Everyone loves a good love story, right? Well, it’s certainly something the team at Shondaland recognizes, if their wildly popular regency romance series Bridgerton is any indication.
The hit Netflix show, based on the novels of the same name by Julia Quinn, is in the midst of filming its fourth season and will be hosting an exclusive fan event this upcoming Valentine’s Day (boasting the tagline “Season of Love”). The live Q&A session, intended to promote the eventual fourth season, will feature season 4 leads Yerin Ha (Sophie Baek, updated from "Beckett" in Quinn's book to reflect Ha's Korean heritage) and Luke Thompson (Benedict Bridgerton), alongside showrunner Jess Brownell.
Bridgerton gained worldwide attention when it first premiered on Christmas Day in 2020, with a season starring Phoebe Dynevor (Daphne Bridgerton) and Regé-Jean Page (Simon Basset). In the years since, the show has remained one of Netflix’s most-viewed series, likely in part due to its constantly shifting focus — each season showcases a new Bridgerton sibling — while still remaining committed to telling a classic love story each time.
An essential component of any great romance tale is the happily ever after, and one of the best ways to represent this is with a wedding. In Quinn’s third Bridgerton novel, An Offer from a Gentleman, Benedict and Sophie (dubbed “Benophie”) end the book (spoiler!) newly engaged, but there’s no wedding to read about — the epilogue jumps forward several years past the unseen nuptials. When their story gets adapted for Bridgerton’s fourth season, I’d love for their wedding to actually take place on-screen.
In the so far four seasons of television from the Bridgerton universe (this includes 2023’s spinoff series, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story), there have been six on-screen weddings (including one failed ceremony), but, notably, the season 2 leads (Simone Ashley’s Kate Sharma and Jonathan Bailey’s Anthony Bridgerton) are not included in that list. Anthony almost marries Kate’s sister, Edwina (Charithra Chandran), in a pivotal mid-season moment, but fans never get to witness the endgame couple tie the knot themselves.
To rub salt in the wound, when Kate and Anthony (dubbed “Kanthony”) briefly return in season 3, their off-screen ceremony receives a few minor mentions. First, Anthony reassures his inebriated brother Colin (Luke Newton) the night before he’s set to marry Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) that he, too, indulged himself prior to his second wedding, and it was “deeply celebratory.” Then, when the ceremony is about to begin, Anthony tells Kate, “I love weddings,” to which Kate responds, “Ours was perfect.”
As any Kanthony fan will tell you, these brief acknowledgements were wildly insufficient — we’d much rather have seen this “perfect” wedding, thank you very much — so I’m here to say that I’d hate for Benedict and Sophie to suffer the same fate. They deserve to get married on-screen, and we deserve to see it.
Part of why I’m so determined to have a Benophie wedding in season 4 is the novelty factor — when it comes down to it, this would be a chance for the show to do something different with its latest love story.
Of the aforementioned six weddings that have been shown in the world of Bridgerton, not a single one of them has been fully happy (aside from the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it wedding of side characters Phillipa Featherington and Albion Finch in early season 2). Some weddings have come close, but in my opinion, Bridgerton is sorely missing a truly joyous affair, and a Benophie wedding is the ideal opportunity to rectify this.
NOTE: SOME BOOK SPOILERS AHEAD FOR AN OFFER FROM A GENTLEMAN, ROMANCING MISTER BRIDGERTON, AND TO SIR PHILLIP, WITH LOVE.
In order to ensure that a wedding ceremony in a show like Bridgerton is free of angst and melodrama, it has to come at the end of the story, once all the romantic tension has been resolved. This fits with Benophie’s story, since, unlike some of the other couples in Quinn’s series, they never experience any sort of third-act break-up. As per An Offer from a Gentleman, Benedict and Sophie only get together for real at the very end of the book, so it would be relatively straightforward to translate this same structure to their season 4 romance and end the season with a happy wedding.
As well, for a nice change of scenery, the show could even depict Benophie getting married out in the country, instead of in London, where the majority of Bridgerton has taken place thus far. In their book, Sophie, who is a nobleman’s bastard-turned-servant, gets to know Benedict while he’s recovering from illness at his countryside residence, My Cottage. This home, where they go on to raise a family together outside of society, would be the perfect place for a sweet, intimate, stress-free ceremony.
The other reason I’m rooting for a Benophie wedding is because of the storytelling potential it affords. Now, I know I just finished explaining why this wedding should be smooth sailing for the lead couple, but that rationale doesn’t necessarily have to apply to the rest of the family — namely, Benedict’s favorite sister, Eloise (Claudia Jessie).
At the time of writing, Bridgerton is yet to be renewed past its fourth season, but it is largely speculated that the confirmation of additional seasons is not a matter of if, but when. Eloise, whose book, To Sir Phillip, With Love, is the fifth of eight in Quinn’s series, is the logical choice to lead season 5 (her endgame love interest, Sir Phillip Crane, played by Chris Fulton, already cameoed in seasons 1 and 2).
