Bridgerton Season 3 was recently released on Netflix, but fans are already looking forward to Season 4. From the cast to plot details, there are a few things to know about the forthcoming season.
Based on the book series of the same name from author Julia Quinn, Bridgerton follows different members of the Bridgerton family as they make their way through high society in hopes of finding love matches and spouses.
While each season features different plotlines, a specific character is usually in the spotlight. For example, Season 1 centered around Daphne Bridgerton, Season 2 focused on Anthony Bridgerton, and Season 3 revolved around Colin Bridgerton and Penelope Featherington.
When Will Bridgerton Season 4 Release?
Bridgerton Season 4 was officially confirmed in April 2021 along with Season 3 (via The Hollywood Reporter), but neither Netflix nor the showrunners provided a specific release date or window for when it can be expected.
Many fans often expect TV shows to follow a one-season-per-year release schedule. However, that was not the case with Bridgerton, especially since the Hollywood writers’ and actors’ strikes affected Season 3’s production and release.
Speaking to The Wrap, showrunner Jess Brownell was asked if the show would try to release one season each year, and Brownell gave a disappointing response.
According to the showrunner, they are “doing everything in [their] power to start releasing seasons more quickly,” but, due to how the show “is such a giant production,” releasing seasons “yearly is probably out of the cards:”
“I’ll be honest, yearly is probably out of the cards. This is such a giant production. It is like making eight short feature films, just in terms of how many storylines we have to write, and then the production obviously is an enormous undertaking. We are doing everything in our power to start releasing seasons more quickly, but once a year might be a hard target to hit.”
Therefore, since Season 3 was released around Summer 2024, it is unlikely that Season 4 will be released anytime before 2026, keeping the timespan between seasons around two years.
Who’s Cast in Bridgerton Season 4?
As with other Bridgerton seasons, most of the core cast will likely return for Season 4, with many Bridgertons leading the charge.
However, in past seasons, some characters who have previously been the focus have had their roles downgraded. For example, after Daphne Bridgerton was the main character in Season 1, she was not featured nearly as much on-screen in Seasons 2 or 3.
Likewise, Anthony Bridgerton and Kate Sharma were the featured characters in Season 2 but were then barely in Season 3.
Nicola Coughlan, who plays Penelope Featherington, confirmed in an interview with The Wrap that she and Luke Newton (Colin Bridgerton) were told that they will be returning for Season 4, but it has not been announced how big of a role they will have:
“They’ve told us we’re back for Season 4, which is super lovely … It’ll be exciting. [We’ll] pop back and have some fun for sure.”
So far, Coughlan and Newton are the only two cast members who will be returning, but fans can expect the other main characters and their actors to be in Season 4.
Of course, some of those will be Bridgertons, such as Francesca, Benedict, and Violet, as well as others like Cressida Cowper, Queen Charlotte, and Portia Featherington.
Below is the full cast expected to return in Bridgerton Season 4:
- Luke Thompson – Benedict Bridgerton
- Claudia Jessie – Eloise Bridgerton
- Hannah Dodd – Francesca Bridgerton
- Ruth Gemmell – Violet Bridgerton
- Daniel Francis – Lord Marcus Anderson
- Polly Walker – Portia Featherington
- Jessica Madsen – Cressida Cowper
- Adjoa Andoh – Lady Danbury
- Golda Rosheuvel – Queen Charlotte
What Will Happen in Bridgerton Season 4?
Seasons 1 and 2 of Bridgerton followed the events of the first two novels in the series of books.
However, Season 3 did not adapt book three but instead skipped to book four so that Penelope and Colin’s story could be told on-screen in Season 3.
Therefore, since the third book was skipped over and Season 3 teased that Benedict Bridgerton would be the focus of Season 4, the upcoming installment will likely adapt An Offer From a Gentleman, the third book in the series.
That book follows Benedict Bridgerton and his relationship with a character named Sophie Beckett, a bastard child of the Earl of Penwood.
Sophie has not been shown in the Bridgerton series yet, but if the show follows An Offer From a Gentleman, she will be a major character from the beginning (Sophie is featured in the prologue of that book).
Sophie’s story in the book is a direct parallel with Cinderella’s. Sophie is a maid for three women and sneaks her way into the Bridgerton masquerade ball, where she meets Benedict.
Fans can expect Benedict to be a bit starstruck by this interaction, but given Sophie’s background, he will have to spend the rest of the season trying to find her.
