Bridgerton’s Season 4 Coming Out Scene Is ‘Hugely Important’, Says Showrunner
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Bridgerton’s Season 4 Coming Out Scene Is ‘Hugely Important’, Says Showrunner


The latest season of Bridgerton has received widespread praise for its touching coming out scene, which sees Benedict opening up to Sophie about his sexuality.

Luke Thompson’s character was confirmed to be queer during the show’s third run, where he was seen engaging in trysts with both men and women.

Benedict is Bridgerton’s first openly queer lead character, and his coming out scene took the show’s writers into new territory.

“I am capable of caring for you, just as I have cared for women I have known who are of the Ton,” he told Yerin Ha’s character, Sophie, in season four’s sixth episode, which premiered on Netflix last week.

“Just as I have cared for some men whom I have known intimately,” he added. “And I refuse to be at all ashamed about that.”

Since the episode’s release, showrunner Jess Brownell has explained why it was “hugely important” to her that this scene be included.

“I think any queer person knows that no matter who you end up with, queerness is a part of your identity,” Jess told Business Insider. “It never goes away. And I think one of the messages of this show every season is that the only way to truly be loved is to be your true self.”

After Benedict’s coming out, Sophie assures him: “Love is always a thing to be proud of. The world needs more of it.”

Bridgerton’s Season 4 Coming Out Scene Is ‘Hugely Important’, Says Showrunner
Benedict and Sophie in the Bridgerton season four finale

But to Jess, there was never any doubt about how the character would react.

“Sophie is someone who’s been through so much and has lived in the downstairs world and been friends with people of all different classes,” she claimed. “And I do think she’s probably encountered people of different sexualities.”

Before the series was released, Jess stressed that it was “really important” to her that Benedict’s queerness remain a key part of his character, including after he began to pursue a romantic relationship with a woman.

“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,” Jess told Variety last year.

“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.”

Benedict is not the only queer character in the world of Bridgerton.

Jess has previously said that Hannah Dodd’s Francesca will enter a same-sex relationship in a future season.

At the end of Bridgerton’s third outing, Francesca is introduced to her husband John’s female cousin, Michaeala Stirling.

Fans of Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton book series will know that in the novels, this character is written as a man called Michael, with whom Francesca finds love after John suddenly dies.

However, he has been gender-swapped for the TV adaptation, with Michaela being played by Masali Baduza.

All four seasons of Bridgerton are available to watch on Bridgerton now.




Bridgerton’s Steamy Bathtub Scene Was A Lot Less Sexy To Shoot Than It Was To Watch
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Bridgerton’s Steamy Bathtub Scene Was A Lot Less Sexy To Shoot Than It Was To Watch


Yerin Ha has explained why one of fans’ most-anticipated scenes in Bridgerton’s fourth season wasn’t nearly as sexy to film as it was to watch.

The moment in question sees Yerin’s character, Sophie, enjoying a steamy encounter with Benedict, played by Luke Thompson, in a bathtub.

However when it came to filming this sequence, it turns out that languishing in warm water for hours on end to achieve the perfect sex scene comes with occupational hazards.

“Basically I put baby powder all on me because I was told it would help dry my skin to put the intimacy wear on with the tape,” Yerin recently told Capital Breakfast.

“And then basically the next day after the bathtub, I got hives all over my body, and I got folliculitis, so I needed steroid cream.”

She joked: “But I blame myself, because I think it was a combination of baby powder and the bath water. So it’s me, I’m a sensitive gal!”

Benedict chipped in to reveal that the scene took seven whole hours to film. Let it never be said that actors don’t suffer for their art…

Bridgerton’s Steamy Bathtub Scene Was A Lot Less Sexy To Shoot Than It Was To Watch
Luke Thompson and Yerin Ha having a laugh at a Bridgerton season four launch event

The bathtub scene in question was included in the second batch of episodes for Bridgerton season four, which arrived on Netflix earlier this week to mixed reviews from the critics.

Part two follows the developing romance between second eldest Bridgerton son Benedict and maid Sophie, after a complicated road including a masquerade ball, a wicked stepmother, and an absolute misfire when Benedict asked Sophie to be his mistress during a pivotal cliffhanger.

While that’s it for season four, there are at least a couple more series of Bridgerton in the pipeline, as we wait to see which of the remaining siblings’ love story is next.

Showrunner Jess Brownell previously teased who will step up to the plate in seasons five and six of the Netflix Regency drama, leaving fans to guess between Eloise and Francesca, played by Claudia Jessie and Hannah Dodd, respectively.

Bridgerton season four is streaming on Netflix now.




