Explaining Bridgerton: What's The Pall Mall Theory Everyone's Talking About?

Summary

• As Bridgerton Season 3 approaches, fans can't help but wonder which of the titular siblings will lead the next confirmed chapter.
• While we'll likely have to wait until the summer to find out for sure, there is one theory that may provide a clue.
• According to fans, the game of Pall Mall played by the characters in S2E3 predicts the future of the Netflix show.

As the May 16th premiere of Bridgerton Season 3 approaches, the question of whose love story will be featured next is becoming more and more pressing.

Last time we learned that Penelope and Colin's romance would play out in the third chapter a few weeks after the release of Season 2. So it's safe to say that by the end of the summer we'll know for sure if Benedict will have to skip another season.

But if you can't wait that long, there's a fan theory that might give you a clue.

Pall Mall Theory

In S2E3 A Bee in Your Bonnet, we see the elder Bridgerton siblings and their guests, the Sharma sisters, playing the game of Pall Mall.

The 17th-century game was a precursor to croquet and had essentially the same rules: get your ball through all the wickets faster than your opponents. In the Netflix Bridgerverse, however, Pall Mall is more than just a game; it's a predictive tool used by fans to forecast the future of the show.

As soon as Season 2 landed on Netflix, eagle-eyed viewers noticed that the course of the game provided clues as to who exactly would be leading Season 3. You see, according to fans, there is a pattern: the number on the wicket a character ends up scoring on the screen represents the season of the show they will lead.

The game goes like this:

• Daphne hits the ball and everyone applauds. It is clearly a win. We don't see which wicket she hits, but she plays first, so we can assume it's number 1.
• Anthony and Kate go for the second wicket. He fails (although we see him get his ball through that wicket later in the game), but she succeeds.
• Benedict and Colin both target wicket number 3 and this is where it gets interesting. Benedict tries first and fails, while Colin succeeds and says: ‘Your head is clearly elsewhere, Brother. Otherwise, you never would have given me such an easy shot.’

Since we know that Daphne was a Season 1 lead, and Anthony and Kate had their story play out in Season 2, the friendly confrontation between Colin and Benedict was taken by many fans as a hint that Benedict would sit out Season 3, even though his book was next.

When it was officially confirmed, the Pall Mall theory became Bridgerton canon.

So who will star in Season 4?

One big question remains: does the Pall Mall Theory tease the Season 4 lead? Fans think so.

We only see wicket number 4 on screen once, when Anthony, Kate and Edwina try to hit their balls through it. But those characters can't lead another season (no matter how much Kanthony fans want them to), so we'll have to look further.

When we see Eloise, she succeeds at the fifth wicket. Since that's also the number of her novel, many fans theorize that Benedict won't have to skip another chapter and have his story play out in Season 4.

Since then, however, another major contender for Season 4 has emerged. Francesca has reached marriage age and will likely get married in Season 3. So her story could very well take up the next available slot.

In any case, the Pall Mall scene and other symbolic hints have proven that the Bridgerton creators are willing to play a game with the viewers and will definitely give us some Season 3 clues in the upcoming episodes. So let's keep our eyes peeled.