Now that the dust has finally settled on the third season of the beloved Regency-era drama Bridgerton, our collective attention has turned to the upcoming fourth outing of the series, to which we have finally been given some long-awaited answers.
Netflix has revealed that the fourth season, which is expected to begin filming in September 2024 and premiere in 2026, will follow the events of Julia Quinn’s third Bridgerton novel, An Offer From a Gentleman, which sees second-born son Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) searching for a ‘lady in silver’ he meets at a masquerade ball. She turns out to be a woman named Sophie Beckett, a character which is yet to be cast.
In a statement, Netflix confirmed Benedict’s love interest, similarly to the book, is still the masked woman he meets at the ball. ‘The fourth season of Bridgerton turns its focus to bohemian second son Benedict,’ it read. ‘Despite his elder and younger brothers both being happily married, Benedict is loath to settle down — until he meets a captivating Lady in Silver at his mother’s masquerade ball.’
Season three of Bridgerton, which is based on the fourth book in Quinn’s series, Romancing Mister Bridgerton, ends with Benedict having a threesome with his new love interest Lady Tilley Arnold (Hannah New) and her friend Paul (Lucas Aurelio), after encouragement from Tilley to be more sexually adventurous. But when Tilley decides that she’d prefer to return to monogamy, Benedict ends their frisson, deciding that he’s not quite ready to settle down.
‘Benedict has always been a little lost — or free depending on the way you want to look at it. But now he’s trying to find something a bit more solid in himself,’ Thompson told Netflix’s Tudum in July 2024 ahead of Netflix’s confirmation of him as the season four lead.
The series’ showrunner Jess Brownell also told the outlet that she’s ‘very excited’ to glide into Benedict’s upcoming love story after following his growth for three seasons. ‘It felt important for him to explore the fullness of himself before he settles down,’ she said. ‘He is someone who has big appetites, and we wanted to see him living a big life before he goes into settle-down mode.’
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