Missing in the ton? Phoebe Dynevor’s Daphne Bridgerton was the first TV sibling to find love on Bridgerton, but she may be ready to leave Grosvenor Square.
“Sadly not in season 3. Potentially in the future,” the England native, 27, told Screen Rant at the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday, January 28, when asked about future “exciting dynamics” for Daphne in the new episodes. “But season 3, I’m just excited to watch as a viewer.”
Neither the Fair Play star, Netflix nor production company Shondaland have confirmed Dynevor’s return or exit. However, her appearance at Sundance — and at various awards shows stateside — occurred while the show’s cast continues filming season 3 in England. In fact, eagle-eyed social media viewers noticed cast members filming scenes in Bath several hours before the Younger alum’s film festival appearance in Utah.
Bridgerton, which was adapted from Julia Quinn’s eight-book series, first premiered in December 2020 as a period drama surrounding the eight Bridgerton siblings’ quests for love and marriage. Season 1 highlighted the first novel’s love story between eldest daughter Daphne Bridgerton (Dynevor) and Simon Basset, Duke of Hastings (Regé-Jean Page). The second season, which debuted in March 2022, shifted the focus to eldest brother Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) and Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley). Season 3, which is currently in production, will tell Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) and Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan)’s love story, deviating from the OG book order. (Sibling Benedict Bridgerton’s literary love story was released before Colin’s Romancing Mister Bridgerton.)
“I really feel like it’s Colin and Penelope’s time. Because we’ve been watching both of these actors on our screens since Season 1, we’ve already invested in them a little bit. We know who they are as people,” the Derry Girls alum, 36, told Variety in May 2022. “I feel like, especially in the last season, there are these moments of tension between them where it’s like, Colin walks up to the line of almost realizing that Penelope has feelings for him but doesn’t quite get there. Instead of treading water on that dynamic, we wanted to push it into their season. It really felt like the perfect moment to tee it up.”
Dynevor’s potential exit is not the first time one of the Bridgerton leads has left the drama. Her TV husband, Page, notably departed ahead of season 2.
“It’s a one-season arc. It’s going to have a beginning, middle, end — give us a year,” the For the People alum, 34, previously told Variety in an April 2021 interview, recalling an early conversation he had with producers amid the audition process. “[I thought] ‘That’s interesting,’ because then it felt like a limited series. I get to come in, I get to contribute my bit, and then the Bridgerton family rolls on.”
He added at the time: “One of the things that is different about this [romance] genre is that the audience knows the arc completes. They come in knowing that, so you can tie people in emotional knots because they have that reassurance that we’re going to come out and we’re going to have the marriage and the baby.”
Upon season 2’s premiere, Simon, as expected, did not appear, but Dynevor’s Daphne returned — alongside the characters’ infant son.
