When will Bridget Jones 4 be released? Mad About the Boy latest news
Renée Zellweger and Hugh Grant are set to reprise their beloved roles.
After almost 10 years away from our screens, Renée Zellweger is set to return in another instalment of the beloved Bridget Jones franchise.
In February 2024, the internet was sent into a frenzy over claims a new film was happening more than eight years after Bridget Jones's Baby was released.
The 2016 movie followed on from Bridget Jones's Diary, which came out in 2001, and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, which landed in 2004.
And now the fourth movie, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, has officially been announced, with casting news and a release date confirmed.
Zellweger and Hugh Grant are set to reprise their roles as the hapless TV producer and rapscallion Daniel Cleaver, respectively, but who else might appear? Read on for everything you need to know about the movie.
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When is the Bridget Jones 4 release date?
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is set for US release on Valentine's Day 2025.
Its UK release date has not been officially announced but we wouldn't expect it to be too different to the US date, if at all.
Author Helen Fielding first revealed she was working on a fourth movie back in 2022 during an interview on the Radio Times View From My Sofa Podcast.
2016 film Bridget Jones's Baby didn't follow her 2013 novel Mad About the Boy, and was instead based on columns Fielding wrote in 2005 and 2006 for The Independent.
Asked whether audiences would see Bridget back on screen in an adaptation of Mad About the Boy, Fielding said: "Yes I'm working on it and I really hope it will happen. Every film that gets made is a miracle – it's really difficult to make films happen and to make them good. But I'd love to see it on the screen."
Bridget Jones 4 cast: Who could star in Mad About the Boy?
Renée Zellweger is set to reprise her Oscar-nominated role as Bridget Jones. She last appeared on the big screen in Judy, for which she bagged her second Oscar in 2020 for her portrayal of Judy Garland.
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy will also see Hugh Grant reprise his role as bad boy Daniel Cleaver, whilst Dame Emma Thompson will appear once again as Dr Rawlings following her hilarious debut as the character in Bridget Jones's Baby.
Meanwhile, newcomers Leo Woodall (One Day) and Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave, Doctor Strange) have joined the cast in as-yet-unconfirmed roles, though if the film does follow the plot of the novel, they could both be playing love interests for Bridget...
It’s unclear whether the likes of Patrick Dempsey, Jim Broadbent, Gemma Jones, Shirley Henderson and Celia Imrie will come back to the Bridget Jones franchise at this point, so fans will have to wait and see.
Is Colin Firth set to return as Mark Darcy in Bridget Jones 4?
In the announcement of the film, fans may also have noticed that Colin Firth’s name was missing.
Of course, in the book, we discover that his character Mark Darcy has died tragically in an accident.
However, it's not clear how closely the new film will be following the novel and so fans can still hold out hope for now!
What could happen in Bridget Jones 4?
The latest sequel will be based on Helen Fielding's 2013 book Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, which revolves around the 51-year-old single mother of two children as she navigates dating in a world filled with new technology.
However, it looks like Bridget might be a slightly different kind of role model than we're used to in the new sequel.
Writer Fielding previously said on Desert Island Discs that she was "staggered" by the "sexism" in the original movies, before adding: "You couldn't write that now."
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