- Bridgerton season 4 is currently in production and is scheduled to be released in 2026.
- The upcoming season will likely focus on Benedict Bridgerton's (Luke Thompson) love story.
- Luke Newton and Nicola Coughlan will reprise their roles as Colin and Penelope.
Warning: Major spoilers for “Bridgerton” season 3 follow.
“Bridgerton” fans have been patiently waiting, but Benedict Bridgerton's season is finally here.
Season 3 of the Netflix series will feature Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) and Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) relationshipconcluded on Thursday with the release of part two.
While giving Pauline a happy ending, “Bridgerton” also heavily hinted that her second son, Benedict, will be a major character next season.
Here's everything we know so far about season 4.
Benedict's love story will likely be the focus of season 4.
The lead role for season 4 has yet to be officially announced, but all signs point to Benedict (Luke Thompson).
In the season finale, as Eloise Bridgerton (Claudia Jessie) prepares to leave for Scotland with Francesca Bridgerton (Hannah Dodd), John Sterling (Victor Allie) and Michaela Starling (Masari Baduza), she tells Benedict that she'll only be staying behind until next year.
“Do you think Mommy will let me miss the masquerade ball?” she says.
Not yet ready to settle down, Benedict responded: “I'll be there, hiding behind a mask and avoiding deserving women like the plague.”
The less obvious moment paid homage to Benedict's novel “A Gentleman's Advice,” which is part of Julia Quinn's “Bridgerton” series.
In the third Cinderella-inspired book, Benedict meets a woman named Sophie Beckett at a masked ball. Unbeknownst to Benedict, Sophie is a maid to his rude stepmother, Araminta Gunningworth. At the end of the book, the two fall in love and get married.
Brownell told Deadline that Benedict plans to “continue to explore his fluidity,” but declined to say when he might meet his future wife.
“As for Sophie, I can't say when she'll be appearing yet, but we'll make an announcement soon,” she said.
Luke Newton and Nicola Coughlan will reprise their roles as Colin and Penelope Bridgerton in season 4.
Coughlan told TheWrap that she and Newton will return in Season 4 but “I don't know anything about that,” while showrunner Jess Brownell told the publication that she wants the pair to continue on the show beyond Season 4.
“I would definitely like to bring it back in future seasons because I think there's more story to it,” she said.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Brownell elaborated that Pollin will be part of a larger ensemble.
“I think there's still more to be said story-wise for Whistledown,” she said. “Whistledown has been a connector of the story every season, and now that Penelope has come out as Whistledown, I'd love to see more of what that is, so I'll definitely continue with them next season.”
Newton similarly told Teen Vogue that she plans to continue starring in the show indefinitely.
“I feel very committed to this show… Like I said before, I love the cast,” he said. “I love what I do, I love my role on the show, so I can't see myself going anywhere. I just want the story to be over. I'm sure there's still some stuff to sort out in season 4, but yeah, that's why I'm here.”
Canthony could return
Candid fans are wondering how long Kate (Simone Ashley) and Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) will remain on the show after taking on the lead roles in season two.
Most of the main characters from previous seasons have left the show once their storylines have concluded, but Anthony and Kate are the new heads of the Bridgerton family and will have to stay on.
In season three, Anthony and Kate appear in four episodes, traveling around the world and often disappearing. It is believed that the show's writers explained away the characters' disappearances to allow Ashley and Bailey to film other projects.
In season 3, episode 7, Anthony and Kate take a trip to India while Kate visits her hometown and gives birth to their first child, which seems like a convenient way to lock the couple out of the show, but maybe not.
Ashley told reporter Josh Lom during Wednesday's Bridgerton season 3 premiere that she'll be returning for season 4.
“Kate Sharma is here to stay,” Ashley said.
Bailey may be more difficult to bring back, as she was just cast in the lead role in the next installment of the Jurassic World series, but she hasn't said she's quitting Bridgerton just yet.
Meanwhile, Brownell said he'd like to see more of Canthony on the show.
“We love them so much and they're both incredibly talented, and we want to support their ability to do other projects, but we want to keep the door open for them to come back,” she told Entertainment Weekly. “So the farewell show in India is kind of a way of keeping the door open.”
This won't be the last we see of Cressida Cowper.
Season 3 of Bridgerton will give us more insight into Cressida's (Jessica Madsen) difficult home life and the lengths she will go to to get out of it.
During the season, she tries to claim Lady Whistledown's exploits as her own to receive the bounty money and avoid marrying an older man, but the plan backfires, and later, when she finds out that Penelope is Lady Whistledown, she tries to blackmail her so she can use the money to escape town and avoid being sent to live with her aunt in Wales.
However, Cressida was outwitted and, having tarnished the Cowper family's reputation, was last seen being put in a carriage to be sent to her relatives.
In interviews with The Hollywood Reporter, Entertainment Weekly and the Los Angeles Times, Brownell said Cressida's story isn't over yet.
“We've seen her really bully Penelope for two seasons, so it felt like it was a little too soon for her to get her happily ever after this season. She needs to grow up a little bit more, but ultimately I want to give her a happy ending,” she told EW.
“We want to see more of Jessica Madsen,” Brownell tells THR, “so we wanted to keep her story a little more open-ended so we could craft her ending in future seasons.”
Bridgerton season 4 won't premiere until 2026
On Wednesday, “Bridgerton” showrunner Jess Brownell told The Hollywood Reporter that fans will have to wait two years for the next season.
“We're trying to get the season out sooner, but it takes eight months to shoot, then it has to be edited and dubbed into each language,” Brownell said. “The scripts take a very long time, so we're on a two-year pace. We're trying to speed things up within that.”
Brownell added that writers are nearly done with scripts for season four.
“I feel like this is one of my best works and my writers' best work,” Brownell said. “Our collaboration has really come together and we've been really committed, so I can't wait for the fans to see what we come up with.”
In an interview with Business Insider after the season 3 finale aired, Adwoa Andoh, who plays Lady Danbury, said that filming for the new season is expected to begin “sometime in the fall.”
Brownell confirmed this in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, saying that filming will take place in the fall for story reasons but also for practical reasons.
“It's still going to be lush and colorful, but it's going to be more of a warm autumn color rather than pastel colors,” she said. Several The pastel colors make it look like it's not a completely different show.”
This means that season 4 will likely premiere sometime in 2026, but a release date has yet to be confirmed.
All episodes of Bridgerton Season 3 are available now on Netflix.
