Bridgerton season 4: Release date, cast updates, plot and latest news

*Warning: This article contains major spoilers for Bridgerton seasons 1, 2 and 3.*

There's only a matter of days until the premiere of Bridgerton season 4, with the new season set to release its first batch of episodes that'll take us on the romantic journey of Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) and Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha).

Ahead of the release of the new episodes, the upcoming leads for seasons 5 and 6 have already been confirmed by showrunner Jess Brownell. Whilst we don't know in what order they'll appear, we do know that Eloise (Claudia Jessie) and Francesca's (Hannah Dodd) love stories are next up for the series.

While Eloise will be preoccupied with helping Benedict out this season by trying to locate the mysterious Lady in Silver, things remain a little more complicated for Francesca as it relates to her dynamic with John's cousin Michaela (Masali Baduza).

Chatting exclusively to RadioTimes.com about what will come between them in season 4, Hannah Dodd revealed: “What can I say? I think Michaela is a character that challenges Francesca whereas John is a character that makes space for Francesca. They’re both really important for Francesca to move forward."

She added: "It’s quite a confronting feeling for Francesca and a new feeling, a challenging one. I just think there’s an exploration of those feelings.”

But of course, the focus this season is majorly on Sophie and Benedict, with the leading couple having that initial spark even in their chemistry read. Speaking about their first meeting on Zoom in Radio Times magazine, Thompson said: “You might think it’s tricky to have chemistry on Zoom but it turns out you can! I found doing the readthrough that you can just feel… something. It felt quite enigmatic, our connection, like there was quite a lot to unpack. And that’s what you want.”

But when exactly is Bridgerton season 4 landing on our screens? Read on for everything you need to know.

Bridgerton season 4 release date

Bridgerton season 4 will arrive in two parts on Netflix, with Part 1 premiering Thursday 29th January and Part 2 on Thursday 26th February.

As was also the case with season 3, the season will be split into two parts, with a month's wait between them. It will consist of eight episodes in total – four in each part.

Who is in the confirmed cast for Bridgerton season 4?

The cast of Bridgerton has changed ever so slightly from the early seasons with the exits of Regé-Jean Page, Phoebe Dynevor and Charithra Chandran.

It has been confirmed that Luke Thompson's Benedict Bridgerton will be taking centre stage with his own love story in season 4 and that Yerin Ha will be starring as Sophie Baek, with the pair set to make each other's acquaintance at Violet Bridgerton's masquerade ball, which will take place in the very first episode of season 4, Brownell has now confirmed.

Known for her roles in Paramount Plus series Halo, Bad Behaviour and Dune spin-off series, Dune: Prophecy, Ha stars as Sophie who has been described as "a captivating and complicated woman".

In the novel An Offer From a Gentleman, Sophie is the illegitimate daughter of an earl and one of his maids. In a very brief teaser, we get a glimpse of Ha leafing through some of the outfits that Sophie could be wearing in the upcoming new season. You can watch that below.

The format of the series was also teased at Netflix's Season of Love event, confirming that there will be a bit of a shift in focus as we get to explore more of Sophie Baek's world working as a maid.

Ha and Thompson revealed that we'll not only get insight into Sophie's world in the "downstairs" but also some of the other characters that have been dotted through the series that we're yet to really learn about.

Teasing that element of season 4, Yerin Ha said: "I think that because of that whole upstairs-downstairs influence this season, I do think it's going to bring a new, fresh energy and vibe to the show."

Thompson also said: "It's wonderful to have characters that have been in the show for a long time, characters like Mrs Wilson or John the footman. Like to suddenly get to see a bit more of them, that shift.

"Also, with Hyacinth and Gregory, just to really see them going their way forwards into the middle. It's really exciting."

There's also further good news on the horizon as it's also now been confirmed that both Jonathan Bailey and Simone Ashley will appear in the fourth season of the hit Netflix show.

Speaking at the event to RadioTimes.com and other press, showrunner Jess Brownell confirmed: "We've got Anthony returning and I can reveal here for the first time today, we also have Simone Ashley returning. 'Kanthony' will be together again and we will get to be seeing more of their marital bliss and seeing their baby as well. So, lots of fun."

The confirmed cast for season 4 is as follows:

• Luke Thompson as Benedict Bridgerton
• Yerin Ha as Sophie Beckett
• Nicola Coughlan as Penelope Featherington
• Luke Newton as Colin Bridgerton
• Jonathan Bailey as Anthony, Viscount Bridgerton
• Hannah Dodd as Francesca Bridgerton
• Simone Ashley as Kate Bridgerton
• Victor Alli as Lord John Stirling, the Earl of Kilmartin
• Martins Imhangbe as Will Mondrich
• Ruth Gemmell as Violet, Dowager Viscountess Bridgerton
• Claudia Jessie as Eloise Bridgerton
• Will Tilston as Gregory Bridgerton
• Florence Hunt as Hyacinth Bridgerton
• Golda Rosheuvel as Queen Charlotte of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
• Adjoa Andoh as Agatha, Lady Danbury
• Polly Walker as Portia, Dowager Baroness Featherington
• Emma Naomi as Alice Mondrich
• Hugh Sachs as Brimsley
• Daniel Francis as Lord Marcus Anderson
• Masali Baduza as Michaela Stirling
• Katie Leung as Lady Araminta Gun
• Michelle Mao as Rosamund Li
• Isabella Wei as Posy Li
• Julie Andrews as Lady Whistledown
• Lorraine Ashbourne as Mrs Varley
• Oli Higginson as Footman John
• Sophie Lamont as Celia
• Geraldine Alexander as Mrs Wilson

Those not included in the confirmed season 4 cast list include: Bessie Carter (Prudence Featherington), Harriet Cains (Philipa Featherington), James Bryan (Nicky Mondrich), Ariella Warburton (Daisy Mondrich), Elias Amos (John Mondrich), James Phoon (Harry Dankworth), Lorn Macdonald (Albion Finch) and Jessica Madsen (Cressida Cowper).

