Bridgerton fans, you’ve been waiting patiently for more news about season 4 of our favorite Regency romance series, and it’s finally here. Netflix has announced that Bridgerton will be returning for its fourth season... in 2026. Sure, maybe we were hoping for a 2025 release date, but we’re also just happy to have a timeline! Let’s take stock of everything we know about the upcoming season so far.
The fourth season of Bridgerton will focus on the second Bridgerton son, Benedict. The season will follow Benedict’s romance with a new character named Sophie, but based on a recent teaser released by Netflix, it appears as if Benedict is not the only one interested in courting Sophie.
Sophie Baek, played by Yerin Ha, is based on a character from Julia Quinn’s 2001 novel An Offer from a Gentleman. And while this is the fourth season of the show, An Offer from a Gentleman is actually the third book in the Bridgerton series.
Other actors you know and love will be back for this new season of Bridgerton. Obviously, Luke Thompson is returning as Benedict Bridgerton. It has been confirmed that we’ll also see Luke Newton (Colin), Hannah Dodd (Francesca), Claudia Jessie (Eloise), Nicola Coughlan (Penelope), Jonathan Bailey (Anthony), Adjoa Andoh (Lady Danbury), Ruth Gemmell (Violet Bridgerton), Golda Roshuvel (Queen Charlotte), Florence Hunt (Hyacinth), Will Tilston (Gregory), Daniel Francis (Lord Anderson), Martins Imhangbe (Will Mondrich), Polly Walker (Portia Featherington), Victor Alli (John Stirling), Julie Andrews (voice of Lady Whistledown), Lorraine Ashbourne (Mrs. Varley), Masali Baduza (Michaela Stirling), Emma Naomi (Alice Mondrich), and Hugh Sachs (Brimsley).
Note that Michaela Stirling and John Stirling are both back for this season. So while season 4 will focus on Benedict, it looks like we will get more of Francesca’s story as well. As you might remember, Francesca recently married John and will move to Scotland to live in the Stirling family home. Francesca also appeared to be developing a relationship with John’s cousin Michaela at the end of the third season, so we can expect to see that develop further in season 4.
We’ll also see some new faces this season. Katie Leung (The Peripheral) will play Lady Araminta Gun, a widow with two daughters debuting on the marriage market this season. Her daughters are Rosamund Li (Michelle Mao) and Posy Li (Isabella Wei).
Bridgerton season 4 is currently in production in England, and Netflix has shared some production images and first look images from the upcoming episodes.
Okay, we know 2026 is still a long way from now. So what’s a Bridgerton fan to do in the meantime? Here are 10 swoony historical romances you can read while you wait for the next season. It’ll be here sooner than you think!
The following comes to you from the Editorial Desk.
We love a good cover, and this week, we’re highlighting a list of the best short story covers. Trust us when we say that these will look so demure on your bookshelves!
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In the course of writing about great book covers, there’s one thing that I’ve noted several times: short story collections have some of the most innovative, memorable, and eye-catching covers of them all. Why is that? Perhaps part of it is because short story collections are a harder sell to the average reader, so the first line of marketing has to be for the bookshop browser, whether they’re perusing on or off line. Perhaps part of it is that many great short story collections are coming from smaller presses, so pushing boundaries with design is part of what’s possible because there are fewer stakeholders to please in the process. Perhaps it’s also simply that short story collections, by nature of their diversity, invite more creativity into the cover design process.
Whatever the reason or reasons, I suspect anyone who appreciates a good book cover is here for it.
Let’s take a look at some of the banging short story book covers that have hit shelves this year, as well as look at some of the upcoming covers of collections you’ll want to pop on your TBR ASAP. If you’re reading this when the piece publishes in mid-May, know you’ll be reading it in time to partake in Short Story Month, too. Any month can be short story month, of course, but May gives extra reason to dive into bite-sized fiction.
As always, caveats abound here. It is still unnecessarily difficult to track down cover designers and artists for book covers, especially if you don’t have the book in your hand to double-check. Many publishers still don’t put this information on the landing pages for these books, so it takes good Googling and a lot of luck to dig up names to credit.
 Autocorrect by Etgar Keret, translated by Jessica Cohen and Sondra Silverston (May 27)If you’re looking for a collection of darkly funny stories, this cover is not going to steer you in the wrong direction. It’s a squirrel that’s clearly been launched right into the book title, and he looks completely unfazed by it all. There’s a lot of nice movement in this design, especially as it is very simplistic. |
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