Note: The following story contains spoilers for the Bridgerton Season 2 finale.
Season 2 of Bridgerton begins with Eloise (Claudia Jessie)’s worst nightmare coming to life: The ton’s most reluctant debutante is thrust headfirst into the 1814 social season, making her debut in front of the Queen of England (Golda Rosheuvel), feather headdresses and all. “It’s hilarious, right? Actually, when I was wearing those, I’d forget that they were on my head because I’ve got a wig on. And I remember once looking down, and then obviously the feathers were completely battering everyone around me. And I kept doing it,” Jessie tells Tudum over a Zoom call from Sydney.
“You know like in a comedy when someone’s got a surfboard and they spin it, and they’re just knocking everybody around? That was sort of what I was doing with my feathers.” Such a display is quite typical of Eloise, who wasn’t exactly rushing to be presented in the first place and notably has “never understood the fashion for feathers in the hair” anyway. As she ponders in Season 1, Episode 4, “Why would a woman want to draw notice to the fact that she is like a bird squawking for a man’s attention in some bizarre ritual?”
For Bridgerton book and non-book fans alike, Season 2 is a complete whirlwind, as Eloise’s storyline is nearly entirely new. She’s always been an iconoclast, but this season she goes even further beyond the confines of the ton — from developing a friendship with Theo Sharpe (Calam Lynch) and engaging with ideas about women’s rights in Bloomsbury to finding out in the finale that Lady Whistledown has been best friend Penelope (Nicola Coughlan) all along. “The layers of betrayal are thick in that situation,” Jessie, who has read Julia Quinn’s series of Bridgerton books, tells Tudum.
For Tudum’s “Burning Questions,” Jessie unpacks her blowout fight with Penelope in the Season 2 finale, her close friendship with Benedict and if she’s kicking herself for not kissing Theo back.
Were you shocked that Eloise found out Lady Whistledown’s identity so soon in the series, as opposed to her learning about Pen’s alter ego in Book 5 (To Sir Phillip, with Love)?
I was so pleased they did that because Eloise is the person you want to find out the most, right? The stakes are the highest with Eloise, so I was really happy they did it. It’s the best decision, to get her to know as soon as possible. I loved shooting that scene because it’s a really lovely position to be in as an audience member, where you know but you know the characters don’t know. That’s a really yummy place to be as a viewer, so I think it would be satisfying to the viewer for Eloise to find out. And every time we shot that scene with Nicola, we’d have a little cuddle at the end and then we’d get back to it and start again.
Were you and Nicola devastated to film that scene? How do they come back from that blowout fight?
Nicola and I still aren’t speaking. Really method... Can you imagine? [laughs] I think, yeah, they will. They have to make up. It’s really important that they make up; it will only make their friendship better. It will make their friendship more mature. When you’re that young and you first fall in love or have that first blowout, it’s world-changing. Obviously, you get used to it and you get better at navigating altercations when you’re older, but then, it’s just this massive thing. Also, the layers of betrayal are thick in that situation.
On so many levels.
Yeah, Penelope watched Eloise for an entire season run around, humiliate herself, get in altercations with the queen to try and find out who Lady Whistledown was. And she was her the whole time! So it’s a big deal.
Absolutely, and she revealed her secret relationship with Theo in those, too. Is she kicking herself now that she didn’t kiss him back? Now that she knows the truth.
Right?! Because the thing is, that kiss would’ve happened had she not had Penelope in the back of her head. Eloise could’ve had her first kiss. She didn’t know how babies were made in Season 1. That would’ve been quite the development.
Obviously there are so many emotions at play in that fight scene. Do you think on one level she’s proud of Pen but also wishes she had been Whistledown herself?
Yes. It’s very exposing for Eloise because Eloise obviously didn’t ever think it was Penelope. So Eloise would openly praise this person and really show her hand about how much she admired her and how much she wanted to be her. She wanted to be Lady Whistledown, earning money and having autonomy, so it’s just so humiliating for Eloise. But, also, do you mean it’s like the Ron Burgundy “I’m not mad, I’m actually impressed,” where the dog eats all the cheese?
Yes, exactly.
Yeah, it’s a bit like that. I think they’ll get to that, maybe in Season 3. It would be like, “I’m really cross, but very well done. Job well done.”
Do you think Eloise wishes she would’ve been let in on the secret sooner?
I don’t think that’s the concern at that time. Maybe she’ll ruminate on that after, but at that time she’s like, “I cannot believe the level of betrayal and the amount you’ve lied to me. You’ve written about my family. You’ve written about me.” At that moment, [wanting to know sooner] isn’t at the front of her mind. She’ll probably get on to that at some point, but it’s just fury at that moment.
Eloise is so known for her cleverness. She probably hates that she feels like her best friend is playing her for a fool.
One hundred percent. And by the last person she’d ever suspect that to happen with. The humiliation is feeling like you’ve been taken advantage of. They all hang out as mates, chat and gossip, and you can just imagine Eloise being like, “Oh, you’ll never guess what my brother did.” And it’ll just go straight into Lady Whistledown. She’s been an enabler, as it were.
