, and Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) and Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley) in season 2. However, season 3 is changing the order of the Bridgerton books and will be focused on Colin (Luke Newton) and Penelope (Nicola Coughlan). Eloise’s (Claudia Jessie) story is the fifth of the Bridgerton books, and at this point, she is a 28-year-old spinster, much older than the teenager Eloise is in the first few Bridgerton stories.
The show has already digressed from the books by changing season 3 to Penelope and Colin, meaning that Bridgerton season 4 could be Eloise’s story, given how integral a character she is and how bringing her story forward now wouldn't be out of the ordinary for the show. Eloise was a vital character in the first two seasons, having her own storylines such as trying to find Lady Whistledown and her romance with Theo Sharpe (Calam Lynch). The character received a warm audience reception and ties into the main world well, and thus it would make sense that the Netflix Bridgerton show would bring her story forward, as this would also give more time for the audience to get to know the other siblings that have not yet featured in the show as heavily. Plus, Eloise’s story with Theo in Bridgerton’s season 2 has already skewered her views on relationships and love, establishing a storyline that would still be relatively recent in audience's minds come Bridgerton season 4, making exploring it then a wise move.
How Bridgerton Is Changing Eloise's Story
Eloise’s main book change in Bridgerton is her relationship with Theo, as Eloise was not shown to be interested in love at all before her story with Phillip. Theo does not exist in the Bridgerton books, so including him to give Eloise more of a storyline is a big change, particularly as it is a romantic one. Also, Eloise does not find out about Penelope being Lady Whistledown in the Bridgerton books, unlike how Eloise discovered Penelope’s Lady Whistledown secret at the end of season 2. This likely means that Bridgerton season 3 will focus a lot on Eloise and Penelope’s friendship - or lack thereof - and how Eloise will grow outside of this.
Eloise is still quite young and has very strong beliefs about marriage, and that won’t just disappear in a season, especially when her energy will be focused on the betrayal she is feeling because of Penelope, which means that having Eloise as the focus of Bridgerton season 4 could complicate matters where others characters wouldn't. For example, Bridgerton’s Benedict (Luke Thompson) has had a lot of time in the first two seasons to explore who he is and what he wants, so he would be more ready for his story in season 4. In the books, Benedict and his wife Sophie Beckett play a big role in Eloise’s love story, and seeing Eloise and Benedict have a perfect bond, meaning that having Eloise as the focus of season 4 could also risk removing this part of her and Benedict's story. This could also be said of the idea that Bridgerton season 4 may have a time jump, as while season 3 is expected to use a small time jump for Penelope and Colin, changing Eloise's story by also using one there could mess up Benedict’s storyline. As such, the show has many complicated aspects to balance, and may choose to follow the books for Eloise's timeline in order to prevent changing both her story and the story of Bridgerton story too much.