We’ve all been missing The Duke since season one and Daphne Bridgerton after season two, but it turns out things could have been very different because there was a version of the season three script with them in!

People have always begged for The Duke to return, despite much talk about why Regé-Jean Page left the show to pursue other things. Phoebe Dynevor, who plays Daphne, has also left the show, but viewers questioned why her character didn’t return for big events during season three.

During season three, two of Daphne’s siblings got married, and it would have been expected for her (and The Duke too) to attend – but she didn’t. It’s never discussed on the show why Daphne is absent from the big family moments.

However, Bridgerton show runner Jess Brownell has revealed in an interview it was very much considered, to the extent that there were versions of the Bridgerton season three script that had Daphne and The Duke in.

Speaking to Variety, she said: “There was a version of the scripts this season where at Penelope and Colin’s wedding, we threw a line at the fact that like, ‘Oh, Daphne wishes she could be here — but she’s pregnant again,’ or, ‘Daphne and Simon? I just saw them, they’re sitting over there.’

“But the truth of the matter is that it just gets a little wonky to bring them up, and then not see them. But I firmly feel that in my brain, they are still a part of the universe. Obviously on the television show, you’re not seeing every part of these people’s lives . And so they are still going to see Daphne and Simon, Daphne and Simon are still coming over — just not at the time when the camera happens to show up, weirdly.”

We still want them back!