Babe, wake up: Lady Whistledown just posted a major Bridgerton Season 4 release date update — and teased the long-term future of the show, too.
On May 14, Netflix delivered a Bridgerton announcement via the ton’s trusted gossip scribe. “Dearest Gentle Reader,” she begins in a new social post. “Rarely is this author granted the opportunity to share with you such information. It is with great pleasure that I can announce Bridgerton shall return for Seasons 5 and 6. Do celebrate accordingly.”
While fans have long hoped for a fifth and sixth season — and a seventh and eighth to cover all the Bridgerton brood — this is the first time Netflix has officially confirmed the show’s long-term future.
Lady Whistledown also delivered an update on Sophie and Benedict’s love story. “And in the meantime, do prepare yourselves, for Bridgerton Season 4 shall debut in 2026,” she writes. “It would seem this author is going to be quite busy.”
It’s exciting to have an official release window to look forward to. Showrunner Jess Brownell previously told The Hollywood Reporter that production of each season runs at roughly a “two-year pace.” So, it makes sense that #Benophie’s season would arrive in 2026 after Colin and Penelope dominated 2024.
Love At First Sight
Lady Whistledown must have been feeling particularly generous with the tea because Netflix also revealed new teaser footage from Season 4, and it covers a particularly swoon-worthy scene from the books.
In the new clip, Benedict arrives at the season’s highly anticipated masquerade ball in a dashing black ensemble. As the fete’s eligible ladies murmur their excitement to see him, he scurries about to avoid interacting with them (as he does) when the sight of a woman in a shimmery, silver dress and mask stops him in his tracks.
The music softens as he takes in the view — his yearning gaze only cut short when another party-goer asks the Lady in Silver (who viewers know is Sophie!) for a dance.
It’s a dreamy preview to the season, one that has fans screaming their excitement in the comments. “BENEDICT BRIDGERTON FALLING IN LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT AAAH,” one viewer wrote on X (formerly Twitter). To which the official Bridgerton account curiously replied: “He appears quite enchanted, does he not?”
Many fans took the comment as a wink to Taylor Swift’s “Enchanted,” the anthem to a fateful first meeting that appears on many a Benophie-themed playlist.
One user wrote they’d be “taking it as a sign.” As another put it: “DONT PLAY WITH ME BRIDGERTON IS ENCHANTED GOING TO BE IN S4 YES OR NO.”
Given that Bridgerton has employed several string covers of Swift’s music, and the fact that “Enchanted” suits Sophie and Benedict’s Cinderella-esque love story, it certainly feels like a natural choice.
