Netflix's Marina is the deceased wife of Sir Phillip Crane and a distant cousin to the Bridgertons.
Marina has gone through quite a few negative events in her character arch on the Netflix series. The reason she was sent to live with the Featheringtons was partly so that she could be presented at court, but also because her father found out about her love affair with George Crane, which left her pregnant. After an ill-fated engagement to Colin Bridgerton, she then learns that George never abandoned her, but was instead killed in battle. This version of her story is already a deviation from the books. In Quinn's original story, Marina was engaged to George, and when George died, she married his brother Phillip instead. Eloise is Phillip's second wife after Marina dies of a fever eight years into their marriage. However, there's no mention of an out-of-wedlock pregnancy or an engagement to Colin Bridgerton.
Marina deserves better character development and a better outcome to her story if Bridgerton wants to avoid turning her into an unfortunate stereotype. Bridgerton season 2 gives leads to Marina Thompson’s downfall.
The artistic decision to not follow the books to the letter has served Bridgerton well. Diverse casting led to Regé-Jean Page as Simon Bassett and Simone Ashley as Kate Sharma. Likewise, creating Theo Sharpe to be a love interest for Eloise allows for a glimpse into Eloise's world that otherwise might not have been a focus. That said, her budding romance with Theo Sharpe makes it clear that there's no real reason for Marina to die. Narratively, Marina's death would only take place to move Eloise's love story forward.
It's possible to argue that Marina's apparent unhappiness in her marriage, though Phillip seems like a kind person, seems to foreshadow her impending death, clearing the way for Phillip to find happiness with Eloise Bridgerton. However, even that feels as if death is some kind of punishment for Marina, who in many ways does not fit the morality of the era and the apparent morality of the show. Likewise, Bridgerton has already set up a much more intriguing romance involving two people of different social classes with Eloise and Theo. Thus, a better direction for Bridgerton would be to develop a friendship between Marina and Eloise and to allow Marina the grace to discover happiness of her own, with or without Phillip.
