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

While we may all have to exercise a little patience for new episodes, Netflix has not only treated us to a sneak peek clip of the anticipated masquerade ball but has also announced that the series has been renewed for both seasons 5 and 6!

So, we have three brand new seasons to look forward to and plenty more romance on the cards. In the teaser clip, we see the brewing chemistry between Luke Thompson's Benedict Bridgerton and Yerin Ha's Sophie Baek as Benedict lays eyes on Sophie for the first time.

She's clearly enamoured by the glittering chandelier at the centre of the ball but is interrupted when someone asks her for the first dance – will the very suggestion spur Benedict into action? Something tells us it will.

We already know that Simone Ashley will be returning for season 4 as Kate Bridgerton née Sharma, great news for fans who were initially concerned she may not be involved.

As for season 1 star Regé-Jean Page, when asked about whether he'd return to the show to wrap up Simon's story, he told Entertainment Tonight: “I’m very happy to support everyone who’s in the show. Everyone’s finding fantastic success but with the show and personal projects, I’m just super happy to say that.”

But who actually is returning to the Bridgerton fold? Read on for everything we know so far about season 4.

Is there a Bridgerton season 4 release date?

Not yet, but we do now know that Bridgerton season 4 has been confirmed for release in 2026.

Production for season 4 is currently still underway but showrunner Jess Brownell previously explained that there was likely to be a two-year wait before the show returns.

Could such a long wait hinder its important future storylines? Time will tell.

There's also been no confirmation on whether season 4 will be split into two parts like season 3 or not. While the first two seasons were released all at once, season 3 was released in two batches, with a month's wait between them.

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 expected 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 upcoming Dune spin-off series, Dune: Prophecy, Ha will star as Sophie who has already 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.

Teasing what's to come with their characters, Brownell said to RadioTimes.com and other press: "I think in the books, specifically Araminta and Rosamund, are quite villainous characters, they're some of the biggest villains in the Bridgerton books.

"They are still villains, absolutely, in our show. But I think there's a difference between meeting a character on the page versus seeing them embodied by an actor like Katie or Michelle. And so, it was really important to us to humanise those characters and understand why are they villains, why are they making decisions that we might not agree with.

"Katie and Michelle bring such humanity and vulnerability to those roles. While you might not agree with all of their choices, I think you will certainly understand them as people."

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

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 – and it appears 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).

"Despite his elder and younger brothers both being happily married, Benedict is loath to settle down - until he meets a captivating Lady in Silver at his mother's masquerade ball," the streamer teased.

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.”

Is there a trailer for Bridgerton season 4?

There isn't a trailer for season 4 yet, but a behind-the-scenes featurette has been released, which you can watch here now.

Bridgerton seasons 1-3 are available to watch on Netflix now. You can buy the Bridgerton book series on Amazon.

Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guideto find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.