The death that changes everything in Bridgerton Season 4, explained

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Bridgerton Season 4.

If you have made it to episode six of Bridgerton Season 4 you must be currently emotional.

John Stirling is gone. And according to showrunner Jess Brownell, it was planned from the very beginning.

John, played by Victor Alli, complained of a headache and told Francesca and his cousin Michaela he was going to lie down for a nap. When Francesca returned to their room later that evening, she found him dead in bed.

It is quiet. It is sudden. And it is absolutely devastating.

For readers of Julia Quinn's books, the moment was not entirely surprising. In the sixth novel, When He Was Wicked, John dies from a brain aneurysm, and the show has followed that same path. Still, knowing it was coming did not make it any easier to watch.

Brownell told Entertainment Weekly that John's death had been part of the plan since the very first writers' room for Season 4.

The timing of it was something the team thought carefully about. "We wanted to do it at a point where we had enough time to really fall in love with Fran and John," she said, "and give them space to fall in love with each other."

Crucially, she also wanted room to grieve him properly. Placing the death at the end of the season, but not in the final episode, allowed the show to sit with the loss while still leaving space for Benedict and Sophie's story to reach a happier resolution.

The episode following John's death, titled The Beyond, is where things get even more emotionally complex.

Rather than breaking down, Francesca throws herself into planning his funeral and convinces herself she is pregnant with his child, even when she is not. It is a form of denial, and Brownell says it is entirely in character.

"The thing about grief is that it presents in so many different ways," she explained. "With Francesca it did feel right that she doesn't really like to look inwards at her difficult emotions."

There is also a historical layer to it. Brownell points out that in the Regency era, showing emotion at a funeral was considered socially unacceptable. Francesca's composure is not just a personality trait. It is a product of her time.

Where Francesca holds it all in, Michaela does the opposite. She pushes for a celebration of John's life after the funeral, which confuses and unsettles Francesca at first.

Brownell describes Michaela as someone who "marches to the beat of her own drum" and does not abide by the customs of the time. That contrast is part of what makes their dynamic so interesting to watch.

One of the standout moments from the celebration, where Michaela teaches the group a stag dance, was actually improvised on set by actress Masali Baduza. The script simply said "and now we dance." Everything else was Baduza's own invention, including the instructions and the energy she brought to the scene.

John's death opens up a significant new chapter for Francesca. Her marriage was not without its difficulties. She struggled with fertility, and those unresolved hopes and disappointments are now part of what she has to carry.

Brownell has confirmed that Francesca's love story will continue in either Season 5 or 6, alongside Eloise's. In the books, Francesca eventually falls in love with John's cousin Michael. Given that the show has reimagined that character as Michaela, fans are already speculating about where that relationship might go.

When asked whether Francesca's story would come in Season 5 specifically, Brownell was careful not to confirm either way. "I think this season we have made some progress on both Francesca and Eloise's arcs in a way that allows us to get closer to telling their stories," she said.

Bridgerton Season 4 is streaming now on Netflix.

Areeba Hashmi is a trainee at Gulf News.