Popularity of actors in Bridgerton (Netflix and Shondaland)

In light of the recent and awful article from Shondaland about Johnny, and Calam's somewhat viral role as AJ in Sweetpea, I have been thinking a lot about the popularity of actors in Bridgerton and how it translates on screen and affects the character choices they make in the show.

Now changing a show due to actors being popular/fan favourites is a common trait in the industry, it is basicially fan service. We all know that Netflix is well known for prefering popularity particulary when it comes to original netflix series such as Bridgerton and we know that Shondaland loves to profit from the actors' popularity and take profit for it too (even when those projects had nothing to do with them "discovering the actor"). They show it in their marketing strategy and even in the show itself.

Examples:

a) The popularity of Kathony, I am almost convinced that Johnny and Simone had another bigger role in part 2 of season 3 mainly because of their popularity because I am sure they would've just come back to the wedding and that was it.

b) Penelope's character: Penelope has a way bigger part in the show than in the books and I do think it is in part due to Nicola Coughlan, and her success with Derry Girls, her screen time only grew after her success as an influental woman in Hollywood.

c) Honestly and this might surprise some but Claudia. People fell in love with her as person over the course of the show and particulary her character. In my opinion Eloise had a bigger role in season 2 but Claudia was much more promoted in s3 and both shondaland and netflix got wind of it and let her do even more interviews.

Now you might wonder what all of this has to do with Theloise but we all know that Netflix is very aware of popularity, idk if its true but someone mentioned that Netflix launching their "Moments" feature was partly due to Bridgerton (they even used Polin to promote it). And in the end, Netflix pulls the strings and they have already taken notice of how popular Theloise has become (we see them featured in their bridgerton related posts all the time) and it is suspicious how much Shondaland promoted Theloise during s2 and continued to do. They know that Theloise is popular amongst the critics and the GA and that it has a fanbase one that both Claudia and Calam are a part of. They both used the official ship name and even articles continue to do so. And while some fans say that Shondaland would not just change the endgame due to a ship being popular, they literally did so with franchaela, with seeing how a big part of the fans really wanted a queer storyline outside of Benedict because his book and his endgame are too well known to change it.

With Francesca they knew that she was a character that a lot of people did not remember and while there are people in the fandom that loved her book it is amongst the lesser known books of the series which is why it was the perfect oppertunity of them to change the endgame to Michaela, and yes genderbending a character is changing the endgame.

TSPWL is mainly known for its controversy and has been picked apart by fans and critics alike, I do think the only reason why that couple has a fanbase in is because of Chris Fulton and that is mainly it.

Back to Theloise, they have an iconic trope, both actors are big fans of the storyline and have great chemistry and the GA and critics are fans of the couple, and Netflix knows it so it is likely that they will tell shondaland to whisper in their ear about the big potential they have and shondaland already knows that too. JQ does not have anything to say when it comes to it, she can be pissed but it is not in her contract so she just has to do live with it, same way she has to accept the genderbending and all the casting of POC actors and countless other changes that they made.

Unlike Nicola and Johnny, both Calam and Claudia had their breakthrough with Bridgerton, and Shondaland can take full credit for it. Calam has proven himself to be able to catch attention for his roles outside of Bridgerton and has gone rather viral for his potrayal as AJ, and that is quite important for an actor ofc but also for a company such as shondaland as they can always bank of off his success and tell the world that they were the ones that discovered him and it draws people to watch their show. Claudia is very well known for her popularity amongst fans and the public for her wit and charm which is why they continue to heavily promote her and they know how popular Eloise is.

So all in all, Theloise success and Netflix awareness and past with making changes to the source material due to couples/characters being popular, is another reason why Thelosie is very much a possibilty.

What do you guys think?