'Bridgerton': Claudia Jessie Says Eloise & Penelope Face 'Uphill Battle’ (Exclusive)

“Extra’s” Mona Kosar Abdi spoke with "Bridgerton" stars Claudia Jessie, Jessica Madsen and Hannah Dodd about what's in store for Season 3.

After Eloise Bridgerton discovered BFF Penelope Featherington's secret identity as Lady Whistledown, their friendship was blown up!

Claudia reflected, “Sometimes, I think these things need to happen. Firstly, I think Eloise really depends on Penelope quite a lot. She leans on her a great deal, and I think it’s important for her to find out who she is on her own.”

Jessie added, "I don't want people to lose hope, but I do think maybe there will be a benefit as well in them having this time apart and hopefully it will make it stronger.”

Claudia teased that the two characters will face “a bit of an uphill battle," however.

As for Eloise’s mindset going into the new season, Jessie shared, “I think she’s embarrassed because she’s been on this quest to find out who Lady Whistledown is. Basically, she was like idealizing her in front of who it actually was, getting in altercations with the queen, and then finds out it’s her best mate. I think I’d be gutted.”

This season, we'll also get more of Cressida Cowper's backstory. Jessica teased, “We see her have this beautiful friendship with Eloise, which is very unlikely."

She elaborated, “They really show up. They show a mirror up to each other, and they learn different things, and they listen to each other and Eloise challenges her and sort of helps her break down her mask and open up and be vulnerable, which we have not seen.”

Hannah's character Francesca Bridgerton is this season's diamond — though she's not so keen on the attention!

She commented, "I wonder what people will expect before seeing how she kind of goes about it. It's a very practical and logical approach. She's definitely insecure and nervous about the whole thing, but yeah, it's not something she's romanticized and she's excited about. She just knows it's her turn and this was always gonna happen and lets go and get it done."

"The queen likes you," Mona offered.

"Well, maybe, yeah, a little bit," Hannah replied. "But I think, again, it's just, she's been naming a diamond every season and it's something a lot of the debutants are now after. And again, it's not something that Francesca really wants. She's avoiding the attention, so then in that way that makes her stand out against the crowd, even though she's really trying to do the opposite."