SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers from “Bridgerton” Season 4, Part 1, now streaming on Netflix.
If “Bridgerton” Season 3’s big Part 1 cliffhanger was defined by the rush from that iconic carriage scene between Penelope (Nicola Coughlan) and Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton), Season 4’s first half will be known for that whiplash of passion and rejection between Benedict (Luke Thompson) and Sophie (Yerin Ha) in the stairwell.
“First of all, that stairwell moment is something I had in my mind from the very beginning of the season,” “Bridgerton” showrunner Jess Brownwell tells Variety of the Part 1 finale scene that saw Benedict and Sophie passionately kissing and exploring each other’s bodies betwixt the kitchen and the family’s bedrooms at Bridgerton House. In a scene set to Caleb Chan’s instrumental version of Olivia Rodrigo’s “bad idea right?,” the two release all their inhibitions about their simmering upstairs/downstairs love, with Benedict going so far as to intimately touch Sophie under her dress, before he ruins it all by asking the young housemaid to be his mistress, rather than his wife.
“It felt like a really meaningful place for the two of them to have their first real encounter; in this liminal space between the upstairs and the downstairs,” Brownwell says. “I really love the way it came out. I think it is a really sexy moment — until, of course, that record scratch moment when Benedict asked Sophie to be his mistress. In part, we are trying to illustrate just how big the class divide was then. And I think truly, what Benedict asks would have been considered the only way for a man — a gentleman — and a housemaid to be together during that era. So it’s not that unusual for him to think that that’s romantic. However, in the larger context of this being the love of his life and us watching their love story, I think it’s absolutely the right reaction to be outraged and to be mad at him. So I think that reaction is correct and his lack of understanding about how it will come out is something we’re going to bring him up on in the back half.”
Yerin Ha as Sophie Baek, Luke Thompson as Benedict Bridgerton in “Bridgerton” Season 4
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Elsewhere in Part 1 of the fourth season of the hit Shonda Rhimes romance: Penelope is trying to balance her personal life with Colin with her ongoing (and now public) job as Lady Whistledown, the Queen (Golda Rosheuvel) is refusing to let Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh) leave her longheld position as the top lady in waiting, Eloise (Claudia Jessie) is facing the reality of one day becoming a spinster as Hyacinth (Florence Hunt) is bursting with joy to join society, Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) and Kate (Simone Ashley) are still away in India with their newborn baby, Violet (Ruth Gemmell) is reviving her sex life, and newlyweds Francesca (Hannah Dodd) and John (Victor Alli) are having trouble communicating in the bedroom.
See below for more from Variety‘s interview with “Bridgerton” showrunner Brownell, including hints at what’s coming in Part 2 on Feb. 26, where things are headed for the upcoming fifth season of “Bridgerton,” which will be the first installment since Season 1 to focus on a Bridgerton daughter — and what’s planned for the remaining seasons of Julia Quinn’s eight-book “Bridgerton” series.
Luke Newton as Colin Bridgerton, Nicola Coughlan as Penelope Bridgerton in “Bridgerton” Season 4
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First thing’s first: Pen and Colin’s baby boy is named Elliot. This is clearly in honor of Eloise, yes?
Because we changed the gender of their baby so that they could win the Featherington Heir Race last season, we felt like we had an opening where we could be inventive about the name. And I think it just felt like a poetic way to close out a chapter of the Eloise-Penelope storyline by honoring Eloise with the name.
Moving to the Cinderella-esque storyline here for Season 4, how did you go about embracing the upstairs/ downstairs storyline from Julia Quinn’s book, “An Offer From a Gentleman”?
We wanted right away to signal to viewers that this is a different type of season and that you’re going to be let into places in this world that you’ve never been. So we dip in right away downstairs. I do think that “An Offer From a Gentleman” adapts himself really easily to television, because there are a lot of plot-driven visual set pieces in that book. So plot wise, it felt like we were able to follow it pretty closely. I feel like the Cinderella story, Julia Quinn is already invoking the trope and then turning it on its head a little bit, because the Sophie character, she’s not a maid waiting to be saved by a prince. She’s got pluck, she’s got moxie, she’s got all those words that you would use to suggest a woman who’s making her own way in the world. And our version definitely honors that character. And so we’re telling a story of not just a maid who wants to be with a gentleman, but also a gentleman who has to learn to grow to become worthy of the maid.
