As the dust is settling from Bridgerton Season 3, Netflix has unveiled next season’s candidate.
It’s official — Benedict Bridgerton will take on the mantle in the fourth run of Shondaland’s smash hit regal drama, as he searches for his “Lady In Silver” Sophie.
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In a teaser, which you can watch below, Netflix says its “most compelling match will be unmasked” — a telling clue for fans of the books — before posing: “Welcome to the marriage mart, Benedict.”
A number of scenes featuring the Bridgerton brother are then shown before a short skit with actor Luke Thompson in which he is offered a suit “for the masquerade ball.”
This builds on the teaser at the end of the Season 3 finale where Eloise — taking off to Scotland with Francesca — promised to be back in time for their mother’s famous masquerade ball. That is where Benedict and Sophie first cross paths in the books.
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Per the official synopsis: “The fourth season of Bridgerton turns its focus to bohemian second son Benedict (Luke Thompson). 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.”
Benedict’s search for a love match is the subject of the third book in Julia Quinn’s series, An Offer from a Gentleman. The TV series made a change in the order with Season 3 taking on the fourth book instead, Romancing Mister Bridgerton, which spotlights the romance between Colin Bridgerton, played by Luke Newton, and Penelope Featherington, played by Nicola Coughlan.
Season 3 sees Benedict infatuated with a woman named Tilly Arnold — a character that does not exist in the books — who opens him up to exploring his sexuality when she encourages him to engage in sexual activity with herself and another man, Paul.
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“I think, for me, when we talked about Benedict’s storyline this season in the room, so many of us, including myself, felt like he reads as a queer character in Season 1 and 2. So we felt like we wanted to make sense of that,” Jess Brownell, who took over as Bridgerton showrunner in Season 3, told Deadline of the decision for him to agree to Tilly and Paul’s advances. “I think we will continue that storyline of him exploring his fluidity going forward. This isn’t the end of that.”
Because of the different path Benedict’s journey has taken on the show, there had been questions whether his love match also will differ from the books similarly to the way Francesca’s is destined for a queer happily ever after with Michaela Stirling, not Michael Stirling, a twist that has divided fans.
The second part of Bridgerton Season 3 dropped around six weeks ago and both parts of that season have been dominating the Netflix Top 10s, currently sitting fourth globally.