Meet the new cast member joining the Ton for Bridgerton's third season in a major recasting move.

Anatomy of a Scandal actress, Hannah Dodd, will be taking over the role of Francesca in the next season of Netflix's regency romance.

Fans of Lady Whistledown and co. will remember that Francesca, played by Ruby Stokes, has a habit of disappearing mid-way through the series. 

It turns out that there is actually a good reason for that- Stokes had to leave the production to work on another Netflix series Lockwood & Co.

On Instagram, Hannah Dodd confirmed the news, sharing a screenshot of the Deadline article. 

Captioning the post, Dodd wrote with a yellow heart and bee emoji: "Terrified.
"I’ll work my socks off I promise x"

Who is Hannah Dodd?

Dodd is a 26-year-old English actress and viewers might recognise her from multiple places.

She has appeared in Harlots, Find Me in Paris and was Sprite’s “adult” alter-ego in Eternals.

You will have also recently seen her in Netflix's thriller Anatomy of a Scandal where she plays the charming Sophie. 

In the next year, Hannah is also set to star in Enola Holmes 2 and Flowers in the Attic: The Origin.

READ MORE: Bridgerton series two: Where you can buy the books and what order to read them in

READ MORE: Where is Bridgerton filmed? See all the locations featured in the Netflix series

Who is Francesca Bridgerton?

Fans of the books will know Fransesca as the focus of Julia Quinn's sixth book: When He Was Wicked.

She is roughly a year younger than Eloise and couldn't be more different - Francesca is the calm and collected to Eloise's outspoken and feisty.

In Book Six, we finally get to uncover Francesa's story which is largely unknown to fans of the TV series up until now.

Michael Stirling is an infamous bachelor breaking hearts around London, that is until he sets eyes on Francesca Bridgerton.

But love is never so simple, Michael might have finally found the woman he could see himself settling down with but she was engaged to marry his cousin in just three days' time.

If the books are anything to go by, we've got a lot to look forward to as Francesca's story unravels.