Plus, executive producer Jess Brownell explains why this is the “season of butts.”
A few hours after the first half of Bridgerton Season 4 dropped on Netflix last week, executive producer Jess Brownell had already seen plenty of fan response to Benedict’s cliffhanging indecent non-proposal. In the final moments of the fourth episode, the second-born Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) and maid Sophie (Yerin Ha) have a steamy staircase tryst that ends with him delivering a passionate plea. Sophie — and perhaps anyone who hasn’t read Julia Quinn’s source novel — thinks he’s about to pop the question. Instead, a smiling Benedict says: “Sophie… be my mistress.”
Not exactly the stuff of swoon-inducing love stories. Still, Brownell always knew that Benedict’s less-than-romantic offer would be the right way to close out Part 1. (Part 2 streams Feb. 26 on Netflix.) In fact, that poetic shot of Sophie looking back up at Benedict after she wordlessly departs was the first image Brownell thought of when plotting their upstairs-downstairs love story — and the very reason she had that winding staircase built.
“It’s where fantasy turns into reality,” Brownell tells Gold Derby. “People are quite upset with Benedict, and I think that’s the right feeling, absolutely. He is a very privileged young man who needs to learn about some of the realities of the world before he can become worthy of Sophie.”
Thompson laughed when asked about the reactions he’s heard so far to Benedict’s head-slapping romantic fail. “I’ve been locked up in hotels doing interviews, so no one’s shouted at me in the street yet. But maybe that’s to come.” While Thompson notes that he wishes Episode 5 had been included in Part 1, so viewers could see how Benedict and Sophie respond to the situation, he also knows that it’s not his job to make Mr. Bridgerton lovable — or even likable — in that cliffhanger.
“He’s in a position he’s never been in before,” Thompson observes. “He’s operated for three seasons and four episodes as someone whose coping mechanism is just giving everyone a little love bomb and moving on. It’s very easy for Benedict to be charming, easy-going, and sensitive when he’s dealing with people that he doesn’t need to give too much of himself to. He’s scared of committing and of really staring life in the face. It’s intoxicating to always feel like you endlessly have all the choices to make and you never have to make a decision, but actually you do — as becomes clear in Part 2.”
For her part, Brownell suggests that many of the men in Bridgerton need lessons in ways that the Regency-era class system affect women. “The men’s privilege protects them in a way, but it also screws them in a way, because they really aren’t given opportunities to be understanding about the way the world works.”
We saw that with Anthony in Season 1, where he really put Daphne through it with Nigel Berbrooke,” Brownwell continues, referencing the characters played by Jonathan Bailey, Phoebe Dynevor, and Jamie Beamish. “Obviously all of us are in love with Anthony now! I think Benedict is going through that journey: He’s done something that’s really frustrating, and he has some growth to do. And he’s opposite a character who is able to challenge him and not allow him to get away with that.”
Now that viewers have had the weekend to binge the first half of Season 4, Brownell breaks down more memorable moments from the first four episodes.
The lake scene
Heated Rivalry isn’t the only hot-and-heavy romance involving a lakeside cottage. Episode 3 takes viewers on a trip to My Cottage, where an injured Benedict and Sophie take refuge while he recovers from his stab wound. While out walking on sunny afternoon, Sophie spies her host swimming naked, and a tiff over who’s to blame for that encounter results in their first kiss… or rather, the first time he realizes he’s kissing her after their masked encounter at the masquerade in the season premiere.
Oh, and remember when we got all hot and bothered by Colin Firth’s Mr. Darcy emerging fully clothed from a lake 30 years ago in the BBC’s classic 1996 Pride and Prejudice adaptation? Let’s just say this moment almost puts that one to shame.
“That was such a fun episode to write and to shoot because we get to really live in the connection between Benedict and Sophie, see them develop a friendship — and then see the lust start to build,” Brownell says. “What’s particularly fun about that scene is knowing that Sophie is not only a woman who’s not supposed to see men swimming naked; she’s also a servant. there are these power dynamics at play of her trying to act like this is normal and totally fine, but of course, the sexiness of the moment is also there. And yes, we were very conscious of the way the camera is lingering and really setting everything from Sophie’s POV!”
