Warning: SPOILERS lie ahead about how everything went down in the series finale for Charlotte Heywood and Alexander Colbourne, so be sure to come back once you’ve caught up!
It’s a bit of a sad time for Regency romance lovers and Jane Austen fans, as Sanditon Season 3 has now come to an end. The final season premiere brought up a lot of thoughts for viewers who had been eager to see how the story of Charlotte Heywood would finally end, while also bringing in plenty of new cast members to help her, and everyone else, round out their time in the small seaside town. But now, after six weeks of laughter, love, tears, and revelations, we’ve been treated to the final moments of the series.
If you’re still reeling from the Sanditon Season 3 ending and all that it revealed about Charlotte’s future, you can now rest easy, as this guide will explain what happened and why!
How Sanditon Season 3 Ended The Series
There were lots of things from the Sanditon Season 2 ending for fans to remember before watching Season 3, but the most important was likely that Charlotte had returned to her hometown of Willingden and agreed to marry Ralph, the young farmer she originally left town to escape at the beginning of Season 1. Well, the start of the season saw her return to Sanditon with Ralph in tow, but by the penultimate episode she’d finally broken up with the poor man, knowing that she was still too in love with her former boss, Alexander.
For a time, however, Alexander (who was also still very much in love with Charlotte) thought the duo was still engaged, so he began to take more earnest interest in newcomer Lydia Montrose, which Charlotte knew. When Lydia revealed to Georgiana that she was, herself, engaged, Georgiana told her good friend, and both assumed her fiancé was Alex.
Thinking she’d lost her chance to tell him how she felt, Char resolved herself to move to Ireland to live with her newly married sister and try to become a teacher, and headed out after saying her goodbyes. But! Alex got wind from his daughter, Leo, that Charlotte was leaving town (thanks to his brother, Sam, and Lady Susan), so he headed to the cliffs to stop her coach.
It was here that Alexander and Charlotte were able to clear up their misunderstandings, as he revealed that he knew she was no longer betrothed, and was able to tell her that while Lydia was, indeed, engaged, it wasn’t to him. He then did his part as an Austen hero, and told Charlotte how he’d been “bewitched” by her “in the very first moment we met,” and how his feelings had “only grown deeper with every second I've spent in your company.” They then kiss in a moment that surely made many swoon.
Some time afterwards, FINALLY, the two are seen marrying with all of their Sanditon friends and family around, before an epilogue takes us to a year later. The school that the Parkers had planned with Alexander is now open, and not only is Charlotte teaching there, but Alexander is outside to walk her home, with Leo and Augusta…and the couple’s new baby in tow. Everyone is SO happy!
Why Charlotte And Alexander Needed To Be On Those Cliffs For Their Emotional Reveal
Eagle-eyed fans will likely notice that the cliffs where Alexander and Charlotte professed their love for one another have been the site of many important moments for the young woman. In fact, the end of the first season saw her meet Sidney there, and him reveal that he’d become engaged to another woman, breaking poor Charlotte’s heart (and leaving their romance unresolved when co-star Theo James decided not to return as Sidney, once the show was finally renewed after having originally been cancelled).
While chatting about the finale with Salon, head writer Justin Young revealed exactly why the site of much pain for Charlotte was used for her emotional scene with Alexander, and said he and his team “debated” about whether or not Alex would meet her on those cliffs:
The big question was, did we go back to those cliffs – back to the scene where we ended Season 1 with this heartbreaking, unresolved note? The reason that the show came back in many respects was because people said, 'You can't leave us there on the cliff with Charlotte brokenhearted. We need a resolution.' I hemmed and hawed and I thought, is that too on the nose? So we really, really, really debated – I can't tell you. And ultimately, it felt like a kind of gift and an acknowledgement of the fans who had said, 'You can't leave her here.' It felt like we were giving closure to all those people.
I gotta tell you, having their big moment happen on the cliffs really did work!
Why Alexander Felt 'Relief' In That Moment With Charlotte And There Was Less 'Pressure' On Their Kiss
Alexander and Charlotte went through so many ups and downs as they got to know each other and fell in love, with some of their less positive moments being due to Alex’s “upsetting Season 2” decision about Charlotte. Of course, the emotional whiplash continued for much of the final season, and when talking with PBS Masterpiece about the finale, actor Ben Lloyd-Hughes opened up about what his character was feeling in that moment:
In those two scenes on the cliff and the promenade [when Alex meets Charlotte after school], I think it was a huge sense of relief for [Colbourne]. He’s a man who, when we first met him, was clouded with grief and torturous memories. So I do believe that cliff scene is closure for him, but it’s also that feeling of lightness, of a weight being lifted off your shoulders and being able to breathe.
Though viewers had seen the couple kiss before, Lloyd-Hughes also noted that there was a lot less “pressure” on their finale cliffside kiss, because it wasn’t another of their “stolen, illicit kisses” but from “relief and happiness and almost the sense that we’re about to spend the rest of our lives kissing, so we don’t need to put too much pressure on this one.” I happen to think that many fans would agree that it was a perfect moment!
Why Star Rose Williams Thought The Scenes Were 'Important'
As you can probably imagine, everyone involved felt a tremendous sense of responsibility when it came to wrapping up the story that Austen had begun for fans who watched and campaigned to see the series renewed so they could have a real conclusion. It turns out that, according to what Rose Williams told PBS Masterpiece, this is part of why seeing Charlotte and Alexander happy in those final moments was a big deal:
We all knew that those scenes were really important and I really, really cared about preserving them in this style of Austen as much as possible, and honoring this character Charlotte as much as possible...It was incredibly meaningful, everything you would imagine that it would possibly feel like, to be closing out this final chapter of a character and having the satisfaction and peace of mind.
Especially when it comes to Charlotte and her romantic journey, as well as her spirit of self-discovery and willingness to break from the standards of social convention at the time, I think we can all firmly say that this romance ended on the best note possible for our beloved main character.
If you missed the series finale of Sanditon Season 3, you can watch for free on PBS Masterpiece through May 7, otherwise, if you’d like to stream the whole season (or whole series) you can check it out with a Masterpiece subscription through Amazon Prime Video.
