Bridgerton is gearing up for a Cinderella-esque romance.
Netflix announced on Tuesday morning that Benedict (played by Luke Thompson) and a yet-to-be-cast Sophie Beckett will be the subjects of Season 4.
This spring’s Season 3 had skipped that romance to focus on Colin (Luke Newton) and Penelope (Nicola Couglan), whose friends-to-lovers arc resulted in a marriage and a male heir.
“Benedict Bridgerton has been unmasked as next season’s newest suitor,” the streamer posted on its social media accounts (watch teaser above). “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.”
Upcoming episodes will thus adapt An Offer from a Gentleman, the third installment in Julia Quinn’s beloved book series. In the story, the rakish Benedict fell for Sophie, the orphaned, illegitimate daughter of the Earl of Penwood forced to work for her intolerable stepmother.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise for those who picked up on a major clue in the Season 3 finale. Before leaving for Scotland, Eloise asked Benedict if he believed their mother Violet would allow her to miss her masquerade ball. The second-born Bridgerton noted his RSVP, telling his sister, “I will be there, hiding out about behind a mask, avoiding eligible ladies like the plague.”
In the book, Benedict met Sophie at his mother’s masquerade ball. She hasn’t yet been introduced in the TV series, and there’s a pretty good reason for that.
“For any character’s season, we try to save all the big building blocks of their season for their season,” Jess Brownell previously explained to 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.”
Season 3 found Benedict briefly involved in a throuple with the widowed Lady Tilley Arnold (Hannah New) and her friend Paul Suarez (Lucas Aurelio), a patron of the arts. According to Brownell, he 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 said.
