'Bridgerton' Author Hints at Which Love Story Stars in Season 5

Bridgerton creator Shonda Rhimes was recently in Edinburgh for the city's annual celebration of film and television as the opening salvo to Season 4's marketing rollout. Her talk mostly made news for topics other than her hit show; however, it was notable that she stated again that there’s enough source material for the series to run for up to eight seasons, as well as several possibilities for spinoffs. Very few Netflix dramas have been granted so many seasons (Virgin River was the first to reach a Season 8 commission earlier in 2025), but Rhimes is making it clear her series is going to be one of them, as long as she has a say.

Bridgerton has already been greenlit through Season 6 as of May 2025, with Season 4 set to release in 2026. But the question for fans is always how close the series will hew to the books, especially as the show has evolved away from them at points since Season 1. Seasons 1 and 2 did follow author Julia Quinn's series in order, first Daphne and Simon (The Duke & I), then Anthony and Kate (The Viscount Who Loved Me), but it flip-flopped the next two, jumping ahead to Colin and Penelope (Romancing Mr. Bridgerton) before circling back around to Benedict and Sophie (An Offer From a Gentlemen) for Season 4.

Technically, the following four books are (in order) Eloise (To Sir Phillip, With Love) and Francesca (When He Was Wicked), followed by a time jump to Hyacinth (It's in His Kiss) and Gregory (On the Way to the Wedding), which serves as the final romance. But with the upending of Francesca's love interest from Michael to Michaela and Eloise's redemption arc still ongoing, fans wondered if the two sisters might swap places.