Instead of a maid, make Sophie a former slave. Slavery was still going on in America at the time of Bridgerton. It’s an issue the show has not yet explored. Why not make Sophie’s father have a plantation somewhere in America and he has a daughter with one of his slaves, who he then frees and raises as his heir. Cut to the step-mother still treating her as a slave due to her birth after her father dies and taking her back to England with them. When Benedict falls in love with her, he has to confront her past as a child of a slave, obviously he won’t care, and it will give a way for the show to address slavery and how horrible it is. Plus, they could make Sophie inherit from her father once it turned out he wanted her to be heir, she could then abolish the plantation and live happily ever after with Benedict in their little cottage.