‘Bridgerton’ Season 4 is Officially Benedict Bridgerton’s Love Story, Duh: Will Sophie Beckett Be His “Lady in Silver”?

Netflix graced Bridgerton fans with some very good news this morning, revealing that Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) will be the show’s next leading man. Not only that, but in an exclusive Tudum piece, Netflix confirmed that Bridgerton Season 4 will kick off with Benedict meeting a mysterious “Lady in Silver” at a masquerade ball. This is huge news for fans of Julia Quinn’s original Bridgerton books. After all, Benedict’s book — An Offer From a Gentleman — follows the charming bastard daughter of an Earl as she breaks free from her life of servitude for one night, donning her noble grandmother’s silver gown and a bespoke mask to Lady Violet Bridgerton’s (Ruth Gemmell) maquerade ball. All of which is to say, Bridgerton Season 4 will be keeping Benedict Bridgerton and Sophie Beckett’s Cinderella-inspired love story from the books!

Bridgerton is a Shondaland show that lovingly adapts Julia Quinn’s beloved Regency romance novels for modern Netflix audiences. The show has always veered away from the constrains of historical accuracy, preferring to imagine a fantasy version of Regency London where racism no longer exists, but string covers of modern pop hits do. Bridgerton has also always played fast and loose with Quinn’s novels, transforming Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) from a tomboy withering away as a wallflower into the diamond of the season and Kate Sheffield into Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley).

In Bridgerton Season 3, showrunner Jess Brownell decided to queer up the canonically heteronormative Bridgerton family tree. The free-thinking Benedict explored his bisexuality with Lady Tilley Arnold (Hannah New) and friend Paul (Lucas Aurelio). Meanwhile, Francesa Bridgerton (Hannah Dodd) found herself sprung on her new husband’s cousin, Michaela Stirling (Masali Baduza) — when in the books, she eventually falls hard for Michael Stirling.

These latest changes had fans buzzing: who would Bridgerton Season 4 focus on? Would it be Benedict? After all, Season 3 ends with him confirming that he will be at his mother’s upcoming masquerade ball. And if Francesca’s love interest had been genderswapped in the Shondaland show, would Benedict’s eventual wife actually be…a husband?

Now we know: Bridgerton Season 4 will be about Benedict Bridgerton and his Lady in Silver, aka Sophie Beckett…

Bridgerton Season 4: Who Is Sophie Beckett?

In case you haven’t read the books, brace yourself for some serious potential spoilers for Bridgerton Season 4… Oh, you’re still reading? Okay. Let’s spill the tea on Sophie Beckett.

In Julia Quinn’s third Bridgerton book, An Offer from a Gentleman, we meet Sophie Beckett, the bastard daughter of the sixth Earl of Penwood. She has a relatively lovely childhood as his ward, but that’s ruined when he marries an awful woman named Araminta who is threatened by a constant living reminder that she can’t give the Earl a legal heir. When Sophie’s father dies, he stipulates in his will that Araminta and her daughters from another marriage will only be provided for if she cares for Sophie. Araminta keeps the details of the will from Sophie, forcing the teen to be her unpaid maid.

Cut to the night of the Bridgerton masquerade. Because the other servants love Sophie (and recognize her as the Earl’s child), they contrive to send Sophie to Bridgerton house for one night of freedom. She arrives in a silvery dress and mask and captivates the entire room. However, no one is more taken with the beauty than Benedict Bridgerton. Although it’s love at first sight for the couple, Sophie leaves at the toll of midnight, without sharing her name. Leaving Benedict obsessed with finding the “Lady in Silver.”

While that sounds like a relatively straightforward version of Cinderella dressed up in Bridgerton aesthetics, the good news is Quinn’s novel takes twists and turns you don’t get in the Disney version of the tale. An Offer from a Gentleman is super popular among book readers because of the ways in which Quinn actually addresses class issues for once.

Netflix hasn’t officially confirmed that Sophie Beckett is the heroine of Bridgerton Season 4, but the logline for the season reads: “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 has always been a little lost — or free depending on the way you want to look at it. But now he’s trying to find something a bit more solid in himself,” Luke Thompson told Tudum.

All of this suggests that, yes, Sophie is coming for Benedict Bridgerton. At least, a Lady in Silver is.

When Is Bridgerton Season 4 Coming Out?

Alas, not for a while! Bridgerton showrunner Jess Brownell told Decider that fans should expect a long wait for Season 4.

“We are always hoping to get to fans sooner, but I don’t know if it’s possible,” Brownell said. “This show, every episode is like producing a feature film. It is so involved with so many characters. There are so many plotlines that we are trying to break and weave that it just takes longer to write and to produce than any other show I’ve heard of.”

“So we will work as quickly as humanly possible to deliver and that’s the most, unfortunately, that I can do. I wish I could make it come sooner.”

If Bridgerton Season 4 takes as long to make as Season 3, we won’t see it until 2026.

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