While ‘s readers were surprised by the twist at the end of season 3, the author herself had a heads up that a beloved character was being introduced as a woman rather than a man. “The fact of the matter is, the fan base is not a monolith, and you’re never going to please every single side of the fan base,” showrunner explained to on Thursday, June 13. “In, for example, deciding to tell a queer story with Francesca, I spoke with Julia Quinn, I got her blessing.
” Readers know that Quinn’s book followed Francesca as she fell in love with Michael after (spoiler alert) the death of her husband, John Stirling. However, in the , which debuted on Thursday, Francesca ( ) was flustered as her husband ( ) introduced her to his cousin, . will depict a queer love story when it comes time for Francesca to lead a season.
Brownell said that she and Quinn knew there would be backlash. “We talked about the fact that with almost any single book, there would be a side of the fandom that would be disheartened to see their favorite characters changed,” she noted. “I don’t think that there is any book that wouldn’t happen with, so for me, again, it came back to story, and it came back to character.
Because Francesca’s book resonated [with me] in the way that it did, it felt like a natural adaptation.” She added that the change isn’t just for shock value or ticking a box on a checklist. “I didn’t want to just insert a queer character for queer character’s sake,”.
