Picture: Yerin Ha (left) and Luke Thompson (right) – Shondaland
Subscribers loved the third season of Bridgerton, and now we look ahead to the fourth season. Filming for season 4 will begin in September 2024 and last several months. Below is our big preview for the upcoming fourth season, where we’ll be keeping a close eye on all of the production updates, cast announcements, news, and more for the fourth season of Bridgerton on Netflix.
Based on Julia Quinn’s beloved novels and adapted by Shonda Rhimes’ production Shondaland, Bridgerton has quickly become one of the most successful Netflix Originals.
With over a billion hours consumed since its debut, which equates to over a hundred million views, Bridgerton is amongst Netflix’s most elite and most-watched shows. It is the only title to occupy three spots in Netflix’s all-time most-watched TV list.
Jess Brownell replaced Chris Van Dausen as the showrunner of season 3 and will continue as the showrunner in season 4. Meanwhile, Van Dausen remains as an executive producer.
Has Bridgerton been renewed for Season 4?
Official Renewal Status: Renewed (Last Updated: 13/06/2024)
This won’t be news for many, but anyone newly introduced to Bridgerton will be delighted to learn that we’ve known about plans for the fourth season of the series since April 2021, when Netflix confirmed the renewal of Bridgerton for seasons 3 and 4.
What is the production status of Bridgerton Season 4?
Originally, filming was expected to begin early in the Summer of 2024 and last several months before ending sometime in the Winter of 2024.
The latest production listing suggests that filming on season 4 of Bridgerton will start in mid-September 2024 and continue to Late April 2025. The show will be produced under the codename VAUXHALL.
Given Bridgerton’s popularity, we fully expect Netflix to post on social media when the cast reunites for the first table read. It won’t be long before Netflix confirms production.
Showrunner Jess Brownell has discussed the lengthy production process of Bridgerton.
“We are working to try and put the seasons out more quickly, but they do take eight months to film and then they have to be edited, and then they have to be dubbed into every language,” she continued. “And the writing takes a very long time as well, so we’re kind of on a two-year pace, we’re trying to speed up but somewhere in that range.”
Given that two-year wait, the consensus is that Bridgerton won’t be back on our screens until 2026.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MAY 13: Jess Brownell attends Netflix’s “Bridgerton” Season 3 World Premiere at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center on May 13, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Arturo Holmes/WireImage)
What can we expect from Bridgerton season 4?
Thanks to Emma Armbrüster’s insights, a contributor to What’s on Netflix, we can deduce further what to expect from the fourth season of Bridgerton.
Season 3 of Bridgerton was the first time the adaptation departed from the chronological order of the books. It opted to adapt Colin and Penelope’s romance from the fourth book, Romancing Mr. Bridgerton, and skipped over Benedict’s story from the third book, An Offer from a Gentleman.
Going into the fourth season, we’ll see either Benedict’s story adapted or Eloise’s romance from the fifth book, To Sir Phillip, With Love.
Claudia Jesse, the actress who plays Eloise Bridgerton, commented on the subject of her character at the New York Premiere for season 3, stating;
“There’s more space with Eloise’s character. There is a lot of room for her to play, and you can experiment more with Eloise. While I think Shondaland would never ignore romance, Eloise has room to go on a different journey. The books are a beautiful foundation, but Shondaland has always kept it fresh by adding new things here and there. “
British actress Claudia Jessie arrives for Netflix’s “Bridgerton Season 3” premiere at Alice Tully Hall on May 13, 2024, in New York City. (Photo by ANDREA RENAULT / AFP) (Photo by ANDREA RENAULT/AFP via Getty Images)
Julia Quinn has publicly discussed that no clause in the contract requires Shondaland to keep to the book couples and has expressed her confidence that Shondaland and Shonda Rhimes will do a fantastic job.
Given the ages of the remaining Bridgerton children yet to be wed, it would make the most sense to follow the story of Benedict or Eloise. As for Francesca, an excellent point was raised by Emma Armbrüster;
“Francesca’s story can’t be the focus of season 4, especially since we were just reintroduced to the character in season 3 with Hannah Dodd taking over the role. Francesca’s story is much more complex and dramatic compared to all the other Bridgerton stories. In her book, “When He Was Wicked”, Francesca initially doesn’t want to marry for love; she wants to take a husband and return to her music until she meets John Stirling. Unfortunately, he died two years after their wedding. Her true love will be Michael, John’s cousin, whom she will meet before her wedding to John. Likely, her story, at least the first part – her wedding to John and the first two years of her marriage – might be one of the subplots of seasons 3 and 4, with possibly her taking over in seasons 5 or 6.”
Emma’s excellent research led her to discover that the working title for the fourth season of Bridgerton is Vauxhall. This is significant because masquerade balls were held at Vauxhall Gardens during the Regency Era. Not so coincidentally, Benedict meets his love match at a masquerade ball… that his mother is due to host soon.
Ironically, Benedict just swatted away a chance of marriage after turning down Lady Tilley Arnold’s request for something more serious for their relationship. The person for whom Benedict falls head over heels will be exceptional indeed.
Picture: Benedict’s story takes place in An Offer From a Gentleman – HarperCollins
As for Eloise, by joining Francesca and John Stirling in Scotland, perhaps the foundations will also be laid for her love story in the fourth season, as further explained by Emma;
“While Eloise has developed throughout the seasons and is coming of age, she hasn’t matured enough to be ready for her season. When someone like Cressida Cowper calls you out on your uncaring ways, you still have much to learn, experiences to have, and perspectives to gain. If the plan is still to follow her book storyline from “To Sir Phillip, With Love”, we could see Eloise starting her correspondence with Sir Phillip Crane in the following season. “
At the very least, we’ll see Eloise determined to take advantage of her time away from the Ton and discover herself.
