‘Bridgerton’ showrunner teases upcoming season 4

Dearest gentle reader, with the fourth season of Netflix’s romance series Bridgerton arriving in January, its showrunner, Jess Brownell, is sharing new details about what fans can expect.

Season 4 follows the love story between the second-oldest Bridgerton son, Benedict (Luke Thompson), as he falls for Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha) through a Cinderella-inspired romance. Brownell told Entertainment Weekly there was a real effort to make such a classic trope feel complex and brand new.

“We start with a character trope that we’ve seen a million times before, which is a maid who falls for someone above her station,” Brownell said. “But I think a lot of times in these classic Cinderella-like stories, Cinderella is a bit of a damsel in distress. And, in the case of Sophie Baek, she is no such thing. We get to watch a very headstrong young woman try to decide her fate for herself and pick up the courage to believe in and dream for a life greater than the one she currently has.”

Brownell also notes that Benedict has spent the first three seasons as a bohemian who is uninterested in settling down. Season 4, she says, is a turn of events.

“We’ve watched three seasons of Benedict having a very good time and being good at everything, but unable to commit to any one thing,” Brownell said. “And I think, at the top of season 4, that’s worn a little thin for him. I think he senses that something is missing in his life — even if he isn’t ready to accept it — but once he meets the masked woman in the first episode, everything will change for him.”

The first batch of Bridgerton season 4 episodes will be available to stream on Jan. 29. Part two of the season drops on Feb. 26.

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