Dearest Gentle Readers, with the conclusion of the 4th Season of Bridgerton, we got a scintillating cliffhanger that the torch of Lady Whistledown has been passed on by Penelope Bridgerton to a new gossipmonger. And the show runners have already decided who it is. This is not a Gossip Girl situation where the writers have no idea who the writer is. They already know. And they've already begun planting clues. So, I rewatched Season 4 to look for evidence about who our candidates are for the next Lady Whistledown based on the context clues of the season. This also means that characters not present in season 4 like Madame Delacroix and Daphne can be counted out because there's no clues in season 4 that they could be the mystery scribe.
The friend of Sophie Bridgerton and footman in Penwood House. In episode 2, Alfie immediately sees through Sophie's deflections and mood, easily sifting out the difference between witty, spiteful Sophie and sad, sulky Sophie. He's able to then quickly deduce that she met someone at the ball, and pries the information out of her. Now, these things could be chalked up to him simply having known Sophie a long time. But unlike Irma, Alfie was not a servant at Penwood House when Sophie was a child. We don't know how long he's worked for Penwood House. He may simply have a knack for reading people and sniffing out secrets. He also willfully offers up that he has read every issue of Whistledown. While this in and of itself is not exactly unusual for someone in Mayfair, the way he says it makes it seem like a source of pride. He knows how Whistledown writes, and can parse her meaning even when she's being coy and indirect. His sense of humor is also dry, witty, and snarky. Dripping with the edge that a good Lady Whistledown needs to humble Mayfair's elites. The biggest issue with Alfie being the new Lady Whistledown is that he is not a major character. Alfie may very well disappear after season 4, utterly forgotten by the show. So Alfie has motivation, the writing acumen, the skill for learning secrets, the only thing he falls short on is permanence in the show. If Alfie remains as a supporting character in Season 5, that will secure his tenuous permanence. But if he disappears, he obviously cannot be our Lady Whistledown. But he is a very good candidate.
Brimsley cares deeply for Queen Charlotte and knows that she relies on Lady Whistledown. Losing both Lady Danbury and Lady Whistledown all at once would surely leave Her Majesty dispondant. Him wanting to take up the pen to keep her happy would be very endearing. And, unlike Alfie, Brismley is a very established character that we know will be in more seasons. Charlotte also expressed to Violet in season 1 that Brismley is a notorious gossip. The issue with Brimsley as a suspect is that he's not a good gossip. Every time he tries to gossip with Queen Charlotte, she expresses disinterest. He offers up a sordid scandal involving a scullery maid, which disgusts Charlotte. When he begs Lady Danbury to apologize to the Queen, he admits that his attempts at gossip fall flat. That he cannot offer her the sort of gossip she finds amusing. Brimsley has good motivations, but not the acumen to be the scribe. Brismley is not a good candidate to be Lady Whistledown.
SUSPECT #3
SOPHIE BRIDGERTON
During her stay at My Cottage, Sophie is restless and unsure what to do with all of her free time without housework to do. It is worth considering she might take up Penelope's pen to occupy her time and give her something constructive to work on. Perhaps Alfie and Irma even act as her eyes and ears, gathering secrets and gossip and reporting back to her. Sophie is also extremely well-read, shrewd, and insightful. It was also her idea to disguise Hyacinth as a maid to make her invisible to the guests at Cressida's ball. It was Sophie who recognized Francesca needed a moment alone and gave her a respectable reason to excuse herself for a moment. The biggest issue with Sophie as the new Lady Whistledown is that she might not have the edge to be as cutting as the scribe needs to be. She also just took Lady Penwood at her word that she wasn't in the will and didn't think to check for herself for several years. She just accepted the lie without a single question. This naivety may discourage me from really considering Sophie as a candidate. Penelope handing the reins over to another Bridgerton may also be a bad idea, as the public already knows she's Lady Whistledown and their first assumptions would be that the new Lady Whistledown is either going to be a Bridgerton or a Featherington. Thus, Penelope would be a fool to hand it to one of her own family members because it would be imediately suspected. Sophie is a good candidate. She has the cleverness and the need to fill her free time that would make for a good Lady Whistledown. If she is using Alfie and Irma as a network of gossip collectors, that raises her potential given how good Alfie is at reading people. But if she is working alone, her stock as Lady Whistledown plummets. And I worry Penelope handing the column over to a family member is too glaringly obvious that the ton would immediately label any Bridgerton relation as their top suspects. Sophie is a decent choice, but has several drawbacks as well.
