Francesca and Michaela Deserve a Wedding—So Why Are We Terrified They’ll End Up as Roommates?

Bridgerton reimagined race, but kept class in the closet.

The adaptation of Julia Quinn’s romance novel series was praised immediately for its diversity. In this version of Regency England, the inter-racial marriage between Queen Charlotte and King George III has eradicated racism in England, while the transatlantic slave trade is virtually non-existent in the fictional utopia. It’s a period drama without all of the period baggage, so to say.

Which is why I was so shocked, as a long time fan, to watch Sophie and Benedict’s ending play out as nothing more than a band-aid on classism. Sophie does come clean about her illegitimacy to the Bridgertons, but ultimately lies to the Queen (who is well aware of the truth) and the Ton in order to conform to society’s unjust and antiquated standards. The capitulation is magnified when we see Francesca forced to submit to an invasive exam to prove her pregnancy claims. Icky vibes all around.

Apple TV’s The Buccaneers handled this plotline a thousand times better. Kristine Froseth plays Nan St. George, a young woman who has illegitimacy thrust upon her in a vengeful confession from her sister. It upends her entire relationship with her parents, threatens her place in society, and puts her future marriage at risk, and still—she chooses to proudly embrace the truth when her abusive brother-in-law orchestrates her “outing”. And luckily for her, her fiancé wants to stay with her anyway.

Creator Katherine Jakeways adapted an unfinished Edith Wharton novel, set in the 1870s, and layered in 2020’s self-actualization into the mix. Therapy may not technically have been invented yet, but Nan has done the inner work. It’s proof we don’t have to subject our modern characters to the abuse they would have likely lived through. Fiction literally gives us permission to create whatever worlds, people, justice, or endings we want. And there is nothing preventing Bridgerton from following suit.

So the fact that Sophie and Benedict (or their writers) choose to hide in the proverbial “closet of classism” right before the show moves forward with its first queer leads is a red flag that should give us pause.

Pick Your Poison

It’s not just historical accuracy we’re worried about when it comes to “Franchaela”, fiction can be equally unkind to gay romance, but in 2026 we want more than the tragic queer stereotypes we’ve come to expect after being spoon fed them our entire lives. For posterity’s sake, let’s review our options (from worst, to least worst?):

Death

This is your Brokeback Mountain, The Children’s Hour, or TV’s “Bury Your Gays” ending. It frames queer life as impossible, dangerous, destined to end in tears. Violence is directed from without and within, as queer characters self-combust or are sacrificed at the hands of predators.

The Paper Trail

Your Vita & Virginia, or Portrait of a Lady On Fire. This is the banishment trope of queer romance, where star-crossed lovers exchange letters, notes, poems, or secret codes left in paintings to convey a love exiled at the hands of society.

While the relationship finds some form of consummation, visits, vacations, escapades—they can’t live together permanently, one or both are likely married to men, they share dreams of running away to be together, but ultimately never will. It’s rebellious, but wildly dissatisfying.

Roommates

Be it Carol or Bert and Ernie, the queer roommates is a trope that gets absolutely ransacked by comedians because of its absurdity. The ruse of hiding what is apparent to everyone as a love affair behind the guise of splitting rent.

This is the escape hatch I most expect Bridgerton to bite on if they are going to have Francesca and Michaela follow in Sophie and Benedict’s footsteps, but the inheritance storyline from When He Was Wicked will complicate things significantly.

Will the patriarchal tables be turned, allowing Michaela to inherit the earldom? In essence, this would render the two women roommates to begin with, with Michaela now owning Francesca’s home. So in this scenario deciding to “stay” roommates would feel anti-climatic at the very least, and a poor excuse for homophobia at its worst.

Drag Kings

Stories like Tipping The Velvet or The Handmaiden allowed their queer heroines to escape small towns or oppressive pasts through the use of wigs, false mustaches, and cross dressing to pass as heterosexual couples, temporarily, or short-term to reach a “happy ending”.

When society simply won’t allow for public self-acceptance, this is the next best thing as far as fiction is concerned. It’s only a step above the “roommates” or “paper trail” scenario because the disguise at least facilitates the ability to stay together long term and express romantic love in public, even if it is under false pretenses.

Do Better Bridgerton

But the thing is, “society” in the Bridgerton universe is entirely fictional, and completely malleable. It’s already bent to the will of writers and casting directors who injected London’s upper class with diversity and acceptance, so there’s really no excuse to not extend the same courtesy to queerness.

Class got shafted last season, there’s no doubt about that. But pulling queer people into a story they weren’t part of to begin with, only to write them a shameful ending? That’s just cruel. I hope Shonda has some kind of personal involvement in these decisions, because they are not only going to impact all of us who are holding our breath, dreading the worst, but the next generation, who doesn’t know any better, yet, but could.

It was Shonda Rhimes who said, “It’s not trailblazing to write the world as it actually is.” It’s not. We don’t have to limit ourselves to these four options anymore.

Dickinson was great, but we don’t need a “Boston Marriage” to be our ceiling for queer love. It’s just a mix between “roommates” and a “paper trail” with some sex. Francesca and Michaela deserve a proper wedding. Deserve everything the other Bridgerton relationships have enjoyed so far. The Ton can oppose it. Their families can be scared or confused. It doesn’t have to be easy. But allowing them to choose each other publicly and fully? That’s the world as it really is.