SPOILER ALERT! This post contains details from all episodes of Bridgerton Season 4.
After setting up a steamy romance for matriarch Violet Bridgerton (Ruth Gemmell) in the first half of Season 4, Bridgerton has left the relationship between her and Lord Anderson (Daniel Francis) in rocky territory in the final episodes released February 26.
In the final four episodes of the season, Violet is giddy to become betrothed to Lord Anderson, who seems absolutely besotted with her as well. She prepares to break the news to her children but, before she can, the family is rocked by the death of John Stirling (Victor Alli). With Francesca (Hannah Dodd) in tatters, Violet suddenly feels as though her happiness needs to take a backseat to her daughters needs.
“I think she got really wrapped up in it, and then John’s death has just floored her. Everyone talks about how it’s time for violet, and it’s nice to have her moment in the sun. When John’s death happens, I think she realizes that moment is not hers at the moment,” Gemmell told Deadline in a recent interview.
But, when she asks Lord Anderson if they can hold off on announcing their partnership, he bristles at the idea of staying a secret any longer. He wants a real life with her and, while he understands her reservations, he’s not sure he wants to exist in the shadows anymore.
That’s all happening on the fringes as Violet also still has to sort out Benedict’s (Luke Thompson) whirlwind romance with Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha), which might mean his exile for marrying someone far below his class if their understanding of Sophie’s upbringing is correct.
In the interview below, Gemmell opens up about the back half of the season and reflects on how Violet juggled all the drama unfolding in and around the Bridgerton family this season.
DEADLINE: I was so excited to see Ruth’s romantic storyline this season and was equally as sad to see it end. Do you really think things are over between Violet and Lord Anderson?
RUTH GEMMELL: Oh, that, I don’t know… I think she was expecting to go back where they had already been. So, I think she’s messed that up a little bit, really. But where that where it goes from now, I don’t know. Clearly, something has been ignited in her, hasn’t it? She’s very keen on him, but I think she underestimated what he wanted out of it.
DEADLINE: What do you think was going through her head when she made the decision to take a step back?
GEMMELL: I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that Francesca is in a whole heap of hell. Above all, I think her children will always come first. I think certainly, talking to Lady Danbury, it was very much a case of taking on Mrs. Wilson’s mantra of life is meant to be lived, but when something as traumatic as that has happened to her child, I think she sheepishly goes back to feeling a little bit guilty for having indulged herself. I think a lot of it came from that. I also think she got wrapped up in a whirlwind of, these things haven’t been said to her for a very long time, and someone like Lord Anderson, who she’s extremely fond of, telling her he loves her and wants to marry her, is very beguiling, but I think she got really wrapped up in it, and then John’s death has just floored her. Everyone talks about how it’s time for violet, and it’s nice to have her moment in the sun. When John’s death happens, I think she realizes that moment is not hers at the moment.
DEADLINE: Speaking of Francesca, Violet tries so hard to make her feel comforted but Francesca points out very quickly that their situations are not the same, because Violet got to spend many years with Edmund and had eight children. What do you think that moment was like for Violet, and what was it like to film it with Hannah?
GEMMELL: I think one of the things that is lovely about these characters is that grief is universal. Everyone has had grief in their life, whether it’s just a relationship breaking down, or whether it’s the loss of somebody. I think we can all identify with that. We also can identify, I think, when you try to relate to somebody and somebody says, ‘Actually, no, it’s not like that for me at all. I don’t feel like any of those things.’ So I think she is quite humbled. I think she is saddened because she doesn’t know how to reach out and help her. In terms of me and Hannah, Hannah was extraordinary in those scenes, and it was a real joy to work with her. I think when you have those kind of words written for you — I’m not really particularly articulate, so somebody else’s words are really lovely to be able to say, even if you disagree with them, or you agree with them, or you have no experience of them. They’re kind of nice to have, and it was really lovely to work with Hannah.
DEADLINE: Once she realizes how serious Benedict is about Sophie, she’s so ready to allow him to pursue this relationship even if it means he will have to distance himself from the family. What makes her realize that she should support him in that way?
