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For Bridgerton<\/em> Season 5, it seems we might be leaving the Ton behind for Scotland. The reason? The new couple who will be at the center of the next installment of Jess Brownell\u2019s Regency romp. And no, it isn\u2019t Claudia Jessie\u2019s Eloise and her great love. Instead, it\u2019s Hannah Dodd\u2019s newly widowed Francesca and Masali Baduza\u2019s Michaela, the beloved cousin of her former husband, John Stirling.<\/p>\n Netflix confirmed the news with a romantic new teaser featuring the pair, alongside sweeping vistas of misty mountains and dense forests. The streamer also revealed that the forthcoming season is now in production.<\/p>\n The next chapter\u2019s log line reads: \u201cThe fifth season of Bridgerton<\/em> spotlights introverted middle daughter Francesca. Two years after losing her beloved husband, John, Fran decides to reenter the marriage mart for practical reasons. But when John\u2019s cousin, Michaela, returns to London to tend to the Kilmartin estate, Fran\u2019s complicated feelings will have her questioning whether to stick to her pragmatic intentions or pursue her inner passions.\u201d<\/p>\n It goes on to describe Fran as the \u201cCountess of Kilmartin\u2014reserved and contained, Francesca has long felt out of place in the world. As Michaela stirs up new feelings inside her, Fran will make discoveries about herself that could change everything.\u201d Of her paramour, it adds: \u201cBeneath Michaela\u2019s charming and vivacious exterior hides a vulnerable young woman who is quick to run the second she feels discomfort. But, this season, Michaela must face her vulnerability head-on as she\u2019s forced to navigate her relationship to her late cousin\u2019s legacy\u2014and to Francesca.\u201d<\/p>\n The news prompted a number of questions: will Eloise finally have the spotlight in season six, then? (The show, it appears, is jumping ahead to the sixth book in Julia Quinn\u2019s Bridgerton<\/em> series, When He Was Wicked<\/em>, while the fifth book, To Sir Phillip, With Love<\/em>, focuses on Eloise.) What else will have happened in this two-year time jump? How quickly will the identity of the new Lady Whistledown be revealed? And who else will star in this new installment?<\/p>\n On that last point, at least, we now have some answers\u2014Dodd and Baduza will be joined by a new trio. There\u2019s The Sandman<\/em>\u2019s Tega Alexander as Christopher Anderson, the son of Daniel Francis\u2019s Lord Anderson, \u201ca Regency-era Casanova\u201d who is cheeky but possesses \u201ca current of self-doubt that threatens to unravel him\u201d; Carnival Row<\/em>\u2019s Jacqueline Boatswain as Helen Stirling, Michaela\u2019s spirited and pushy mother; and Mobland<\/em>\u2019s Gemma Knight Jones as Lady Elizabeth Ashworth, an old friend and confidante of Michaela who guides her through London.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n