For much of the first three seasons of "Bridgerton" — Netflix's sumptuous streaming adaptation of Julia Quinn's historical novel series — we've been immersed in a world of wealth and status, led, of course, by the old-money Bridgerton family. But the upcoming fourth season of the Regency-era romance, which is set to premiere on the streaming service in two parts (with four episodes out on January 29 and another four to follow on February 26), will give viewers a look into an entirely new side of the Ton.
As you already know, season 4 will focus on the rags-to-riches fairytale romance behind Bridgerton brother Benedict (Luke Thompson) and a new character named Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha), whom the former meets at his mother's masquerade ball. What Sophie's attendance masks, however, is the fact that she's actually a housemaid who has been forced into servitude by her cruel stepmother and stepsisters after her father's death. Yes, it's giving "Cinderella" vibes.
And it's through Sophie and Benedict's storyline and the class disparity between their characters that season 4 will bring a "totally new sensibility" to the "Bridgerton" world, showrunner Jess Brownell told Entertainment Weekly in a December 2025 interview. Think the upstairs-downstairs divide that you see in other historical dramas like "Downton Abbey" and "The Gilded Age."
“We talked a lot about going downstairs and how that would affect the overall tone of the show and I think, actually, it seamlessly blends into the themes that we were trying to explore this season,” Brownell told the outlet. “Benedict very much lives in a fantasy world. Sophie very much lives in a harsher reality. The idea is that, for each of them, neither of those stations are where they need to live in order to find true love.”
Brownell also told the publication about how it was important that the romance series didn't "glamorize" Sophie's servant life in the upcoming episodes and instead highlight “beautiful moments and beautiful friendships downstairs, the same way there's beauty upstairs.”
But that doesn't mean that those societal and financial differences won't spell "juicy conflict" for the new lovebirds.
“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,” said Brownell. “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.”
Tom's Guide will keep you posted on all things related to "Bridgerton" season 4, including fresh behind-the-scenes intel, character details, new teaser trailers and more.
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