Yerin Ha as Sophie Baek, Oli Higginson as Footman John, Sophie Lamont as Celia in “Bridgerton” Season 4
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Part 1 includes the iconic masquerade ball, time spent at “My Cottage” — all of these callouts to the book that fans were looking for. Can you tease specific beats from the book that will be coming up in Part 2?
I don’t know how many spoilers we should give — but there are a couple key set pieces from the book in the back half. I will tease that there’s one light-hearted, sexy moment in the back half that is an homage to the book. And then there’s one darker set piece that we also invoke.
Luke Thompson has been with “Bridgerton” from the beginning. What conversations did you have with him as to how Benedict would look or act differently as a lead, or were there changes you didn’t want to make?
I think Benedict, at the very start of this season, he really hasn’t changed. It’s not until he meets Sophie, actually — or the masked woman, in this case — that he is inspired to change. So I think going into the season, there wasn’t a big glow up in the way that there have been for other characters. Frankly, Benedict has always been a really handsome, romantic character who presents in a glowed-up way from day one. But with each installment of this season, Luke was given the script to see how the character was going to change, and he really rose to the challenge of taking the character to a much more vulnerable place.
Luke Thompson as Benedict Bridgerton, Yerin Ha as Sophie Baek in “Bridgerton” Season 4
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Benedict’s bisexuality was greatly explored in Season 3. You don’t shy away from that in Season 4, it’s definitely very much acknowledged in the first episode, but I want to know how you chose to navigate that, because ultimately he will end up with a woman character.
It’s really important that just because someone might end up in a heterosexual-presenting relationship, that does not negate their queerness. I think Benedict’s queerness will always be a piece of his identity. And when we were talking about representation, I don’t think there’s a lot of representation that I’ve seen of bisexual men. There is a really harmful and untrue stereotype that bisexual men are actually just gay men. More often, we see bisexual men ending up in media in homosexual-presenting relationships. And it felt fresh and important to see a bisexual man ending up in a heterosexual-presenting relationship and still owning the fact that he is still queer.
Yerin Ha as Sophie Baek in “Bridgerton” Season 4
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For the ball, masquerades are always complicated scenes because you have to wonder, how did you not know that was that person later, and figure that out? So how did you design what you wanted Sophie’s mask to look like, and toe the line between believability that later on, Benedict still would not be able to put it together he had met her and she was the one he’s been looking for?
I think there’s got to be a certain amount of willing suspension of disbelief. We definitely talked about putting Sophie in a full face mask, a wig, etc, and at the end of the day, the meeting between the masked woman and Benedict is so important that she needed to be able to emote, and that wasn’t going to happen in a full face mask. But I think what we’re really relying on is the fact that class was such a major divide in that time period that even for someone like Benedict, who is fairly progressive, he just would never expect that the lady that he’s been looking for who he met at a ball would be a housemaid. The staff were essentially invisible during that period, and his inability to recognize her is something we’re going to interrogate in the back half.
How did you decide how far you wanted Benedict and Sophie to go in that stairwell scene at the end of Part 1? We’ve seen examples in the show of not doing anything sexual until marriage, and we’ve seen carriage scenes. How do you decide what’s the right tone for the couple?
We let the characters lead how far the intimacy should go. And I think in this case, because Sophie’s origin story and her great trauma is about being an illegitimate child and being recognized, she is not a character who is going to, quote, unquote, go all the way unless she’s married. So that boundary that was baked into her character core really set the tone for us in terms of how far we could go with them, intimacy-wise.
Because we are waiting for that moment still for Benedict and Sophie, is that why you chose to focus on more intimate scenes with Penelope and Colin, Violet and Lord Anderson, and others in the first half, so that there was still that steaminess?
I don’t know that it was as calculated as, we’re not going to get there yet with Benedict and Sophie, so we’re going to do with other people, but more organically wanting to explore different kinds of intimacy from different characters. The Francesca story specifically I’m really excited about because I think on the show, obviously, people are always having magical simultaneous orgasms, and that fantasy is really fun, but also it doesn’t represent accurately most women’s experience. And so I think there’s actually something really empowering, hopefully, about the relatability of Francesca’s story.
