Bridgerton boss gives ridiculous reason for excluding Daphne from major season 3 moments

There was a lot to love about the third season of Bridgerton which featured the returns of all of our favorite characters… or at least most of them. One character who was glaringly missing from the third season was the eldest Bridgerton sister, Daphne, who failed to make an appearance across the season – despite there being several significant moments in which one would assume Daphne would have been present. 

This seems like a good place to say Warning: Bridgerton season 3 spoilers are coming! 

Season 3 of Bridgerton featured two Bridgerton weddings and nearly the entire family was present to watch the happy couples exchange their vows with one exception. That’s right, Daphne was MIA at the weddings of her two younger siblings which was in part due to the fact that the actress who plays the character did not return for season 3. However, rather than include a quick reference explaining why Daphne wasn’t present at either wedding, the show simply acted like she didn’t even exist with no reference to the family's eldest sister. 

It was a decision that left fans puzzled and it turns out the creative team thought about including a line or two in the script to explain why Daphne missed the wedding of not one, but two siblings. However, they decided to cut the moment for the craziest of reasons. 

“There was a version of the scripts this season where at Penelope and Colin’s wedding, we threw a line at the fact that like, ‘Oh, Daphne wishes she could be here — but she’s pregnant again,’ or, ‘Daphne and Simon? I just saw them, they’re sitting over there.’ But the truth of the matter is that it just gets a little wonky to bring them up, and then not see them,” explained showrunner Jess Brownell in an interview with Variety. 

That’s right, we could have gotten a reference to Daphne’s whereabouts but to cut it because mentioning her felt wonky? I too am just as confused as you are as what felt wonky was there being no mention of Daphne at all or an explanation as to why she missed both Colin and Francesca’s wedding days. Would it really have been that hard to include just one brief line of dialogue in the respective scenes giving a nod to Daphne to at least make it seem like she was present at the weddings without us having to see her? 

Better yet, could a stand-in actor not have been shown from behind to give the illusion she was present? Many shows have used tricks such as these when a former cast member could not return for a pivotal moment in a show, so we have to wonder why Bridgerton couldn’t make either happen. And we most certainly would love to know why it was thought to be wonky working in a line to even reference Daphne when she’s supposed to still be a part of this show’s universe. 

Kate and Anthony are in Bridgerton season 3, but why isn’t Daphne?

At the end of the day, the reason why we did not see Daphne in the third season of Bridgerton boils down to actress Phoebe Dynevor not be under contract to return for the season. 

In an interview with Variety in January 2023, Dynevor revealed that she would not be coming back for the third season of the show hinting that she had fulfilled her contractual obligations and did what she wanted to do with the character. 

“Well, I did my two seasons,” she explained at the time adding, “I’ve done what I wanted to do with that character and she had a great arc.”

With Dynevor seemingly not under contract for the season, Netflix would have had to ink a new deal for her to return and that would have been contingent upon Dynevor wanting to return to the show. Given her statements, it seems she felt her character arc was completed and that she was not needed for the new season. 

Rather than include any references to her character in the season, the decision was ultimately made not to bring up Daphne much in the season despite it causing a glaring absence at the season’s two weddings. But still, the door remains open and there is always a chance we could see Daphne back in future seasons should the story allow and should Dynevor be interested in revisiting the character.