What the Hell, Netflix?! Bridgerton Just Made Its Missing Character Problem So Much Worse

Four seasons in, Bridgerton has one major problem that the Netflix show seemingly can’t fix. If anything, it just keeps getting worse. While each season of Bridgerton focuses on a different member of the family and their love interest, one of the joys of the series is spending time with the family as a whole. The show has done a good job of making us care about the many different characters and how their stories intertwine, but that makes its issue even more frustrating. Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS ahead for Bridgerton Season 4, Part 2.

Since the second season of Bridgerton, there have been characters missing: Regé-Jean Page’s Simon Basset didn’t return, and that set a precedent. Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) had a more limited role in that season, and was then missing entirely from Season 3. The third season also had Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) and Kate (Simone Ashley) in a much smaller capacity, and they’re hardly featured at all in Season 4, only briefly coming back in the second half.

Bridgerton Characters Going Missing Is At Its Worst With John Stirling’s Death

While it’s expected that the show shifts focus onto the next couple, it’d be great to spend some decent time with these other characters as they move into the next stages of their lives. That alone makes it a problem, but it’s amplified when the story demands major life events for the family members, and they’re not around.

Bridgerton Season 4, rather heartbreakingly, has the death of Francesca’s husband, John Stirling. And while Anthony and Kate are in Episode 6, the same installment where John dies, they’re absent again by the time of his funeral in the next episode. The implication of that is that Anthony doesn’t care enough about his sister’s grief to be there, nor does his position as head of the household apparently demand his presence.

Similarly, it’s the kind of thing that Daphne should be present for, because she’d absolutely want to be there to comfort her younger sibling. Their absences do not fit with their characters, but there’s never a reasonable explanation for it. The same was true of the double-wedding in Season 3, which Anthony and Daphne also missed. On a pure character level, these are bordering on unforgivable, because it’s unthinkable they wouldn’t be there.

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Of course, there has to be some sympathy with the reality of scheduling conflicts, with Bailey in particular very obviously having a limited window to work in. But if they only have a certain amount of time, it could perhaps be used to get something that would avoid this, or at the very least, write in stronger explanations. With Dynevor’s absence, it’s even harder, because the actress has previously said she’s just waiting for the call to come back [via The Direct], and there’s no clear reason not to do that.

It’s hard to see this problem being solved in future seasons, unfortunately. Hopefully, Benedict (Luke Thompson) and Sophie (Yerin Ha) will be back in Season 5, especially if it’s going to start telling Eloise’s romance story, given the close relationship between her and Benedict. But it seems likely that the show will drift even further away from Anthony, Kate, and Daphne, and perhaps some of the others, too. Thankfully, it has a lot of other great characters, but the longer the show goes on, this might just keep becoming an even bigger issue.

All episodes of Bridgerton Season 4 are now streaming on Netflix.

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