Bridgerton (2000-present) is a Netflix historical romance drama series based on Julia Quinn's novels and executive produced by Shonda Rhimes. The series explores the romantic lives of the adult children of the Bridgerton family, an affluent and respected upper-class household in a fictionalized version of Regency-era London.
The series pulls heavily from both the worlds of Jane Austen as well as modern romantic novel tropes (enemies to lovers, etc.) Each season focuses on the courtship and usually marriage of one of the children: season one focused on eldest daughter Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor), season two on eldest brother and viscount Anthony (Jonathan Bailey), and season three on third son Colin (Luke Newton).
Of particular note is second son Benedict (Luke Thompson), a charming, open, warm, funny, supportive brother with sometimes rakish (but kind) tendencies in his sex life. He is also a burgeoning artist. Benedict wears typical elite Regency clothing — coats, cravats, boots, and the like — with the occasional accent of Bridgerton’s preferred color (blue) in pieces like his waistcoat. As the seasons go on, Benedict’s hair gets shorter and loses most of his sideburns. He is also often seen with a smile on his face.
Benedict is a fan favorite of the series. He has a good relationship with most of his family and friends and is well-liked across the "ton", though he does not much like to be fawned over by women with marriage on their minds. More often than not, he can be found at brothels, having a good time but treating the sex workers there with respect. He is often kind but elusive around them. In season two, he has a brief relationship with an art model who intrigues him, but it ultimately goes nowhere.
The biggest arc regarding his love life and sex life so far comes in Season Three when he begins a casual fling with Tilley Arnold (Hannah New), a brazen woman who seems to be a good match for his wit as well as his flirtation. In Part Two of the series, Tilley introduces Benedict to her friend and occasional paramour, Paul Suarez (Lucas Aurelio), a society hater and patron of the theatrical arts. After a shared moment of spark that Benedict initially denies, he later rejoins the pair, and the three engage in ménage-à-trois multiple times, with Benedict expressing his deep joy at the development and this discovery about himself.
As such, he is reluctant to go exclusive with Tilley when she says she wants it to just be them going forward, and the two break things off. However, Benedict is kind in the end, explaining that it has to do with his desire to explore this newfound freedom and expression.
During press tours, both Thompson and showrunner Jess Bronwell confirmed Benedict to be pansexual in the television series.
From Bronwell for Refinery29:
“I think this is a show about the many ways in which people love. So it only feels right to show all the ways in which people love, including queer love.
"So we are exploring queer love stories across the next couple of seasons. I don't want to say exactly how that plays out. But it was important to me to foreground queer love and to tell queer stories and tell stories about queer joy as well."
“We have the privilege of living in this fantasy world which means we can push back against some of the reality of what happened in the 1800s.”
From Thompson in an interview with Bustle:
He [Benedict] seems to approach his feelings in a spirit of curiosity. There’s very little angst about it. It’s refreshing to see someone tackle that side of themselves without anxiety about who they are and what it means.
Male sexuality, particularly, can feel boxy in the way that it’s explored. Let’s be clear, it was an extremely repressive period. By our modern terms, the closest [descriptor] would be something along the lines of pansexuality — being attracted to the way that someone thinks and feels, regardless of gender. That’s a word that could be used. But what’s refreshing about it, certainly in the way that it’s being discovered at the moment, is that there is a sense of label-lessness about it.
While Benedict is a white man with extreme privilege in pretty much every possible corner in his life, it is still truly a marvel to see a bi man in a historical drama who is accepting of himself and also is a main character and unlikely to perish. As such, he makes for a very interesting and highly entertaining entry as far as bi representation in modern media.