It’s official: Season 4 of Netflix’s “Bridgerton” will focus on the love story of perpetual bachelor Benedict Bridgerton.
Benedict, who is portrayed by Luke Thompson, has taken a backseat in recent seasons but will now be the next Bridgerton sibling to find their soulmate. The season will follow the events of “Bridgerton” novel “An Offer From a Gentleman,” which sees Benedict searching for a “lady in silver” named Sophie.
“Benedict has always been a little lost — or free depending on the way you want to look at it. But now he’s trying to find something a bit more solid in himself,” Thompson told Netflix’s Tudum, which unveiled the news.
When Variety spoke with “Bridgerton” Season 3 showrunner Jess Brownell about the third-season finale in June, she broke down the decision to reveal Benedict Bridgerton’s pansexuality through his threesome experiences with new flame Lady Tilley Arnold (Hannah New) and her friend Paul (Lucas Aurelio). When Tilly decides she wants to return to their monogamous stage and not “share” him, Benedict gently ends the relationship, not ready to settle down after discovering a new part of himself, just before the season concludes.
“I knew that people out there had a feeling Benedict might be queer,” Brownell said. “And personally, it made sense to me. He’s not just open minded, it’s that he seems like the type of person who wouldn’t be as concerned with gender — someone who might be more fluid and pansexual. He’s really attracted to someone’s spirit. And so it felt like we should make sense of those pieces that were in Seasons 1 and 2. That was what we were attempting to do with his storyline.”
More to come…