Why Isn’t Daphne Returning For Bridgerton Season 3?

“Bridgerton” season three will focus on Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton), finally bringing their long-percolating romance to the front. But one key character won’t be returning to watch it all happen: Phoebe Dynevor, who led season one as the family’s eldest sister, Daphne Bridgerton.

Dynevor confirmed the news in a Jan. 28 interview with Screen Rant at the Sundance Film Festival. “Sadly [I’m] not in Season 3,” Dynevor told the outlet. “Potentially in the future. But season 3, I’m just excited to watch as a viewer.”

The actor further discussed her absence from season three in a Jan. 30 interview with Variety, noting that she’s open to coming back in the future. “Well I did my two seasons,” she said. “I’ve done what I wanted to do with that character and she had a great arc. If they ask me back in the future, who knows?”

Her exit follows in the footsteps of her season one costar and onscreen husband, Regé-Jean Page, who exited “Bridgerton” after the first season. His announcement was first unveiled in a message from Lady Whistledown herself, and Page later told Variety that he had always planned for his character to have a “one-season arc.” According to the Hollywood Reporter, however, he was initially offered $50,000 per episode to return. It’s not clear whether Dynevor was asked to return for the third season. In season two, she returned as Daphne to help out her family as her older brother Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) went through his own romantic struggles with newcomers Edwina (Charithra Chandran) and her sister Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley).

A release date for the show’s highly anticipated third season has not yet been unveiled, though Netflix released the first teaser in July 2022. “I really feel like it’s Colin and Penelope’s time,” “Bridgerton” showrunner Jess Brownell explained to Variety in May 2022, when the third season’s central storyline was first revealed. “Because we’ve been watching both of these actors on our screens since Season 1, we’ve already invested in them a little bit. We know who they are as people. I feel like, especially in the last season, there are these moments of tension between them where it’s like, Colin walks up to the line of almost realizing that Penelope has feelings for him but doesn’t quite get there. Instead of treading water on that dynamic, we wanted to push it into their season. It really felt like the perfect moment to tee it up.”