And I hope it’s very clear from our storytelling that we’re not trying to indicate that, just because she can’t have an orgasm, that it means there’s something wrong with her relationship with John. They just have a different kind of slow-growing passion. Her situation is really common, and I think it’s great to represent all different types of love and different types of intimacy on screen.
Hannah Dodd as Francesca Bridgerton, Victor Alli as John Stirling in “Bridgerton” Season 4
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With Francesca and John and the “pinnacle” problem, is a certain amount of that trying to allude to Francesca’s sexuality and if there’s a block there, or is it truly just exploring what is a common problem for many people, and figuring out exactly how to navigate?
I think it’s probably a combination of the fact that it is a common problem and also a problem that feels really specific to who Francesca is as a character. I wouldn’t say it’s about John versus Michaela necessarily, but I think Fran is someone who is not in touch with herself, literally or metaphorically, and that may be part of the reason she’s unable to orgasm.
Do we think Violet is going to get better at explaining sex to her daughters at a certain point? By Hyacinth, will she have this down?
We continue to play with that trope. We’re nearly done with Season 5 at this point, and we are continuing to play with the trope of Violet not being able to explain certain things to her children. It’s funny, and a lot of it is for comedic effect, but also there’s a point that’s being made, which is that part of the difficulty of being a young woman in the Regency is that no one told girls anything. It’s not just Violet — I don’t think any of these mothers are telling their girls anything. And in some ways, it hasn’t totally changed. I still think in the modern age, sex education has its flaws. And so it’s a cautionary tale, I would say, about not empowering women with information.
Claudia Jessie as Eloise Bridgerton, Hannah Dodd as Francesca Bridgerton in “Bridgerton” Season 4
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Speaking of Season 5, is the plan to go directly into Eloise’s season — which would be the next story, following the books — or may you skip to Francesca and John first?
I will say, the last three seasons have been focused on Bridgerton boys, so all I can say Seasons 5 and 6 are definitely about the middle Bridgerton girls. That’s as much as I can say.
Will we know by the back half of the season who Season 5 stars?
Similar to the end of Season 3, there are some clues for people to parse.
Kate and Anthony are still away in India, but we know they had a healthy baby and will be coming back. When and how are they coming back?
How is by ship. Yes, we’ve confirmed Jonathan Bailey and Simone Ashley are both in the season, and if you haven’t seen them in Part 1, you’re going to see them in Part 2.
Simone Ashley as Kate Sharma, Jonathan Bailey as Anthony Bridgerton in “Bridgerton” Season 3
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How much?
You’ll have to wait and see. They do have an integral role to play in terms of being the viscount and viscountess and the elder siblings. And I think it’s lovely to have them back to advise and guide.
Anthony has a job to do, and he’s left Benedict to do it.
He has, he has. But also, there are multiple seats of the Bridgerton estate. So he’ll be able to do that job, not only from Bridgerton house, but also from Aubrey Hall.
Rege-Jean Page, Phoebe Dynevor as Simon and Daphne in “Bridgerton” Season 1
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Speaking of other siblings, we have a family dinner, we have so many balls that everyone’s attending, and we’re still not seeing Daphne and Simon, and I don’t think there was even mention of them in this first half. So I want to know how you continue to navigate it when it’s a family dinner and they just don’t attend and they’re not mentioned, or that the Duke and the Duchess aren’t coming to these things when the Queen can make an appearance and attend?
It’s a practical complication. In our minds they, of course, are still involved in the family. We’re not seeing every family gathering and every family dinner. So of course, they would hypothetically still be involved in the world. But it’s the nature of the show that we focus not only on the new leads, but we’re also working to set up the younger siblings for their upcoming seasons, and so there’s just a natural flow to the show where the focus shifts a little bit.
Looking to future seasons, how are you balancing what characters will remain and who will come back? Because if we start to lose more of the older ones each time as we go, we’re not going to have as many by Hyacinth’s season at the end.