‘Bridgerton’ Season 4 Part 2 has a unique problem: Too many Bridgertons
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‘Bridgerton’ Season 4 Part 2 has a unique problem: Too many Bridgertons


When Bridgerton hit Netflix in 2020, the dreamy adaptation of Julia Quinn’s steamy romance novels about a Regency family of eight gorgeous siblings looking for true love initially treated lead couple Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) and the Duke of Hastings (Regé-Jean Page) as its objects of obsession. Daphne’s seven other siblings were there, sure, but the show followed the sizzle of her early flirtations with the dashing Duke, the fun of their fake romance, the thrill of them admitting their true love, and their success overcoming their marriage’s first terrible obstacle. Subsequent seasons also successfully balanced Bridgerton‘s massive ensemble cast of characters while letting the new lead romance take center stage. That is, until Bridgerton Season 4.

Bridgerton Season 4 tells the story of how flighty and free-spirited second son Benedict (Luke Thompson) meets the love of his life first as a mysterious masked lady at a ball and then, in her true form, as the charming and clever ladies maid Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha). It’s “Cinderella” set in Bridgerton, finally opening up our understanding of the ton to include tetchy class politics. Bridgerton Season 4 is also the first time the series feels like it might have a “Bridgerton” problem.

There are so many characters vying for attention in Bridgerton Season 4 Part 2 that I sometimes felt like I was watching a Regency romance version of Adult Swim’s landmark 2014 sketch “Too Many Cooks.” Instead of Smarf and friends, though, Bridgerton Season 4 Part 2 has too many Bridgertons and not enough Benedict and Sophie.

Benedict (Luke Thompson) leaning in to kiss Sophie (Yerin Ha) in 'Bridgerton' Season 4 Part 2
Photo: Netflix

Bridgerton Season 4 Part 2 picks up where Part 1 left off, with Sophie reeling from Benedict’s indecent (though period appropriate) proposal for her to be his mistress. In Benedict’s eyes, this is the only option available to them as a gentleman cannot marry a maid nor the illegitimate child of a nobleman. In Sophie’s eyes, being his mistress robs her of her virtue, ensuring she can never marry anybody else if Benedict later discards her, while setting her own potential children up to know the same hell she has endured being a bastard. Meanwhile, Sophie’s vile stepmother, Lady Araminta Gun (Katie Leung), has moved next door to Bridgerton House, ensuring a confrontation.

In Quinn’s novel, this is drama enough for the story, but Bridgerton continues to follow Lady Violet’s (Ruth Gemmell) romance with Lord Anderson (Daniel Francis), Lady Danbury’s (Adjoa Andoh) struggle to endear her chosen replacement, Mrs. Mondrich (Emma Naomi), to Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel), and Penelope’s (Nicola Coughlan) stress trying to be Lady Whistledon and Mrs. Bridgerton. Oh, and Kate (Simone Ashley) and Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) finally return from India with their new baby boy, little Bridgertons Hyacinth (Florence Hunt) and Gregory (Will Tilston) are tiptoeing into society with a cute recital, and Francesca (Hannah Dodd) is trying to understand why her husband’s sultry cousin Michaela Stirling (Masali Baduza) is forcing such a wedge between her and Lord Kilmartin (Victor Alli).

Michaela (Masali Baduza) and Francesca (Hannah Dodd) looking at each other in 'Bridgerton' Season 4 Part 2
Photo: Netflix

If this sounds like a lot — on top of maid wars, the return of a beloved side character, and Eloise (Claudia Jessie) experiencing her first bout of growth in ages — it is. All of this together is enough to overshadow the season’s central romance. However, halfway through Bridgerton Season 4 Part 2, something major happens that is yanked straight from author Julia Quinn’s books, only it’s from a wholly different love story. The implications of this event, along with its profound ripple effects, don’t just touch Sophie and Benedict’s story, but everyone’s.

After having only seen the first part of Bridgerton Season 4, I was utterly charmed by new leads Luke Thompson and Yerin Ha’s chemistry, but I was already concerned the show was trying to juggle too much material. Now, those fears have been realized, resulting in a season of television that feels more cozy family ensemble drama than top tier TV romance. The irony is that Bridgerton Season 4 saves its most passionate love scenes for Part 2. Benedict and Sophie’s sex scenes don’t just sweep the audience away, but illustrate in real time how the power imbalance in their romance adjusts and corrects.

When we first met the Bridgertons all the way back in Season 1, we were told that they were a “shockingly prolific family,” but the clan has exponentially grown into the point of barely controlled chaos. Now the Featheringtons are all legally Bridgertons, Lady Danbury’s Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story-era affair with Lady Violet’s father makes her their spiritual grandmother, and the Mondrichs are essentially acting as cousins. Everyone is a Bridgerton!!!

All of these characters are charming and all of these characters have their own stories to tell. However, you can’t really explore the sacred bond of a love story unless you’re willing to show how it feels when two people connect and the rest of the world — the overpopulated, overstimulating, overstuffed world — falls away.

Bridgerton Season 4 Part 2 is streaming now on Netflix.