Bridgerton season four shifts the spotlight to Benedict, the family’s second-eldest son, unfolding a love story for which he never planned.
Part one of the romance series, set in a lavish Regency-era world, is streaming on Netflix from today (29 January 2026). Part two releases on 26 February.
The season opens at a grand masquerade ball, where Benedict’s journey is set in motion. There, he notices a mysterious figure known only as the Lady in Silver. Their brief connection leaves a lasting impression, though Benedict remains unaware that she is Sophie Baek, a young woman whose life exists far beyond the glittering confines of the ballroom.
“This season is a very different trajectory,” showrunner Jess Brownell told Tudum, Netflix’s companion site. “Benedict lives in a fantasy world. Sophie lives in a hard reality. You have two characters who are at opposite ends of a pole, and rather than either of them needing to get all the way to the other side, they both need to travel to the middle. Between fantasy and reality, true love lies in the middle — neither one creates the circumstances for romance to bloom. You have to embrace a little bit of both.”
Unlike his siblings, Benedict has resisted the pressure to marry, even as the rest of the Bridgerton family settles into domestic life. His fascination with the Lady in Silver disrupts that certainty, sending him on a search that draws him deeper into London society with reluctant help from his sister Eloise (Claudia Jessie).
What Benedict does not realise is that the woman he is searching for is already part of his world. Sophie is a resourceful maid working under the watchful eye of Araminta Gun (Katie Leung), balancing her own dreams with the constraints of her position. As chance reunites Benedict and Sophie, he is caught between the idealised image he cannot forget and the reality he struggles to accept.
That tension lies at the heart of the season, testing whether Benedict can reconcile fantasy with truth before the connection between them slips away.
Luke Thompson, who plays Benedict, said: “You remember being told those stories as a child — the magic and the romance of them. It’s really exciting to have that woven into the world that we know of Bridgerton. It’s such a great story, but it’s also, I hope, really relatable.”
Yerin Ha, who plays Sophie Baek, said: “What drew me to Sophie was that she immediately has obstacles — something that she constantly has to overcome. Whether it’s this battle around social status or trying to hide her feelings from Benedict.”
The new season is inspired by the third book in Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton series, An Offer from a Gentleman.
“It’s always really nice to get inside the author’s head to see how they pictured a certain character or events that trigger certain emotions. In the book, Sophie has a sassy-ness to her, but there’s also a vulnerable side and a fragility. I tried hard to bring that into the series.”
Brownell said: “Sophie in season four is very similar to the Sophie in Julia Quinn’s book. Sophie is not a normal damsel in distress in the book, nor is she in our season. She’s resourceful and resilient. She’s a chess player, she’s a survivalist. Sometimes that works against her because it’s hard to get out of survival mode and allow herself to embrace love or playfulness or lightness or joy. Fortunately, those are things Benedict Bridgerton is very good at.”
New and returning characters
As with previous seasons, we can expect to see some new characters spinning around the Bridgerton ballroom, including:
- Lady Araminta Gun, played byKatie Leung. Twice-married and twice-widowed, Araminta has two daughters debuting on the marriage mart this season and she’s feeling the pressure to get at least one of her girls married off. Fabulous, discerning, and blunt, Araminta does not respond well when anything — or anyone — threatens her standing in society.
- Rosamund Li, played by Michelle Mao. Beautiful, vain, and eager to please her mother, Rosamund is Araminta’s eldest daughter and most prized possession. Rosamund sets her sights on Benedict this social season. And, just like her mother, Rosamund is determined to get what she wants.
- Posy Li, played by Isabella Wei. Rosamund’s younger, kinder sister is also debuting this year. But Araminta rarely puts the spotlight on her second child. Posy’s chatty, overly friendly demeanor often has her putting her foot in her mouth.
“While Rosamund has become her mother’s mini-me — a marriage mart pro chess player — Posy is dreamy and often unserious, much to her mother’s disapproval,” Brownell told Tudum. “Araminta and Rosamund are so focused on their own goals that, frankly, the Bridgertons don’t register much for them at first, beyond the fact that Benedict proves to be quite the catch this season.”
And, although they aren’t new arrivals in Mayfair, you can expect to see more of Emma Naomi (Alice Mondrich) and Hugh Sachs (Brimsley).
The cast includes:
- Jonathan Bailey as Anthony Bridgerton.
- Simone Ashley as Kate Bridgerton.
- Victor Alli as John Stirling.
- Adjoa Andoh as Lady Danbury.
- Julie Andrews as Lady Whistledown.
- Lorraine Ashbourne as Mrs Varley.
- Masali Baduza as Michaela Stirling.
- Nicola Coughlan as Penelope Bridgerton.
- Hannah Dodd as Francesca Stirling.
- Daniel Francis as Lord Marcus Anderson.
- Ruth Gemmell as Violet Bridgerton.
- Florence Hunt as Hyacinth Bridgerton.
- Martins Imhangbe as Will Mondrich.
- Luke Newton as Colin Bridgerton.
- Golda Rosheuvel as Queen Charlotte.
- Will Tilston as Gregory Bridgerton.
- Polly Walker as Portia Featherington.