‘Benedict Bridgerton being a “messy bisexual” is an old trope – but it works’

When Lady Bridgerton launches her harried search for Benedict at the start of the Netflix regency romp’s fourth season, we all know where she’s going to find him: hungover, in bed, next to a person or people.

Moments later, there Luke Thompson’s character lies, with a cheeky chappie grin to try and mollify his mother over the fact her eligible bachelor son is a hot mess. 

The show’s third outing finally confirmed Benedict as the first queer Bridgerton – following a dearth of representation in early seasons – but this characterisation of him as a ‘messy bisexual’ in his promiscuous ‘chaos era’ could raise the alarm.

‘I am a little bit wary that it feels like an old trope that Benedict’s bisexuality is part of his rebellion,’ Dr Helen Bowes-Catton, a Senior Lecturer at the Open University, currently editing the Routledge International Handbook of Bisexuality, tells Metro ahead of this season’s part two. 

Instead of Benedict’s bisexuality being incidental to his character, it is associated with his rebellious rakishness, she notes, hoping it isn’t setting up an ‘it’s just a phase’ resolution.

While the ‘debauched bisexual’ character might induce disappointed eye rolls from viewers in the know, Dr Julia Shaw, writer of Bi: The Hidden Culture, History and Science of Bisexuality, tells Metro how realistic Benedict’s behaviour in the miscellaneous brothels, clubs and bars is. 

‘He’s going into these spaces where it’s obviously implied that queerness is happening around him and he is around people who are having sex, who are exchanging glances,’ she says. 

In a show that wraps itself up in foreplay and sexual tension as opposed to endless montages of sex scenes (of course, there are still some of those), Dr Shaw singles out such glances as a piece of that non-explicit sexiness.

‘Men exchanging glances is a real theme throughout the show and that’s very much in the tradition of queer cinema, to have the queer be in the in-between moments, rather than as explicit as the straight moments,’ she continues.

‘Whether we like doing things in the tradition of quite oppressive structures for queer people is always a big question. But you could also say they’re paying homage to that tradition of the queerness lurking in the in between.’

What’s more, Benedict’s eventual coupledom with Sophie might be the most period-accurate thing for a bisexual man in the 1800s. ‘Historically, there were probably quite a lot of bi men who were getting married to women because of compulsory monogamy and compulsory heterosexuality,’ Dr Shaw explains.

The world of Bridgerton plays fast and loose with elements of historical accuracy, for the sake of campy good fun (Ariana Grande string covers, utterly fabulous Queen Charlotte wigs) or a progressive take on the period drama (introducing characters of colour into an overwhelmingly white genre).

When the Regency textbook has been tossed out the window in certain respects, it has begged the question of why this alternate history hasn’t extended to normalised LGBTQ+ representation. Dr Bowes-Catton describes it as a ‘frustrating’ element of the show, but one that is baked into its genre constraints. 

‘I would like to see Bridgerton become a bit more radical, but I’m not sure to what extent it’s possible to do that and still be a Regency romance,’ she says. ‘I see the quandary that they’re in.’

That high romance is likely why Benedict’s offer from a gentleman, as the Julia Quinn book is spoilerifically named, has been met with cries of despair from the Bridgerton fandom. But Dr Shaw frames this mistress proposition as a possible expression of his queerness. 

‘It shows someone who is destabilising gender norms, certainly in terms of his sexuality, and is deciding to live a romantic life as he pleases,’ Dr Shaw says of Benedict, before moving to that part one cliffhanger. 

‘If we think about that in modern terms, basically he’s saying, I don’t want a traditional relationship with you, but you’re important to me, and I do love you.’

Much hangs in the balance with how Bridgerton navigates Benedict’s queerness in the second part of the season, as he inevitably settles down with Sophie – not that that will negate his bisexuality.

‘He gets to be all of the different parts of himself,’ says Dr Bowes-Catton. ‘If he ends up in a heterosexual-presenting relationship, of course, that’s still a queer relationship, because it’s got a queer person in it.’

The most disappointing scenario is that his sexuality is reduced to a ‘phase’. But Benedict sharing his bisexuality with Sophie would create a nuanced, compelling form of bisexual representation, Dr Shaw explains.

‘What would be amazing is that she saw him for who he really was, and accepted him and loved him anyway, or because of it even, rather than despite it,’ she says.

Bridgerton’s showrunner Jess Brownell has reassured fans that Benedict’s queerness ‘will always be a piece of his identity’ ahead of the final four episodes later this month. She told Variety: ‘It felt fresh and important to see a bisexual man ending up in a heterosexual-presenting relationship and still owning the fact that he is still queer.’

There could even be real-world implications for the bi community, as Dr Shaw describes the ongoing discrimination against bisexual men from straight women: ‘It’s showcasing that bi men aren’t just gay men in disguise or gay men who are lying. I think that’s really, really helpful to show to a wide audience. 

‘Benedict very much counteracts that notion, because it’s very clear how attracted he is to Sophie, and yet he’s also bi.’

There are other exciting avenues yet for the show to craft non-heterosexual storylines, whether it be with the groundwork laid for Francesca’s season – the ‘quiet bisexual’ is a character rarely seen, Dr Shaw tells us – or Eloise’s resistance to fit into social norms, which might yield asexual or aromantic representation, Dr Bowes-Catton suggests.

After all, the entire queer fandom’s weight of expectation is a lot to foist onto one character.

‘We can’t put it all on poor Benedict,’ says Dr Bowes-Catton. ‘He’s got enough going on.’

Bridgerton season 4 part 1 is available to stream on Netflix.

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