Benedict’s love story with Sophie hasn’t even premiered yet — but Netflix has already renewed Bridgerton for multiple seasons.
“Dearest Gentle Reader, Rarely is this author granted the opportunity to share with you such information. It is with great pleasure I can announce Bridgerton shall return for seasons 5 and 6,” read a post from the show’s official Instagram account. “Do celebrate accordingly.”
Netflix also confirmed that season 4 will premiere in 2026. In a first look trailer, Benedict (Luke Thompson) can’t look away from newcomer Sophie (Yerin Ha) while attending a masquerade ball. Before he can speak to her, however, Sophie goes off to dance with another suitor.
Based on the book series written by Julia Quinn, Bridgerton centers around members of a wealthy family as they search for love in 19th century London. Season 1 followed Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) and Simon’s (Regé-Jean Page) romance, who were the central couple in the first book, The Duke and I.
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Season 2, meanwhile, took inspiration from The Viscount Who Loved Me, which followed Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) finding love with Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley). Despite Benedict (Thompson) being the subject of the third novel — An Offer From a Gentleman — his love story with newcomer Sophie (Ha) was pushed to season 4.
Instead, the third season focused on Colin (Luke Newton) and Penelope’s (Nicola Coughlan) story as told in Quinn’s book Romancing Mister Bridgerton. The surprises kept coming after showrunner Jess Brownell confirmed that there is an estimated two-year wait before season 4 airs.
“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,” Brownell told The Hollywood Reporter in June 2024. “The writing takes a very long time as well, so we’re kind of on a two-year pace. We’re trying to speed up, but somewhere in that range.”
Looking ahead at future seasons, Francesca (Hannah Dodd) is a potential contender to lead season 5, since her marriage to John (Victor Alli) took place, which set up her romance with her now-husband’s cousin. (Bridgerton threw some fans for a loop though when they made John’s cousin Michaela instead of Michael.)
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There is also Eloise as a possible lead, despite her not having any interactions with her love interest — Phillip Crane (Chris Fulton) — yet. According to Quinn, Netflix does plan to release eight seasons to correspond with all the books.
“I think that’s been going through the whole way. Which is a long-winded way of saying, ‘Yes, there are plans [for beyond season 4],'” the author told People in July 2024. “But, of course, those plans can always change.”
Quinn continued: “One of the things that was very exciting when they actually first bought the series was that it was really clear to me that they put a lot of thought into it already. We had to go through everything and very specifically say, ‘These characters are included, these characters are not.’ In that process, it was really clear to me that they had a long plan and were really thinking about all the books.”
Bridgerton is currently streaming on Netflix.
