The show is based on Julia Quinn’s romance novels about the love lives of the eight siblings Bridgerton family.
Michaela is a gender-swapped version of Francesca’s romantic interest in the books, who is called Michael.
Quinn said last year, external that while she didn’t write Francesca as a neurodivergent character, she was thrilled some autistic fans of the show could relate to the Bridgerton sister, who often needs a quiet space and can struggle with societal conventions.
Dodd told the BBC earlier this year: “The writers said it was something they did discuss in the writers’ room.
“It wasn’t something that me or Victor were aware of, it must have just been on the page and that’s kind of how it came out in our performances.
“But to acknowledge feeling slightly different to your siblings and how society is going about and if that’s not fitting quite right with you… it’s really important that everybody sees themselves represented on that screen so if we’ve included another group of people, then that’s amazing.”
Production has now begun on the next eight-episode series.