We see Penelope pick up the pen at the end, so she doesn’t give up Whistledown entirely. Where does Eloise go with this information? Do you think she’d keep a secret? How does she cope with this knowledge she now has?
I don’t think Eloise would ever say anything. I think she’d be a very good friend. She’d keep it to herself. Because, like you said, she still will be impressed by how Penelope’s been smashing it being this writer, so I don’t think Eloise wants to get revenge. She just doesn’t want to speak to her, so I think she will keep it to herself. And there’s no benefit, because she also likes reading Lady Whistledown.
In Season 1, Eloise is the queen’s accomplice. She’s leading the search for Lady Whistledown. So were you surprised to see her then become the queen’s prime suspect for penning Whistledown in Season 2?
Can you imagine? It might feel like a bigger deal in the UK because we have a queen and a royal family. It’d be absolutely bonkers if the queen turned up outside my house and was like, “I think you’re [Lady Whistledown].” I’d probably pass out. I also love any opportunity to work with Golda because she’s so cool and incredible. She’s so good at her job. She plays the queen perfectly. But yeah, it makes sense why the queen thought Eloise was Lady Whistledown. Eloise didn’t find out who it was in Season 1. She hates all the [social season antics]. She’s very outspoken, so yeah, it makes sense that the queen thinks it’s her. But imagine trying to convince the queen it’s not you. How do you do that?
How excited were you to see Eloise escape the balls, go rogue and find community in the Bloomsbury assembly rooms and Theo’s shop? She’s always had these ideas about women’s rights, and now she actually gets to share them with like-minded people.
Yeah. It’s amazing because all this stuff she talked about in Season 1 was very observational. She’s like, “Why do we do this? Why do we do that? What is this? This is so bizarre.” And now she’s getting to actually explore it. She’s getting to be a part of an opportunity. I love that we get to see her have romantic feelings for someone. It’s the cutest thing in the world. I love the idea of us being able to see someone like Eloise continue to be a bit of a maverick. She’s really cool. I love that she bribes footmen to get to these places. I love that she forges names in her dance card so she doesn’t have to dance with anyone. I think it’s more interesting to be like, “OK, this girl doesn’t want to be the property of a man. She wants to have her own money,” than just assume Eloise wouldn’t want romance.
I hate that dichotomy where you have to choose one or the other. She can have both. To that end, do you think Eloise and Theo’s friendship is ruined? Is there any mending that?
I hope so. I’d love if that happened because I think she would’ve carried on. She would’ve kissed him were it not for Penelope, but he thinks that it’s because of their class [differences]. He’s like, “You like the idea of me but not so much the reality of me.” It’s not that. I don’t think Eloise gives a crap about stuff like that. But to transcend class — and class is very much a thing here in the UK — would be a really interesting topic to discuss. More than anything, Eloise would just want to be clear that [class isn’t the reason it] ended. I like that they didn’t really make her coy. She was like, “Mate, I’ve got feelings. I think about you. Do you maybe think about me as well?” She was pragmatic with it.
We often see Eloise reading and writing in her diary. If there were no limits, do you think she’d want to be a writer? What would you envision she would want for her future?
I think she would want to write. Maybe she’d want to just be around people she could talk with. She really likes to learn; that’s why she reads so much. She’s a bit of a sponge. She really takes things in, so she’d want to continue to expand. Who could we see her as? A lecturer or a professor of English literature. She’d be quite good at that.
I mean, she uses names from English literature on all of her dance cards, right?
Exactly.
Eloise and Benedict always find solace in each other, especially in those sweet swing set scenes. They’re the artistically minded siblings of the Bridgerton family. I’ve always wondered, what do you think she’d make of his artists’ colony? Why hasn’t he brought her yet?
I think she’d love it. Benedict and Eloise really love each other. They’re very close. They’re very similar. I do like the idea of them judging each other though. He’d be like, “You and your debate crowd. You and your writers and thinkers.” And then her being like, “You’re so artsy. What of you and your painter friends?” I’d like the idea that they’d have this playful creative judgment with each other and be like, “You artists are all the same.” But that’d be cool because she’s getting old enough to hang out. It would be really nice if they could hang out together. I love any opportunity to work with Luke Thompson [who plays Benedict Bridgerton]. He’s a really, really beautiful person and I love those swing scenes we do. They’re such sincere moments.
Another fun change from the books is that Eloise gets to play pall-mall. And we know there’s a second pall-mall game in the epilogue, so how do you imagine Eloise filled her time in those six months?
Probably reading. Of course, she’s been through a lot. She’s lost a crush. She lost her best mate. That’s a lot to deal with when you’re 18.
Where do you hope Eloise’s curiosity takes her next season?
I like the idea of her becoming political. Obviously, romance is a very important part of the show, but out of all of the characters, Eloise is the one you’d like to see go a slightly different route. Because we see it in Season 2 where she’s meeting different people in different parts of society and reading new things, so I’d like to see that continue. Right now, she’s young and she’s just taking everything in. But I’d like her to have a really clear purpose, something that she really desires.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
For Nicola Coughlan’s take on that devastating Peneloise fight scene, read here.