SUSPECT #4
HYACINTH BRIDGERTON
Hyacinth is one of the most popular fan theories. Her being disguised as a maid is a key plot point of the season, and people point to that as the show handing us the modus operandi of the new Lady Whistledown. Hyacinth may also work as a Lady Whistledown due to feeling unheard and undervalued like Penelope in Season 1, forced to watch society from the sidelines, unable to participate. There's even the benefit of Hyacinth being unprepared to handled the loaded pistol that is being Whistledown, not ready for just how dangerous, explosive, and damaging it can be if she does not handle it carefully. There are some major downsides to Hyacinth, however. First and foremost, she's too obvious of a suspect. She feels like a blatant red herring because she's so obvious. Secondly, just as I said with Sophie, everyone knows that Penelope is the former Lady Whistledown. The Featheringtons and Bridgertons would be everyone's first assumptions as to who picked up the quill. Lastly, I don't think Hyacinth has the forethought or planning necessary to pull off being Whistledown. I don't think she can run it all by herself, and she would very quickly get overwhelmed by the responsibility. I doubt Hyacinth could operate as Whistledown for longer than a couple episodes before it would all start to fall apart.
SUSPECT #5
ALICE MONDRICH
Alice is the other top suspect people point to. But I think people forget she's being set up to be a Lady Danbury seat filler. She already has the Queen's ear. What use does she have also being Whistledown when she is already a Lady in Waiting to the Queen of England? Like Hyacinth, I think Alice is too obvious a suspect, and like Lady Danbury, is too busy getting her hands dirty and sharing her opinions in person to bother writing them down. Alice has been an outspoken firecracker since season 1. I see no reason why she would suddenly shift to being a scandal monger operating out of the shadows for any reason beyond Brimsley or the Queen asking her to.
Of all the suspects on this list, Posy is the closest to being like Penelope in season 1. The neglected daughter of a cold social-climbing mama whose attention is on the older siblings while ignoring the youngest child. Feeling as if she has no voice with which to express herself. Being incredibly socially awkward, yet finding a respectable love match in spite of it. However, she has also already garnered the attentions of Lord Barnaby, which may undercut any sense of "needing" the Whistledown identity to escape her cruel mother and live her own life. While she was clever enough to escape out the window and sneak into the servants quarters at Bridgerton House, that doesn't mean she has the wit or panache to write cleverly as Lady Whistledown. She does, however, come the closest to fitting the profile of a good Whistledown suspect, and isn't glaringly obvious like an immediate Bridgerton relative would be.
SUSPECT #7
CRESSIDA COWPER
Cressida is not a good writer, but she has publicly been written off as a Whistledown fraud, which would make her someone nobody would suspect. I doubt Cressida would write the column herself, but may instead work with Eloise, Cresida gathering rumors and secrets, and helping Eloise to do the actual writing. Frankly, Cressida's only value as a suspect is that she's already been written off by the Ton. But she's too talentless as a writer to be the scribe unless she spent a lot of time with Aunt Jo working on her writing acumen. And even then, it would just feel like a retread of season 3 because Penelope seemed surprised to see someone else taking up the Whistledown mantle, which makes it seem like Penelope did not willingly hand it off to someone.
In a blink-and-you'll miss it line, Penelope admits that with people avoiding her like the plague, she's having a much harder time gathering gossip, and highlights that Varley was often a reliable source for her gossip as well. When the Queen announces her ball, Portia turns to Rae, the housekeeper that was hired to replace Varley, expecting Rae to have gossip about the Queen and Danbury. When Rae doesn't, Penelope reminds her mother that while Rae is a good housekeeper, she is not Varley. In the very next scene, Varley is gossiping with a servant under Araminta's employ, already keened in about Sophie's arrest and a suspected betrothal for Rosamund. But there are two major strikes against it being Varley. Firstly, she's intimately affiliated with Penelope and the Featheringtons. She'd be an immediate suspect by the entire Ton as the Featherington Housekeeper. And secondly, Mrs. Wilson made it very clear in season 1 that a servant doesn't have the time to be Whistledown with all of the work they have to do. And I'm not giving Portia Featherington her own section. She's out for the same reasons. Too close to Penelope, and like Cressida, is not a gifted writer. Portia would not be able to convincingly pose as Whistledown.
