Netflix confirmed on Tuesday morning that the fourth season of Bridgerton will focus on Benedict’s Cinderella-type love story with the character of Sophie Beckett in the new teaser, TVLine reports exclusively.
“Benedict Bridgerton has been unmasked as next season’s newest suitor,” the streamer shared via TVLine. “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 teaser is embedded below.
According to TVLine, next season’s storyline will be adapted from the book An Offer from a Gentleman, the third installment of the Bridgerton books, written by Julia Quinn (The Duke and I, The Viscount Who Loved Me). In the story, the still-rake Benedict Bridgerton, played by Luke Thompson (Dunkirk, Transatlantic), falls for Sophie Beckett, an orphan and illegitimate daughter of the Earl of Penwood, who is consequently forced to work for her stepmother. In the book, Benedict meets Sophie at the annual masquerade ball that his mother, Violet, planned.
The character of Sophie Beckett hasn’t been introduced in the Regency series yet. Jess Brownell (Scandal, Inventing Anna), Bridgerton’s showrunner, had her reasons for that, as she explained in a previous interview with TVLine.
“For any character’s season, we try to save all the big building blocks of their season for their season,” Brownell shared via TVLine. “When we start out any season, we want our protagonists to be at the very beginning of their journey in many ways and to still have a lot of room for growth so that we can really dig in. Most of our characters who are in the ensemble, they’re only making very small changes from season to season, and that’s intentional so that we can save the meat for what’s coming.”
Benedict’s season three storyline, according to TVLine, saw him involved in throuple with Paul Suarez, played by Lucas Aurelio (The Witcher, Shoplifters of the World), and the widowed Lady Tilley Arnold, played by Hannah New (Black Sails, The Time in Between). Brownell shared her thoughts with TVLine on exploring Benedict’s sexuality, which is pansexual.
“He’s someone who is interested in energy and spirit, and he’s not interested in convention or labels. He sees a person as a person,” she explained via TVLine.
The fourth season of Bridgerton is set to be released in 2026 now because of filming delays.