Polin season has ended, and Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) is a wallflower no more. By the end of Bridgerton Season 3, she is not only the wife of Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) but also the proud bearer of the pseudonym Lady Whistledown. That’s right, Penelope has at last revealed her identity as the gossip columnist to the Ton — and she did it on her own terms. And while she had great fears about her biggest secret being exposed, the season wrapped with Penelope being embraced for her alternate life as Lady Whistledown.
Bridgerton was renewed for a fourth season back in 2021. The news was hardly surprising considering the popularity of the Netflix series based on Julia Quinn’s historical romance novels. Now that Season 3 has ended, there’s only one question on every gentle reader’s mind: Which Bridgerton sibling will be the lead of Season 4?
Season 1 adapted the first book in Quinn’s series, The Duke & I, and Season 2 adapted the second one, The Viscount Who Loved Me. The novels told the stories of Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) and Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey), respectively. The latest Netflix season skipped Book 3 — which follows Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) — and instead adapted the fourth book, Romancing Mister Bridgerton, to tell the story of Polin first. We don’t know which Bridgerton sibling’s romantic ventures will get the Netflix series treatment next, but the frontrunners are obvious and we discuss them more below.
Here’s everything we know so far about Bridgerton Season 4, including when it’s coming out (hint: not for a while), who it could focus on, and the cast that’s returning.
Who will Bridgerton Season 4 be about?
As of this moment, we don’t know which Bridgerton sibling will be the focus of Bridgerton Season 4. “I have almost slipped up a couple of times, so keep asking, and maybe I’ll slip up,” showrunner Jess Brownell said to The Hollywood Reporter when asked about the next leads at the U.K. premiere of Season 3 Part 2.
The likely candidates are of course Eloise (Claudia Jessie) and Benedict. Eloise’s relationship with the printer’s assistant Theo Sharpe (Calam Lynch) ended poorly in Bridgerton Season 2 — thanks in large part due to Lady Whistledown’s writing. But we’re hoping for her to find a new love interest soon, even though she’s the Bridgerton sibling who least wants it. As for Benedict, he said in this season to Lady Tilley Arnold (Hannah New) that he’s not looking to settle down. After she opened his eyes to the world of threesomes and sexual liberty, Benedict has little interest in a long-term relationship. So if he were to be the lead of Season 4 and commit to a person, it would only make sense for his change in attitude to be part of the storyline.
And we can’t rule out Francesca (Hannah Dodd), especially after the amount of time (read: too much) Bridgerton Season 3 dedicated to her romance. By the season finale, Francesca has married Lord John Stirling (Victor Alli) and is headed to Scotland with him. But at the ball thrown by the Featheringtons, she meets his cousin Michaela Stirling (Masali Baduza). To put it simply, it looked to be a love at first sight encounter for Francesca. Readers of Julia Quinn’s When He Was Wicked know that Michaela will be a central figure in Francesca’s life after a tragedy befalls John.
When is Bridgerton Season 4 coming out?
Unfortunately, Bridgerton is eyeing a return in 2026 at the earliest. Brownell told The Hollywood Reporter about the timeline for Season 4. “We’re kind of on a two-year pace, we’re trying to speed up, but somewhere in that range,” she said. “We are working to try and put the seasons out more quickly, but they do take eight months to film and then they have to be edited, and then they have to be dubbed into every language.” The showrunner did say the writers room for the season is approaching an end. But there’s still a long way to go before Bridgerton Season 4 hits Netflix.
Bridgerton Season 4 cast
Here are the characters we’re expecting to return for Bridgerton Season 4:
Main cast members:
- Nicola Coughlan as Penelope Featherington
- Luke Newton as Colin Bridgerton
- Jonathan Bailey as Anthony Bridgerton
- Simone Ashley as Kate Sharma
- Claudia Jessie as Eloise Bridgerton
- Luke Thompson as Benedict Bridgerton
- Hannah Dodd as Francesca Bridgerton
- Florence Hunt as Hyacinth Bridgerton
- Ruth Gemmell as Violet Bridgerton
- Adjoa Andoh as Lady Agatha Danbury
- Golda Rosheuvel as Queen Charlotte
- Julie Andrews as the voice of Lady Whistledown