Bridgerton's Claudia Jessie talks Eloise's taboo romance

Warning: This article contains spoilers about Bridgerton season 2.

Eloise Bridgerton (Claudia Jessie) has always railed against the conventions and expectations of the ton.

In season 2 of Bridgerton, she had even more reason to strain against such rules after finally making her debut into society. She's never been shy about declaring her desire to want more than merely becoming someone's wife, and once out in the world more fully, she channeled that desire into striking up a blossoming romance with printer's apprentice Theo (Calam Lynch).

Theo exposed her to new ideas and philosophical meetings, lending her books by the likes of Mary Wollstonecraft to expand her access to political ideas and the fledgling beginnings of feminism. But after Penelope (Nicola Coughlan) warned Eloise that the ton was talking about her fraternizing with a member of the lower class, Eloise decided she needed to end the relationship before it had even truly begun. She and Theo nearly kissed before she pulled back and made the hard decision to cut him out of her life.

Yet when Eloise finally discovered that Penelope is Lady Whistledown, she also realized that her friend had manipulated her to call things off with Theo for her own ends.

"The only reason they don't kiss ... is because Eloise has Penelope in the back of her mind," Jessie tells EW. "Like she says in the fight, 'I let go of the only good thing going on in my life all because of your self-serving manipulation.' Penelope really gaslit her into believing that that was a bad thing to do."

Jessie says the most difficult bit of the break-up to swallow was the fact that Eloise wasn't completely honest with Theo about her reasoning. "More than anything, I would have loved if they could have had an honest moment where she could have been like, 'This is what's going on,'" she says. "Because he's left thinking that's it to do with class, and then he's like, 'Oh, okay, so the idea of me is great, but the reality of me is not so great.' That's what I'd want them to clear up more than anything. Eloise would want that so much. It's a lot to go through. Eloise loses her best mate and a potential partner all in one season."

But what will Eloise do now that she's learned that she cast Theo aside for a reason that didn't even really exist? Might she go back to him? "I would love if that was the case," she says. "I hope so. That would be amazing. Calam was great. He was really beautiful to work with."

"I'd love if Eloise could just change the mold a bit," adds Jessie. "And just have a boyfriend. It not be because they're going to get married, but Eloise just be the person that introduces the concept of the partner. Like just the boyfriend or the girlfriend, rather than here's your suitor, now you get married in a week. I'd love if Eloise could just be like, 'Oh yeah, I'm dating this guy, Theo Sharpe, pretty cool.'"

We talked to Jessie further about Eloise's romantic future on the Netflix series, how she and Luke Thompson have crafted such a beautiful sibling relationship between Eloise and Benedict, and what she makes of Eloise's sexuality.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: In the books, Eloise ends up with someone different, but would you want Theo to be endgame for her?

CLAUDIA JESSIE: It'd be quite cool just to see her date. She could just date people. If anyone can get away with it, it's Eloise. Wouldn't it be cool to see her maybe date someone, and then maybe date someone else? That can happen, that happens in life all the time. I'd love to see that pushed across on the screen.

You and Luke have created this beautiful sibling relationship where Benedict and Eloise are two dreamers who find solace in each other. How did that come to be? Was it something either of you pushed for more of this season?

They both just desire other. They want something other than what they're experiencing and what they're forced to be a part of. There are expectations on both of them, and they charm each other and they really get along. They can be playful and make fun of each other. We both pushed for more of our little swing scenes and stuff. We both were missing those. We were like, "When are we going to get together again?" They're my favorite scenes to shoot. I love being with Luke Thompson. He's a beautiful person. And I love that also, at balls, Benedict will be the first one to be like, "Let's go check out the biscuits," and get rid of this situation for Eloise. He really backs her up, which is adorable.

In some ways, Eloise's identity has been built upon her quest to uncover Whistledown. Do you think she will struggle to find her footing without that?

Yeah, I do. It'll be really eye opening of how much time she spent in trying to uncover someone that she essentially wanted to be. But that will only be to her benefit. At first, she might find it lonely and quite shocking. But it will only then become her greatest gift, because it's from there you then find out who you are and what you want to be and what you want to show to the world and what you want your contribution to be. Because Penelope has a point when she's like, "You talk about things all the time, but I'm the one who did it." Eloise talks all the time. She constantly talks, and actually being able to see her take action would be really great. It's only something like this that could cause that, otherwise she could still be living behind this quest for Lady Whistledown.

The show has flirted a little with non-heterosexual romance. Some have speculated Eloise might be bisexual or queer. Would you want to explore something like that with her?

Yeah, absolutely. It's really interesting that people sense that in her. People sense a real queer spirit ... and that's really beautiful. I really enjoy how that's happening. I'd love to explore that.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

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