We hope to always have previous leads, when and if they’re available, be a part of future seasons. And especially as we get into Seasons 7 and 8, we’ll hope to populate the world with smaller appearances from more of the leads, as well as broadening the world and introducing new characters as we go.
Hugh Sachs as Brimsley, Golda Rosheuvel as Queen Charlotte, Adjoa Andoh in “Bridgerton” Season 4
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The Queen and Lady Danbury’s storyline this season is all about Lady Danbury essentially wanting to retire from the professional side of their friendship, and the Queen saying no. Where did that come from?
The inspiration for that story was really looking at the overall themes of the season, where we’re exploring the relationship between employers and employees in a lot of ways, or people and the people who serve them. And Danbury and the Queen absolutely have a real friendship, but there’s a power imbalance. And it was interesting to us thematically to explore what happens when the person who has less power in the relationship asks for something for themselves. So it’s really about exploring the nuance in their friendship. I want to be very clear, we’re not done with Lady Danbury, and she will absolutely be back for more.
What can you tease about Penelope/Whistledown in Part 2, and how this job will continue to work? Because she’s very exposed now, but still has the Queen’s very high expectations of her reporting.
Yeah, Penelope is in kind of an impossible situation. She told us that she started writing Whistledown to give a voice to the voiceless, and because she herself felt voiceless. She’s actually now in quite a position of power. She has a relationship with the Queen. She’s married to a Bridgerton. She’s incredibly public, versus the anonymity she had when she first started as Whistledown. So I think the back half is about Penelope navigating what all that means and what she really want for her life. If Whistledown, started as a way to give her a voice, what does she want to use her voice for now?
Florence Hunt as Hyacinth Bridgerton in Season 4
Courtesy of Netflix
The upcoming seasons, back to back, will focus on daughters — but they are two women who have already come out, so it will be very different from Season 1 with Daphne. In this case, both of those storylines are set up to not revolve around that marriage market. How are you exploring what a “Bridgerton” season will look like when it doesn’t have that as a storytelling device?
In the same way Season 4 breaks the mold, and suddenly we’re going downstairs, I think as we get into Seasons 5 and 6, we are shifting away from the traditional pattern. However, Hyacinth has not debuted yet, and Hyacinth is eager to debut early. So I think it’s likely that we will still have Hyacinth debut before we get to her season to sort of anchor us back in society.
Let’s talk about Hyacinth and Gregory. Gregory is off at Eaton, and Hyacinth is already sneaking down and trying to get involved in balls before she’s officially out. How have you decided how much you want to introduce them as adult characters, and bring that in? They were the littles — and now they are growing up and one day will be adult leads, and there are sexual components to those characters.
To be honest, I have not thought about their seasons in that way yet. I’m not prepared to. I will have to think about that at some point, but for now, I’m just focused on giving them more chances to shine. Both Florence and Will are tremendous actors, and it was really exciting to give both of them more to do this season. You’re right that Gregory is away for a bit in the front half, but in the back half, you’ll see more from Gregory, as well as Hyacinth. It’s exciting to start fleshing out the world with the younger siblings as we get closer and closer to their season.
Yerin Ha as Sophie Baek in “Bridgerton” Season 4
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The last time we talked, you had not cast the lead for Season 4, so I want to go back and ask about the casting process — finding Yerin, and looking for your Sophie.
What we found was just an absolute star: Yerin Ha is an incredible actor. She is one of the most down-to-Earth people I’ve ever met. And I think that groundedness really comes across on screen. The character was hard to cast because you needed a young woman who felt like she could counterbalance Benedict, who has done everything, seen everything, is kind of becoming a little jaded when we meet him at the top of Season 4 and he needs to be so blown away by this new person in his life — but not just because she is hard working and resilient. She also needed to have a real playfulness. Yerin is able to communicate depth, but also breadth — but also humor, but also has this real, playful, childlike spirit. It was a tall order, and Yerin has all of it.
Did you go into the casting process thinking about race?
We knew that we were casting for an East Asian lead. I think when we sat back and looked at the world and talked about how Sophie would fit into that world, it felt like there was a dearth of representation in terms of a leading lady of East Asian descent. But when we met Yerin, it was really just all about her and all of the special qualities that she brings to the character.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