The extreme close-up of Benedict’s naked behind isn’t the last such shot in the season. See also: the Episode 4 bedroom tryst between Violet (Ruth Gemmell) and Lord Marcus Anderson (Daniel Francis), which, as we’ve exclusively reported, was guest-written by Shonda Rhimes. “It’s the season of butts!” Brownell says with a laugh. “We want to always balance out any of the female nudity with male nudity. We had actors who were comfortable this season, and so we went for it.”
Francesca’s search for “the pinnacle”
Newlywed Francesca (Hannah Todd) has yet to experience an orgasm, and her repeated efforts to discuss “the pinnacle” with Violet and sister-in-law Penelope (Nicola Coughlan) are among Part 1’s funniest scenes. But do the conversations also raise the question of why she can’t reach the pinnacle with husband John (Victor Alli)?
“For me personally, it speaks to Francesca’s internal journey,” Brownell notes. “It’s less about her relationship with John. The reality is that so many women struggle to orgasm simply from penetrative sex. I know we’re a fantasy show, and yet being honest about the realities of sex for women has to be part of our exploration of sexuality.”
At the end of Episode 4, John’s cousin Michaela (Masali Baduza) arrives in town — and Francesca doesn’t look thrilled. “Michaela is going to become an obstacle, but not necessarily between Fran and John,” Brownell teases. “I think she’s much more of an obstacle for Fran herself, just because Fran and Michaela are so opposite in so many ways, and Fran has to learn to deal with that.”
Eloise’s one-woman resistance
With Eloise (Claudia Jessie) determined to remove herself from the marriage market, Violet insists she chaperone younger sister Hyacinth (Florence Hunt) during her finishing lessons. While her frustration provides plenty of laughs, it’s also about something deeper.
“When Eloise enters Season 4, she doesn’t have a lot of allies for her lifestyle,” Brownell explains. “We loved the idea of pairing Eloise with Hyacinth, who is still available for her to have a really deep and interesting friendship with. That’s not something Eloise is going to see on the surface, because Hyacinth is so opposite her in so many ways. But Hyacinth and Eloise really have something to teach each other. Hyacinth can teach Eloise about the fact that there is some value in love and marriage, and Eloise can teach Hyacinth to put herself first and think about herself as a person with agency outside of marriage.”
Penelope’s wager with Queen Charlotte
At Violet’s masquerade ball in the season premiere, gossip-loving Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel) bets Penelope that Benedict will wed this season. “I felt like we owed seeing what it’s like for Penelope to be out in public as Whistledown,” Brownell says. “At the end of Season 3, she gets the queen’s blessing to keep writing, but we don’t get into the nuance of it. The nuance turns out to be that it’s very difficult to have her majesty, the queen, looking over your shoulder all the time as you’re reporting!”
Queen Charlotte and Lady Danbury’s argument
In Episode 2, the queen and Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh) have a heated disagreement when Charlotte “forbids” Agatha to plan a return to her ancestral homeland — and Agatha asks if she’s only Charlotte’s subject and not her friend. “It ties in closely with some of the themes we’re exploring with Benedict and Sophie, this idea of power dynamics being at play in a friendship or a relationship,” Brownell says. “In a way, Danbury’s desire to put herself first — and the way that causes conflict between the queen and Lady Danbury — is foreshadowing what we get into in the back half of the season when Sophie starts asking for more of what she needs.”
Varley’s breaking point
Season 4’s Great Maid Wars reaches a fever pitch when Varley (Lorraine Ashbourne) leaves the Featherington household to be the new head of staff for Sophie’s cruel former employer, the evil stepmother-esque Lady Araminta Gun (Katie Leung). The final straw is Varley being offered Lady Featherington’s two-seasons-old wardrobe instead of a raise. The yellow feathered gown Varley holds up was carefully selected.
“We did look at different samples from Portia’s wardrobe in past seasons, and it’s like, it has to be the most absurd-looking, Versace-looking dress,” Brownell notes. “And I think the one that they picked was just really perfect. The bit that always gets me is when Varley carries the giant dress box out, and it’s like double her size. The way Lorraine Ashbourne does it — she’s a comedic genius.”