New cast additions for season 4 include Katie Leung (Harry Potter) as Lady Araminta Gun, as well as Michelle Mao (Goosebumps) as Rosamund Li and Isabella Wei (The Crow) as Posy Li.

Bridgerton season 4 plot: What will happen in Benedict's story?

The official synopsis for Bridgerton season 4 is as follows: "Bohemian second son Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) refuses to settle down, despite pleas to the contrary from matriarch Lady Violet Bridgerton (Ruth Gemmell). Until — at Violet’s masquerade ball, Benedict is awestruck by a masked, mysterious Lady in Silver.

"With the reluctant help of his sister Eloise (Claudia Jessie), Benedict sets out in society to uncover the young lady’s identity. But in fact, his heart’s desire is not in society at all — she is a resourceful maid called Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha), working for the formidable Lady of the house, Araminta Gun (Katie Leung)."

It continues: "When fate brings Benedict and Sophie back together, Benedict wrestles between the reality of his affection for this intriguing maid and the fantasy of the Lady in Silver — unaware that they are the same person. Will Benedict’s inability to see these women as one in the same derail the undeniable spark between him and Sophie? And can love truly conquer anything — even a cross-class connection forbidden by society?

"Inspiring Benedict’s journey are the marriages of his siblings —including Francesca (Hannah Dodd) to John Stirling (Victor Alli), and Colin (Luke Newton) to Penelope (Nicola Coughlan), who faces new challenges as a now public gossip columnist."

As many fans will know, season 3 of Bridgerton stepped away from the order of the original novels, with Benedict's love story being bumped for Colin's – but now, they will be going back one book to focus on Benedict.

Benedict's story is the focus of the third Bridgerton novel, An Offer from a Gentleman, and the new season appears to stick fairly closely to the original book, in which Benedict falls for a woman called Sophie Beckett (changed to Baek for the series).

Speaking of what's to come in season 4 at Netflix's Season of Love event, Brownell said of the main cast: "Penelope is publicly Whistledown so that's a lot to navigate with Her Majesty.

"We've got the Mondriches, Will and Alice, who are fully into society and enjoying their role there and maybe looking for a little bit of a new challenge. Lady Danbury is back and she is helping the Mondriches with that challenge.

"But it's also about the relationship between Lady Danbury and the Queen this season. We learnt so much about that relationship in the spin-off, and so we really wanted to dig into it this season and you're going to see some new levels and shades from that friendship."

Brownell continued: "Of course, we're going to see more of Violet Bridgerton and you know, she might still be mixing it up a little bit with Lord Anderson. I think that they had their little growing spark last season... we're hoping that this season, they can move on from giggling to a little bit more.

"The Bridgerton siblings are doing well - Francesca is now married off which leaves Eloise in a position where she's in her mother's clutches again. Violet is once again trying to put Eloise on the marriage mart. Whereas you have Hyacinth, who is 14 or so, is desperate to debut early and the two of them get paired together this season for comedic results.

"Gregory is around, he's going to get sent off to Eton for a while but that gives him time to come back no longer a gangly teenager but a young man now."

There's also the aforementioned slight change in focus for season 4 as, excitingly, we're going to get further insight into the inner workings of some of the families and houses we frequent the most.

With Sophie working for Lady Araminta, Yerin Ha described the fact that Sophie is living in that household much like an MRI scan, saying it's "suffocating and claustrophobic".

"It's really complex dynamics, Araminta really misuses her power as well. For Sophie, the stakes are really high. It highlights just how hard it was being a maid in that era. You mess up, your life can turn upside down in a second. I think we're trying really hard to portray those standards."

Talking more about the upstairs-downstairs dynamic to come in season 4, Brownell said: "It's the most exciting part of this, like Luke said, is we have these fantastic actors who have had smaller roles over the years. Mrs Wilson, footman John, Sophie Lamont who plays Celia and Lorraine Ashbourne who plays Mrs Varley in Featherington house.

"We're getting a chance to go downstairs, meet new characters, see new sets and you really learn a lot about the upstairs characters from their downstairs characters. It's a good storytelling device for us, for sure."

Elsewhere, while Francesca won't be the new season lead, the end of season 3 saw some pretty major sparks flying between her and Lord John Stirling's (Victor Alli) cousin, Michaela (Masali Baduza).

With Baduza being announced as part of the season 4 cast, we can expect Francesca and Michaela's story to possibly unfold further after Francesca's previous plans to relocate to Scotland following her marriage.

The decision to gender-flip the role of Michaela from the book's original Michael was one that was talked about a lot with the release of season 3 but showrunner Brownell defended the decision, saying that their story will be one of queer joy.

Speaking to Variety, Brownell said: “We really want to see queer joy. And if we’re going to tell a queer story, we would like to find a way for there to be a happily ever after.

“So we have done a lot of research to figure out how we can achieve that within the confines of our world. And after people see the next couple of seasons, I’ll be able to talk about that more.”

Bridgerton season 4 trailer

You can watch the newly released trailer below, which teases what we can expect from the upcoming instalment.

Bridgerton season 4 part 1 premieres on January 29th and Part 2 on February 26th, both on Netflix. Seasons 1-3 are available to watch on Netflix now. You can buy the Bridgerton book series on Amazon.

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