Bridgerton star Hannah Dodd tells newcomer Masali Baduza that she’s ‘the luckiest’ to work with her

After the huge reveal that the beloved Michael Stirling character from the Bridgerton books has been gender-swapped to Michaela Stirling in the period drama series, many fans have been in an uproar, even sending unkind messages to the talented actress playing the Michaela character (Masali Baduza). It's just not right, but fortunately, Baduza has an amazing support system through her Bridgerton cast members, one of which is Hannah Dodd, who plays Francesca Bridgerton in the series.

While I can understand the anger and disappointment of fans who wished the show had stayed true to the books in keeping Michael, I don't condone the hate and cruel words directed at the actress. She doesn't deserve it, especially since she didn't have any say in the change nor did she write the scripts. Truthfully, no one a part of the show should be receiving hateful comments. I'm talking crew and cast. There's a way to show one's disappointment about something without being downright disrespectful. Hopefully, the fans who were hurling mean words at Baduza, Dodd, and any other cast and crew member learn from this.

Now, in better news, we were happy to see Dodd send a sweet message to Baduza via Instagram after viewers got to see Baduza's character's introduction in Bridgerton season 3. On June 16, only three days after the release of the remaining four episodes of the third season, Dodd left a comment under Baduza's most recent Instagram post saying, "The luckiest to work with you [yellow heart emoji] [bee emoji] xx." Baduza replied back to her by saying, "you're a gem - a diamond! [diamond emoji] [brown heart emoji]." Oh, be still my Franchaela heart! Yes, I just made up their ship name. Can you tell how excited I am about their romantic pairing?

Another one of Baduza's co-stars, Victor Alli, who plays John Stirling in the period drama, also expressed his support for her. Under the same Instagram post, Alli left a comment saying, "LOVE YOU SO SO MUCH COUSIN [crying emoji] [heart hands emoji] [red heart emoji." No, they're not cousins in real life. Alli's character is the cousin of Baduza's character. Baduza replied back to him under the post and said, "Cuuuuzzzz [holding back tears emoji] [star eye emoji] [brown heart emoji]." I love to see the Bridgerton cast standing up for each other and showing their support!

One other co-star, James Phoon, who portrays Harry Dankworth in Bridgerton season 3, left a kind message under the same post. He commented, "Thank you for coming to the Dankworth-Finch Butterfly Ball [wink emoji] Cannot WAIT to see more of your storyline!! #TeamMichaela [orange heart emoji] [purple heart emoji]." Seriously, can the Bridgerton cast be more sweeter and supportive? Baduza replied to Phoon by leaving a couple of emojis under his comment. Those emojis were the head shaking vertically emoji, the wink emoji, and the brown heart emoji.

Like Phoon, we at Netflix Life can't wait to see Francesca and Michaela's aka Franchaela's love story be explored when the time comes. Fingers crossed, that time is the upcoming Bridgerton season 4. I guess we'll just have to wait and see, though.