GEMMELL: There’s a scene, isn’t there, when she goes over to see him. I think it’s after he’s just spoken at the funeral, and he calls her hypocritical, and for the first time, she realizes that actually Sophie meant a great deal more to him, because she knows what Sophie feels. I think she had felt up until that point that there was interest, but it would pass, and that he would ruin Sophie. I think above all, she was always trying to protect Sophie, so when she realizes, I think, that’s the moment, because he’s so raw from John’s death and having to sort of be head of the house and speak. I think there’s no holds barred, really, there.
DEADLINE: I do appreciate that it seems she’s always coming from that angle of wanting to protect Sophie. How do you think that her dealing with the potential fallout from her son in a relationship with someone from a lower class helped prepare her for what we assume will blossom from Francesca and Michaela’s friendship?
GEMMELL: Well, in terms of Francesca and Michaela, I would always go back to the mantra that Violet always has, which is, ‘You be with your best friend.’ That’s all I can go on, really. We’ll play as we come to it and things like that, but that’s always her mantra, and it’s the same, even though Sophie is perceived to be in a different class. One of the things about the books, very much so, is that it’s a period drama. It’s never a sort of a carbon copy of a historical portrayal of that time. There are all sorts of things that we play with, and we’ve very much created our own world. In that, a lot of the constraints, we mess around with — even when we did etiquette classes, I think, right at the very beginning. It’s something that’s in actors’ DNA, because of plays that they work on and classical works and stuff like that, but we were told to kind of learn that and then just forget all about it. That’s very much the ethos of the books. So, for example, I think in the books they kind of treat their staff like their friends…So she’s all right, Violet, she’s fine about it all.
DEADLINE: You mentioned the last time you spoke with us that you thought a lot about how Violet has not been with any man in many years. I wondered what your thoughts about that were as you settled into this storyline with Lord Anderson? What would it be like for Violet to be in that position?
GEMMELL: There are some scenes that make it in and some don’t, but there was certainly a little bit more flirting around the prospect of the idea. Violet is very tentative and very nervous and can’t quite sort of face up to it. Then there’s a moment that is very much in [the show] when Francesca asks her what an orgasm is, and true to form, although slightly better than last time, Violet can’t really describe it, but I think that very much makes her think of her own needs, and that she has to face up to a few things herself. So, therefore, I think the next scene that she has after that is that she goes off to Anderson to actually say why she’s nervous. In terms of me, I found out in a costume fitting that they were fitting for, I think the tea scene, and I didn’t know where that was coming from, because we had no script. So that was a baptism of fire that I think Daniel and I had a conversation about it after that, because we were a bit kind of like, ‘Oh, bloody hell.’ But it was quite fun to play, and I think it’s quite nice to have that demographic of our audience [represented]. It’s nice to play the woman with an awful lot of baggage dipping her toe back into that water. That’s kind of really lovely.
DEADLINE: At one point Violet makes a comment about how she sees so much of herself in Benedict because she was also a wild child. Do you think it is hard for her to see parts of herself in her kids that she knows might get them into some sort of trouble?
GEMMELL: But isn’t that part of being a parent and also part of growing up and growing older? I’m probably turning into my mother. All those things thatyou start off going, ‘I don’t want to listen to what you have to say, you know? That thing when a parent or somebody older gives you advice, and you it’s the last thing you want to hear. But by the time you get to their age…there’s that saying, ‘Youth is wasted on the young,’ because you’ve seen it all, done it all, and you’ve got the T-shirt, and they don’t want to listen to your pearls of wisdom. Also, I mean, because we are a fictional family, and none of them really look like me —
DEADLINE: Well, some of them do.
GEMMELL: I know, they do a little bit. We do joke about it and get those apps where you create yourself looking like a 14-year-old or 96, and I think I’ve done one of those to see who I look like. I think that was quite funny, but that’s another thing. I’m one of five, and I would say that none of us really look particularly similar, but we all look like our parents, if that makes any sense. So there’s something about that kind of family thing that there’s always your DNA that’s there, and whether that’s [biological] characteristics or characteristics in a make-believe family that we create. I think that’s good. I think it’s quite nice, because we’ve been doing this since 2019, so we have become a bit of a family in a way.
DEADLINE: What are you looking forward to about continuing the series?
GEMMELL: I hope one day every single child and their partner and children will all be in the same room together. I hope that happens.