Marina Won’t Be Back in Bridgerton Season 3

In a comment on an Instagram post, Ruby Barker, who played Marina in Seasons 1 and 2 of Bridgerton, stated that she won’t be in Bridgerton Season 3. Naturally, that raises a lot of questions, especially since it was from the actress herself in a very casual way and not an official statement from the production.

Does Ruby Barker not being back for Season 3 mean there’s no Marina in S3?

I am inclined to say yes on this as I think a recast unlikely. However, knowing what may be coming down the line for Marina’s story arc and knowing Ruby’s personal history with mental illness that she’s been amazingly open about, I could see a scenario wherein she decided it was best for her to step away from the role. And more power to her if that’s the case. Self-advocacy and self-preservation are most important here. If that had happened, though, I feel like Netflix would want to do some kind of announcement of passing the torch, etc etc, to show there was no bad blood or anything. Maybe we could still get that as S3 doesn’t seem to be coming anytime soon, but at the moment I’d say that no Ruby means no Marina.

Does Ruby not being in S3 mean she won’t be in any later seasons?

Not necessarily, though I personally would be surprised, or at least find it odd, if she wasn’t in Season 3 then jumped back in for Season 4. However, there are some ways that could work, like if her subplot exists in S4 to prep Eloise’s season. They could also keep that from being too weird if they bring in Phillip in S3 to keep us grounded in that story. The biggest issue I see with this is that Penelope now won’t get to apologize to Marina. Other than Eloise, Marina is most entwined with Colin and Penelope’s story, and it does seem a bit odd that she won’t show up at all for their story, particularly on Penelope’s side. I could possibly see them using Marina’s death as a catalyst for Penelope to realize how terrible her actions have been. However, them using her death as a motivator for another character feels exploitative at best, which I’ll talk more about on the next question.

Does this mean her story will be different than the books?

Marina’s story in the books is an extremely tragic one. Spoilers…But in To Sir Phillip With Love, she tries to end her life and falls ill because of it, eventually dying. This is a tough one address, whether or not it will be different. If Marina is coming back in Season 4, it could all still be very up in the air. However, if we won’t ever be seeing her character again, I think there are only a few options for them to do, and even fewer good ones. They could stick to the books and just tell us what happened. It wouldn’t make a meal out of a difficult plot, but it would also cause issues as Marina, a character with a complex and dynamic arc as well as a pretty massive role in Season 1, gets fridged to make backstory for Phillip. It would be a horrible end for a character that deserves so much better. However, if they choose to kill her off differently than the books, which I honestly think is most likely at this point, it still utilizes her death as story motivator for the man in her life and gets her out of the way for the white couple to be happy. Still definitely dicey. It doesn’t feel quite as damaging though without the mental health piece, which is why I think that’s the direction they’ll go if they aren’t going to have Marina as a character to explore her side and develop empathy for what she’s going through. In any case, there’s no good way out of this story unless they wholly upend the books and do something completely different. Even then, those options are limited. She runs away to find her happiness, either with the kids and takes them from Phillip, or abandons them? Neither of those are great. Divorce and co-parenting? Maybe, but we’re getting into unrealistic for the times. And anything else, like her and Phillip falling in love and getting their HEA (which I really like) would involve changing Eloise’s love interest. Even switching things up and killing off Phillip to get Eloise and Marina a happy ending together (a thought I kind of adore honestly) would cause massive waves in the fandom. Not impossible, just less likely. Bridgerton seems to largely be playing it safe, but I can’t preclude something wild and truly exciting to happen with Marina’s story.

Does this mean Eloise’s story could be Season 4?

Maybe? I don’t have a better answer than that, unfortunately, because there are many ways things could go. As I just went through, there are so many possibilities for what could happen to Marina. If they go simple and similar to the books, it could absolutely be a set up for Eloise in S4. If we hear about Marina’s death and get a bit of Phillip, it could be a great way to lead into Eloise’s season. On the other hand, the fact that she’s not in Season 3 could mean just the opposite, that there’s no need for her story because the set up for Eloise will be happening in S4 with her own season to come in Season 5.

There are a lot of big what if’s that come from Ruby Barker’s departure. The truth is, we don’t know what this means until we get some clear word from someone involved, or, maybe more likely, simply get the season itself. Like most speculation, it’s all just a shot in the dark without a lot of evidence, but hopefully I managed to get some educated guesses in there and whittle this down to the most essential questions this bombshell brought up.