Bridgerton Season 3 Had An Alternate Ending For Cressida
Sooo, this changes everything.
Hot take: Cressida Cowper deserved more in Bridgerton Season 3. The rest of the morally gray characters like Eloise Bridgerton and Penelope Featherington ended the season happy — or at least, hopeful. After her unsuccessful Whistledown shenanigans (and blackmail attempt), Cressida was shut into a carriage alone as she presumably ventured to live with her aunt in Wales. But apparently, things almost went very differently. Jessica Madsen, who plays Cressida, and Season 3 shorunner Jess Brownell confirmed they shot an alternate ending for the character.
In an interview published June 13, Madsen told Entertaiment Weekly, “We did shoot a different ending.” According to her, “[In the first ending we shot], Lady Cowper actually came to save her, and got in the carriage with her and they left together. I had a caged bird in my hair with a little door, and Lady Cowper had the key.”
Brownell confirmed this info. “We shot an alternate ending where her mother gets in the carriage at the end and actually chooses her daughter,” she told the outlet. According to her, they ultimately decided to go a different direction in order to give keep the storyline open for Cressida next season.
“It was a really beautiful moment. But in the edit, Shonda [Rhimes] and I talked about the fact that it felt like an ending for Cressida,” Brownell continued. “It felt like it wrapped up her story and we intentionally wanted to leave it so that we can tell a bit more story with Cressida next season.”
Still, according to Madsen, everything might not be quite as it seems with Cressida’s Season 3 ending. Although the assumption is that she was going to live with her aunt, that’s never actually confirmed. “I don’t know whether she is going to her aunt’s because we actually don’t see her aunt in the carriage. So, it could be that she’s off somewhere by herself,” Madsen added.
At least the door is still open for Cressida to get her redemption arc in Season 4. Maybe even Creloise shippers will get a plot they approve of.