Picture: Eloise’s story takes place in To Sir Phillip, With Love – HarperCollins
Who is in the cast of Bridgerton Season 4?
In an interview with Good Morning America, Jonathan Bailey, aka Anthony Bridgerton, confirmed he will be returning for the fourth season.
We expect Simone Ashley to return as Kate Bridgerton, with Jonathan Bailey confirmed to return.
We would expect to see all of the following cast members return for the fourth season of Bridgerton;
- Luke Thompson – Benedict Bridgerton
- Claudia Jessie – Eloise Bridgerton
- Nicola Coughlan – Penelope Bridgerton
- Luke Newton – Colin Bridgerton
- Simone Ashley – Kathani ‘Kate’ Bridgerton
- Hannah Dodd – Francesca Stirling
- Victor Alli – John Stirling
- Masali Baduza – Michaela Stirling
- Golda Rosheuvel – Queen Charlotte
- Adjoa Andoh – Lady Danbury
- Harriet Cains – Philippa Featherington
- Bessie Carter – Prudence Featherington
- Polly Walker – Portia Featherington
- Florence Hunt – Hyacinth Bridgerton
- Will Tilston – Gregory Bridgerton
- Lorraine Ashbourne – Mrs. Varley
- Julie Andrews – the voice of Lady Whistledown
- Martin Imhangbe – Will Mondrich
- Emma Naomi – Alice Mondrich
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MAY 13: Cast and crew of Netflix’s “Bridgerton” Season 3 pose at the World Premiere at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center on May 13, 2024, in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
Casting News
On June 25th, 2024, Collider was the first to reveal that casting was underway for the show’s new season. They obtained a casting call for the role of “Emily,” described as an East Asian female between 24-30 years old. Her characteristics describe her as “brave, endlessly resourceful, and having trouble trusting others.” The outlet speculated that Emily would be the primary love interest for season 4, in which Benedict Bridgerton is expected to be the main character.
Collider’s report was confirmed to be correct. On August 16th, Variety reported that actress Yerin Ha had been cast as Sophie Beckett, Benedict Bridgerton’s love interest.
The actress recently starred in Paramount’s live-action adaptation of the video game Halo. She has also starred in TV shows such as Bad Behaviour and Reef Break and will appear in the upcoming Dune prequel series Dune: Prophecy.
Picture: Yerin Ha (left) and Yerin Ha in Halo (right)
Netflix Tudum recently interviewed Yerin Ha and released a character description for Sophie Baek, which confirms that the character’s last name has been switched from Beckett to Baek out of respect for the culture of the actress.
The character description of Sophie Baek is as follows:
“Sophie Baek has been forced to spend much of her life working as a maid for the most demanding employer in the ton. But the resourceful Sophie always finds a way to persevere through her circumstances — which will drastically change after she disguises herself to attend Violet Bridgerton’s masquerade ball and meets Benedict Bridgerton.
Yerin Ha had the following to say about the role of Sophie Baek;
“What drew me to Sophie was that she immediately has obstacles — something that she constantly has to overcome,” Ha, who can be seen in the video above, tells Tudum after a busy day of Bridgerton rehearsals. “Whether it’s this battle around social status or trying to hide her feelings from Benedict.
There’s this theme with masks that was running throughout all of my audition scenes,” Ha says. “When does Sophie put on this mask to cover her emotions? Or vice versa, when does she take it off and when does she soften up? Playing with those [questions] is just really fun.”
With filming underway, the interview confirmed that Yerin Ha and Luke Thompson had already been rehearsing their dance movies. The latter confirmed that he had only stepped on his dance partner’s toes once so far.
Picture: Yerin Ha (left) and Luke Thompson (right) – Shondaland
On September 16th, Netflix revealed three more cast members for the fourth season of Bridgerton: Katie Leung, Michelle Mao, and Isabella Wei.
Newest cast members of Bridgerton
Katie Leung plays Lady Araminta Gun. Harry Potter fans will be most familiar with the actress as Cho Chang. However, Netflix subscribers will recognize her as Caitlyn’s voice in Arcane.
Netflix has provided a character description for Lady Araminta Gun;
“Twice married and twice widowed, Araminta has two girls debuting on the marriage mart this season and is feeling the pressure to get at least one of them married off. Fabulous, discerning, and blunt, Araminta does not respond well when anything — or anyone — threatens her standing in society.”
Picture: Katie Leung (left) and Caitlyn in Arcane (right)
Michelle Mao plays Rosamund Li. Eager
Netflix has provided a character description for Rosamund Li;
“Beautiful, vain, and eager to please her mother, Rosamund is Araminta’s eldest daughter and most prized possession. Rosamund sets her sights on Benedict Bridgerton this season and is determined to get what she wants.”
Isabella Wei plays Posy Li.
Netflix has provided a character description for Posy Li;
“Rosamund’s younger sister, the much kinder Posy is also debuting this year. But her mother rarely puts the spotlight on Posy, as her chatty, overly friendly demeanor often has her putting her foot in her mouth.”
Michelle Mao (left) and Isabella Wei (right)
What is the episode count?
Netflix has confirmed that the fourth season will consist of eight episodes. However, it remains unknown if it will be split in half like the third.
Will Bridgerton be renewed for a fifth season?
Even before the release of Bridgerton season 3, part 2, thanks to the success of part 1, we are fully expecting to see Netflix renew the drama for more seasons. The last time Netflix renewed Bridgerton, it renewed the romantic drama for two further seasons.
It wouldn’t surprise us if Netflix were to renew Bridgerton for a fifth and sixth season.
Are you looking forward to the fourth season of Bridgerton? Let us know in the comments below!
