Benedict’s flirtation with artist Sir Henry Granville in the first season of Bridgerton seemed to hint that Lady Violet’s second oldest son might be gay or, at the very least, bisexual.
So imagine fans’ surprise when, in Season 2 (now streaming on Netflix), Benedict’s seeming interest in men vanished into thin air like the Duke of Hastings himself. Instead, the character focuses his sexual and romantic energy on Tessa, a woman with whom he attended art school.
According to showrunner Chris Van Dusen, the sparks that flew between Benedict and Henry in Season 1 were never meant to suggest that the former was gay.
“I’ve seen a lot of discussion about Benedict’s sexuality in Season 1,” Van Dusen concedes to TVLine. “But the storyline [of him befriending] Henry was really about tolerance in a really intolerant time, and showing Benedict in that world. I love the story in Season 1 and would love to continue it into the future.”
In Julia Quinn’s third Bridgerton novel, An Offer from a Gentleman, Benedict falls in love with and marries a Cinderella-esque woman named Sophie. Still, Van Dusen says viewers will “have to wait and see” if the character’s “sexuality will become fluid” as the series progresses, adding, “It was as conscious choice not to have it be fluid in Season 2.”