SUSPECTS #9
BRIDGERTON STAFF
While a single servant might have trouble being Whistledown, an entire network of staff could. By all working together to gather scandals from other servants, and taking turns writing the sheets, no one servant has to carry the full weight of the scandal sheet by themselves. This idea could also work in tandem with Alfie Barrow if he becomes a Bridgerton servant from season 5 onward, or Sophie, Eloise, or Hyacinth using the servants as a secrets gathering spy network. However, as I've stated, Penelope is a Bridgerton. Which means that every member of the family and every servant in their house would immediately become a prime suspect by the Ton as to the new identity of Whistledown. The servant angle for Whistledown is a good theory, but we also have to keep in mind just how scrutinized Bridgterton House will be once the Ton starts trying to investigate the new Lady Whistledown in season 5.
This poor girl doesn't even have a picture on the Bridgerton Wiki page. In season 4, Virginia is Mr. Hiscox's mistress, and an extremely minor character who confronts Penelope after she publishes about their affair, accusing Penelope of ruining her prospects. While Virginia runs the same issue as Alfie Barrow of being a single-season one-off character, the Hiscox and Virginia affair gets a lot of screentime for a pair of random side characters. Virginia, like Penelope in season 1, is a woman in a vulnerable position in society who feels powerless and constrained. The money she could make as the new Whistledown would ammend the comfortable life Penelope cost her. And like Posy, Virginia is a good Whistledown candidate because she's not a blatantly obvious choice. But even better than Posy, Virginia is not related to the Bridgertons or the Featheringtons, who would be the immediate primary suspects of the entire Ton. What really stands out is that nobody has even mentioned Virginia as a suspect, which just makes her all the better as a suspect. But like Alfie Barrow, her viability as Whistledown is entirely contingent on whether or not she appears in future seasons. If she is a one-off character only for season 4, then she obviously cannot be our new Whistledown. Her viability is entirely dependent on whether or not we see her in season 5.
SUSPECT #11
ELOISE BRIDGERTON
Eloise is not the new Lady Whistledown, but if I don't mention her, someone will ask why I did not. Eloise has been embroiled in the hunt for Whistledown since season 1, and is far too closely entangled in that storyline. Not only would the Bridgertons be everyone's primary suspects, but I believe that Eloise would easily be the Ton's #1 suspect because she is Penelope's closest friend, an avid reader and writer, and her past interest in hunting for Whistledown. Eloise is such a glaringly obvious suspect that the idea of it being her is laughable. Yes, many characters have pointed out that all Eloise does is whine about wanting to do something without actually doing anything, and taking up the quill would give Eloise that outlet to finally do something as Whistledown. But again, she is just so obviously the first person everyone will suspect that it cannot be her.
SUSPECT #12
PENELOPE BRIDGERTON
And the final suspect is that Penelope simply lied about giving up Whistledown so that people would stop avoiding her and she could actually start hearing good gossip again. Honestly, I don't think this is the case. Penelope has outgrown Whistledown. She struggles to continue with the column in season 4. It doesn't really interest her anymore. Her character arc is over, and she doesn't need it anymore. She has everything she wants and needs. It just being Penelope again just undercuts all of that character growth.
After dissecting my list of suspects, I think I can definitively say that of the main cast that has the best chance of returning in Season 5, Sophie Bridgerton is my top choice for the New Lady Whistledown, using a network of servants as her informants, but as a Bridgerton by marriage, she's not as immediately obvious as Eloise or Hyacinth. But if the side characters stick around, then my top suspect is hands down Alfie Barrow. Alfie is a keen observer that excels at reading people and knows the style and cadence with which Whistledown writes, he is able to go unnoticed by high society at social events, allowing him to gather secrets, and he is not an immediate Bridgerton relation, and thus would not be immediately scrutinized by the Ton as a top culprit. Virgina becomes my second draft outfield pick. Like Alfie, her value as a candidate is reliant on her appearing in future seasons, but she is in a very similar position as Penelope was in season 1, making her fit the profile of a Whistledown. Virginia is so under the radar, the Bridgerton Wiki doesn't even have any pictures of her. Meaning that like Alfie, Virginia could escape the scrutinizing eye of the Ton, and avoid being a top suspect once the Ton starts speculating on the new Lady Whistledown's identity. So, there we have it. Alfie and Virginia are my top suspects, with Sophie as a ringer if we need it to be a more important character. What are your guys' theories on the matter? Do you think I overlooked a crucial clue? Is there a golden suspect I failed to mention?
blakekathryn
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
turnnoffyourmind
tangentwithtanner
izzy806
amandla
