The universe positively shifts every time Netflix and Shondaland release a new promotional asset for Bridgerton Season 4: Benedict Bridgerton and Sophie Baek’s romance. Perhaps it’s because of the joy the romance series brings and spreads among its ever-growing admirers. It could also be because of the three-season, multi-year anticipation leading to the revelation that Luke Thompson’s Benedict will finally lead a Bridgerton season. The excitement may also be because Netflix and Shondaland have found the perfect Sophie in Yerin Ha.
The reality is that all of those enchanting details come together to create real magic around Bridgerton Season 4’s Cinderella-retelling. Thompson and Ha’s first joint photoshoot and interviews commemorating the start of Bridgerton Season 4’s production are headlines for fans. A new perspective of an already-released interview between Thompson and Ha can create a buzz across social media for weeks, if not months. This latest addition to the promotion of Benedict and Sophie’s season is also special – perhaps for a reason unbeknownst to casual Bridgerton fans.
From the start, Netflix and Shondaland promote the series by having the cast read an excerpt from that season’s respective book. After all, Bridgerton is inspired by Julia Quinn’s romance novels – Season 1 with The Duke and I, Season 2 with The Viscount Who Loved Me, and Season 3 with Romancing Mister Bridgerton. Benedict and Sophie’s story in Bridgerton Season 4 is inspired by Quinn’s An Offer from a Gentleman, an interclass romance with a Cinderella twist. As in seasons past, Netflix and Shondaland shared a video of Luke Thompson and Yerin Ha reading from the book.
Unlike seasons past, they are the only two featured in the video coming out well before their season. The only pattern with this staple in Bridgerton’s promotion is that Netflix and Shondaland usually release these readings from Quinn’s books after the respective season premieres. For instance, The Duke and I video features many ensemble members, including the female lead, Phoebe Dynevor, but missing the male lead, Regé Jean Page. The streamer shared the video a few days after Season 1 premiered in December 2020.
Bridgerton Season 2 – Anthony Bridgerton and Kate Sharma’s story – premiered in March 2020. A video of the cast, including both Jonathan Bailey and Simone Ashley, reading The Viscount Who Loved Me appeared on Bridgerton’s social media a month later in April 2022. The third season’s rollout of this beloved bit stands out – it’s the first season of the romance series to be split in half, with episodes released a month apart. The day after Season 3’s first four episodes premiered, Bridgerton’s X account posted a video of the ensemble, including both Luke Newton and Nicola Coughlan, reading from Romancing Mister Bridgerton. Then, Netflix shared a video of only Newton and Coughlan reading from the book the day after the final four episodes aired in June 2024.
Because Netflix and Shondaland released the videos for the previous three seasons after the episodes aired, it’s unsurprising that the cast read excerpts well into the books. They can read from the spicy scenes Bridgerton brings, with its interpretation, from Quinn’s pages to the small screen. They aren’t spoilers at that point. Meanwhile, Luke Thompson and Yerin Ha read the first paragraph of the first chapter of An Offer from a Gentleman. All their passage reveals is:
“This year’s most sought-after invitations must surely be that of the Bridgerton masquerade ball, to be held Monday next. Indeed, one cannot take two steps without being forced to listen to some society mama speculating on who will attend, and perhaps more importantly, who will wear what.”
Thompson and Ha split the two sentences, ending with the emphasis on the masquerade ball and its costumes. The show signals the masquerade as (one of) Season 4’s big set piece(s) in Bridgerton Season 3, Episode 8, “Into the Light.” Eloise, leaving Mayfair behind for an extended period in Scotland with Francesca (and her new husband, John Stirling, and his cousin, Michaela), assures Benedict that she will return in the new year. Eloise knows her attendance is required when she rhetorically asks, “Do you think Mama would ever let me miss her Masquerade Ball?” Benedict responds, “I supposed not. I will be there, hiding out behind a mask, avoiding eligible ladies like the plague.”
Bridgerton Season 3 leaves Benedict in that outwardly definitive place of avoiding love and marriage. But the camera lingers on him when Eloise leaves, highlighting the loneliness of Benedict’s “hiding place,” suggesting that he may want something more. Lady Whistledown’s writing pulls that subtlety together with Julie Andrews’s voiceover, adding, “It is time now to look toward the future, whatever it may bring.” That line calls back to one from Benedict earlier in the episode, which defines why he is more inclined to stay in his hiding spot.
On the iconic swings, Benedict tells Eloise, “It feels right now that the next things I might learn may change me entirely.” Showrunner Jess Brownell told TV Line that Benedict’s conversation with Tilley about what he wants leads Benedict to this place of change. “I think that he is someone who has never been able to commit. Not only to a person, but to a path or a passion or even a hobby. He’s a renaissance man and that comes with it, the ability to do lots of different things. I think he might be starting to realize that while he has a lot of breadth in his life, he doesn’t have depth. So that’s something we’ll be carrying forward.”
Benedict physically moves toward that change in that final scene (beyond the one with the Bridgerton family) in Season 3. Where does that lead him? The masquerade ball, where he will wear a mask, and a woman who never imagined she could attend such a party dons a gorgeous gown. It’s no wonder that Netflix and Shondaland have already called Sophie the Lady in Silver, like in An Offer from a Gentleman. The other videos of the Bridgerton cast reading from the books feature excerpts that only happen after that change – after the meet-cute, after the tension builds, after the love forms. This video for Season 4 starts at the beginning of Benedict and Sophie’s story, documenting Benophie’s fairytale journey one step at a time.
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Bridgerton is streaming on Netflix!