There is technically a chance that the rumored fifth season will go against book order and instead spotlight Francesca Bridgerton (Hannah Dodd) and Michaela Stirling (Masali Baduza), from Quinn’s sixth book, When He Was Wicked (in the show, Baduza plays a gender-bent version of the book’s male lead, Michael). It wouldn’t be the first time the show strayed from book order — Penelope and Colin’s love story, Romancing Mister Bridgerton, is actually the fourth book in the series, despite being the focus of season 3 of Bridgerton. However, there are some compelling narrative reasons why Eloise and Phillip are the more suitable season 5 focus, the main one being that Eloise’s love story should immediately follow Benedict’s (and, without getting into spoilers, Francesca’s story takes more time).
Throughout Bridgerton, Eloise and Benedict are shown to possess an especially enduring sibling bond (their nighttime confessionals on the backyard swings have been a particular fan-favorite staple of the first three seasons). This is somewhat of an adjustment from the books, in which Eloise is arguably closer to Colin, but it fits the world of the show, where her and Benedict’s shared feelings of being “outsiders” are more heavily emphasized. More so than any other character, Eloise is also vehemently against the notion of marriage, a belief that gets challenged when her best friend, Penelope, marries Colin in season 3.
In Romancing Mister Bridgerton, Eloise actually ends up leaving Penelope and Colin’s wedding early to run off to meet Phillip at Romney Hall, his countryside estate (it’s revealed in her book that she’s been exchanging letters with a man she’s never actually met). In Bridgerton season 3, no such hasty departure occurs, although Eloise does end the season en route to Scotland with Francesca, Michaela, and John Stirling (Victor Alli).
Contributing to Eloise’s desire to run away is Phillip’s offer of his hand in marriage, which Eloise is inclined to accept upon feeling left behind by her best friend and her closest brother (Eloise is also several years older than her show counterpart at this point). In the show, a clever way to adapt this — and push these feelings of Eloise’s even further — would be to have the marriage of Benedict and Sophie serve as the “straw that breaks the camel’s back,” so to speak. In the show, Eloise will be the final remaining unmarried adult sibling once Benedict ties the knot with Sophie, so the pressure to move out of her mother’s house will already be present.
Additionally, it’s expected that Eloise will form a connection with Sophie when the latter works as her lady’s maid later in the story, as per the book plot. Having not only her best friend already married, but now her final remaining adult sibling — and the one she’s closest with — also get married, and to the person she has developed a friendship of her own with, will only add to Eloise’s feelings of abandonment and stagnancy.
Therefore, given the decision to switch the order of Benedict’s and Colin’s stories, as well as the closer on-screen relationship between Eloise and Benedict, plus the increasing pressure Eloise will likely feel at this point in the narrative, it makes complete sense for the key inciting incident of an Eloise-focused season 5 to take place at Benedict and Sophie’s wedding, out in the country, at the very end of season 4.
This would not only conveniently bring Eloise in closer proximity to Romney Hall, where the bulk of her love story takes place, but would also be exactly the type of background cliffhanger and subsequent season teaser the show has utilized in the past. At the end of season 1, after having his heart broken by his mistress, Siena (Sabrina Bartlett), Anthony proclaims that his pursuit of a viscountess will not include love. “Removing it from all romantic relations shall make me all the better for it," he informs Simon and Daphne. Of course, the arrival of Kate in season 2 subsequently foils this plan, to great romantic (and dramatic) effect.
In the season 2 finale, Colin loudly declares to a group of lords that he “would never dream of courting Penelope Featherington, not in [their] wildest fantasies,” a sentiment that Penelope unfortunately overhears. Just like his older brother, Colin’s words come back to haunt him in season 3, when he ends up wanting nothing more than to be with the very girl he publicly dismissed a year prior.
In both of these instances, the hint of a future major plot line for a current supporting character doesn’t at all detract from the main couple’s romantic resolution. By extension, it’s safe to assume that a final shot of Eloise sneaking away from Benophie’s wedding to tee up her storyline with Phillip wouldn’t interfere with the happy celebration I’m envisioning for the end of season 4. If anything, it would help clarify that she is, in fact, the next season’s lead. (By comparison, Benedict wasn't officially confirmed as the season 4 lead until a month or so after season 3 Part 2 aired in June of 2024, and I’d personally love to avoid a similar period of unnecessary speculation once season 4 releases.)
Finally, given that Eloise is likely going to be making her return from Scotland at the start of season 4 (in the season 3 finale, she promises Benedict she’ll come back in time for their mother’s masquerade ball the following year), what better way for the season finale to mirror the season premiere than to end on Eloise’s unexpected departure?
Long story short, a happy Benophie wedding would be the perfect way to close out season 4, while also expertly setting up Eloise for season 5.
Make it happen, Shondaland!
Bridgerton seasons 1-3 are currently streaming exclusively on Netflix.