Bridgerton Boss Has Her Say Amid Fan Backlash Over Benedict's 'Mistress' Comment

Bridgerton released the first half of season four less than a week ago, and introduced a plotline that has already outraged some viewers.

Season four of the Netflix period drama follows a new romance between Benedict and Sophie, played by Luke Thompson and Yerin Ha, after the characters’ first meeting at a masquerade ball.

In the couple’s final moments together in part one, after they get steamy on the stairs, Benedict suggests that Sophie be his “mistress”, in a move that has left many fans voicing their disgust and disappointment.

However, during a recent interview with Variety, Bridgerton showrunner Jess Brownell defended Benedict’s actions, suggesting that this was the best offer the character felt he could make to Sophie given the couple’s class divide and “upstairs and downstairs” dynamic.

“I think truly, what Benedict asks would have been considered the only way for a man – a gentleman – and a housemaid to be together during that era,” she explained.

Brownell added that she agrees with fans’ reaction to the moment, and thinks audiences are totally valid in feeling that way about Benedict’s behaviour. 

“However, in the larger context of this being the love of his life and us watching their love story, I think it’s absolutely the right reaction to be outraged and to be mad at him,” she continued.

“So, I think that reaction is correct and his lack of understanding about how it will come out is something we’re going to bring him up on in the back half.”

In a January interview with TV Line, Brownell also acknowledged that the scene was rooted in Benedict’s outdated view on marriage.

“A lot of his progressiveness, not with his sexuality, but in other ways, has been performative,” she said. 

“He is incredibly privileged and hasn’t really reckoned with that privilege. He has enjoyed life to the fullest, but has never done anything really scary,” the showrunner added.

While controversial, the scene in the show is much less scandalous than the one in Julia Quinn’s source material.

In the novel An Offer From A Gentlemen, Benedict blackmails Sophie into either becoming his mistress or moving into his family’s home as a servant.

See how Sophie answers and whether she and Benedict can work past their social divide when the second half of Bridgerton season four is released on Netflix on Thursday, 26 February.