Our First Look at 'Bridgerton' Season 4 Features a Masquerade Meet-Cute

Netflix's Bridgerton has dropped a ton of new information about the series' upcoming fourth season, in which it will finally be Benedict Bridgerton's (Luke Thompson) time to shine. The hedonistic second Bridgerton son has been loath to settle down over the show's first three seasons, exploring his artistic and sexual interests as he watched four of his siblings tie the not. But it appears as though it's finally his turn in the marriage mart.

Season 4 will adapt Julia Quinn's third novel, An Offer From a Gentleman, and will be (at least according to showrunner Jess Bromwell) the series' "most faithful" translation of the book series to screen yet. Given that this novel has some particularly problematic elements at the center of its class-conscious upstairs-downstairs romance, that's...certainly a choice. But the show is at least shaking things up by casting a Korean-Asian actress as its lead and changing her name and family from Sophie Beckett to Sophie Baek. 

A vague retelling of Cinderella, An Offer From a Gentleman sees Benedict fall in love with a woman in a silver gown at his mother's yearly masquerade ball. (Eagle-eared viewers likely heard the event namechecked at the end of Season 3.) But she disappears at midnight, leaving him to mope and pine after her for the rest of the social season as he searches for his mysterious dance partner, with no success.

Later, while laid up in the country ahead of the following year's season, Benedict falls for a housemaid named Sophie who's been waiting on him during his injury, and asks her to be his mistress, only to discover that she and the woman in silver are one and the same. Sophie turns out to be the bastard daughter of a deceased duke, whose stepmother has been forcing her to serve her stepsisters all this time. 

Most of our Bridgerton first-look photos involve the new scenes from that infamous masquerade, which will apparently take up the bulk of the Season 4 premiere. 

These include shots of Sophie and Benedict's disguised first meeting, as well as a glimpse of the three new cast members who will be playing her (step) family: Katie Leung (Annika) as Lady Araminta Gun, along with Michelle Mao (Goosebumps) and Isabella Wei (1899) as Rosamund and Posy Li. 

But, according to the show's creators, Season 4 will delve heavily into the downstairs world of the show's servants and the ways their stories keep the ton itself running.

“This year it’s all about forbidden love,” Brownell said during Netflix's recent "Bridgerton: Season of Love" event. “Lemme tell you, that class clash gives us a very serious obstacle, and the stakes could not be higher this year. It’s really a juicy one." 

"We’ve spent the first three seasons really digging into the upstairs world and getting to know the rules of the ton," she continued, "so it felt right that after three seasons of doing that, we could expand the world out and go downstairs and broaden our world. Because you are now so familiar with the upstairs, I think viewers know just how difficult a pairing between a gentleman and a maid will be.”

Here's the Season 4 synopsis. 

The fourth season of Bridgerton turns its focus to bohemian second son Benedict. 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.

Alongside Thompson returning cast members for Season 4 are the bulk of the Bridgerton clan, including already married siblings Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) Colin (Luke Newton), and Francesca (Hannah Dodd), as well as their respective spouses Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley), Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan), and Lord John Stirling (Victor Ali). Claudia Jessie, Florence Hunt, and Will Tilston reprise their roles as unmarried Bridgerton siblings Eloise, Hyacinth, and Gregory, with Ruth Gemmell as their mother, Lady Violet. Masali Baduza is back as Francesca's secret crush, Michaela, as is Daniel Francis as Violet's new love interest, Lord Marcus Anderson. 

Other members of the ensemble include Adjoa Andoh as Lady Danbury; Polly Walker as Portia Featherington; Lorraine Ashbourne as the Featherington's loyal maid Mrs. Varley; Golda Rosheuvel as Queen Charlotte, Hugh Sachs as the queen's loyal right-hand servant Brimsley; Martins Imhangbe, as Will Mondrich, and Emma Naomi as his wife, Alice.

Bridgerton Season 4 is currently filming in London, and if cast reports are anything to go by, they're about two-thirds of the way done. The new season will once again span eight episodes, with Shonda Rhimes, Betsy Beers, Tom Verica, and Chris Van Dusen serving as executive producers. 

While there's no release date set yet, the new episodes are expected to arrive in 2026. Bridgerton Seasons 1-3 are currently streaming on Netflix.