Claudia Jessie

Claudia Jessie, who portrays Eloise on Netflix's 'Bridgerton,' talked to Vulture about playing the character and what to expect with season three.

A lot of the women in the show are quite bare and like to show a lot of arms and chest. I would love Eloise to find a clear objective and focus on one thing. Penelope knows how much Eloise loves Lady Whistledown and how much she probably wanted to be her. She talked a lot about how amazing she is and how they should aspire to be just like her. I liked that I got to unsubscribe a little bit and be a bit clumsy. There’s a firmness to the cut and the style of her clothes. I think they should be able to exist and be free and do what they want to do. A lot of us have cried when we watch them perform to the music. She, and also Penelope in a way, are signs of what’s to come. What do you mean I have to do this? Eloise is that beautiful, fresh, young mind who quite rightly is thinking about her right to autonomy and freedom and not to be a property of a man and to want to earn her own money. She’s a sign of what was to come.

2022 is turning out to be a tough one, but never fear, your mock-Regency escape hatch is here and Eloise Bridgerton invites you to step on in.

“So, there are things that we do, and certainly that I do, in life to make sure I stay as sane as I can. Think of us as your eyes and ears. But one thing we do share is like a love for a quick wit and comedy. And that's what I think TV does; it shows us examples of how relationships can change over time.” Comedy is the centre of my heart,” she says. Because Eloise is incredibly honest as well, a very honest person, so I think she'd be incredibly blown by that,” says Jessie. “She really is that on the page. I'd love her to see her get political.” I get to be fun and quick and outspoken and no filter. I think people will see that shift in their friendship.” As the first season unfolded, Eloise, with her smart mouth and high ideals, became the darling of the internet, every TV fan’s plucky little sister, or best mate with moxie. This season, we get to see Eloise reluctantly introduced at court where she’s forced to navigate the cutthroat world of strategic fan fluttering, coquetry and husband nabbing.

The Eloise Bridgerton actor on playing a 17-year-old in her 30s, how modern feminism plays into the Regency era and season two's shocking discovery that ...

At the end of this season, she works out that Penelope is Lady Whistledown and the pair fall out in a heartbreaking showdown. “I’m glad they did it that way,” Jessie adds. She thinks it’s a load of crap, but she didn’t even know how babies were made in season one.” laughs Jessie, who remembers her own first crush being Jessica Rabbit (“way out of my league”). “To see someone like Eloise have romantic feelings is really cool. I hope they do,” says Jessie. “But the first cut is the deepest when you fall out with a mate. “Eloise is the most explicitly feminist character – she’s the one with the megaphone. Season one focused on the romance between Eloise’s sister, Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) and the Duke of Hastings, Simon Bassett ( Regé-Jean Page). Eloise’s feminist credentials were thrown into question by some fans when she mocked Daphne’s dream to be a wife and have children. “TV is supposed to make people talk and discuss ideas. “But Shondaland [the hit production company behind the series] and Netflix are such industry giants, that no-one thought it was going to flop.” “She has this sprightly vibrancy,” she says. It follows the aristocratic families of Mayfair, known among the characters as “the ton”, as they follow society’s strict rules around love, friendship, money and respect. Instead of feeling pressured to live up to the first season’s success, any anxiety Jessie had was overshadowed by her relief to be working again.