Outlander season 4: Could we see Stephen Bonnet again?
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At the end of Sunday night’s new episode, the show’s producers opted to leave the fate of Ed Speleers’ character a mystery — there was an explosion at the jail housing him, a move brought on in part by the Regulators. Yet, nobody realized that Bonnet was within arm’s reach of the keys. We never see him emerge from the prison in one piece, but we never see a dead body either. The circumstances surrounding Bonnet and the end of this episode mark a departure from the books, but one that made some sense given the established relationship between Bonnet and Brianna on the show.
It’s hard to imagine that this is the end of the TV version of Bonnet, even if many out there may root for it to be so. He’s a loathsome character who does many despicable things, but in the book series his story is far from over. Killing the character for good here would be one of the biggest departures we’ve seen for the show yet, and it’s hard to see them deciding that this is the right place to eliminate him from the picture.
The more interesting question for us, is whether or not we’ve seen the end of Bonnet this season. We think that there is a universe where it makes sense for him to rear his head for just a brief second in the finale, mostly as a way of showing viewers that he’s still out there. Yet, we also think viewers are wise enough to know and understand that on their own. You can just end Bonnet’s story with the explosion for now and focus on some other conflicts in the finale — including whether or not Roger is freed and whether or not Brianna gives birth. (You can see more analysis of the finale promo over at the link here.)
Personally, it’s fine if we take a break from Bonnet in the finale, especially since we assume he will likely be around to terrorize the Frasers again in the future. Credit must be given to Speleers for making this man come alive on screen. This is likely not the easiest character to play, largely as a function of what type of man he is. Tobias Menzies had a similar challenge with Black Jack Randall, though he at least had another character in Frank who possessed some good qualities.
Do you think that we will see Stephen Bonnet again on Outlander season 4? Be sure to share in the comments. (Photo: Starz.)