It’s time for Benedict to step into the spotlight, and that means we’re about to see a totally new take on a Bridgerton romance. Proving that point, Luke Thompson spoke about how his second-oldest brother differs from the other male leads of the hit romance series ahead of Season 4’s premiere on Netflix’s 2026 schedule.
Season 4 of Bridgerton will see Benedict Bridgerton step into the role of the show that’s previously been held by Regé-Jean Page’s Simon, Jonathan Bailey’s Anthony and Luke Newton’s Colin. Obviously, all these guys showed off a new side of being a Bridgerton lead, and now Thompson will do that. He told People specifically how Benedict’s challenge with love will be different from what the other men dealt with, explaining:
They all have their different blocks when it comes to love and falling in love and committing to someone, but I think for Benedict, it's all about that word commitment.
I totally see what Thompson is saying. For example, let's compare Benedict with Anthony. In Season 2, we saw the eldest Bridgerton brother struggle between his duty to marry and true love. He didn’t really believe he could find a love match, and then when he did, all sorts of complex feelings and challenges arose. His issue was never commitment; it had more to do with his duty and place in the family.
Plus, the two brothers couldn’t be more different in personality. While Anthony is very serious and strict, Benedict is quite free-spirited. So, obviously, the way they live their lives and go about love will be different.
Speaking further to that point, the Benedict actor pointed out another difference between him and the other male leads, noting that his character loves to give out tiny pieces of himself; however, he’s incapable of giving someone his full self. In Thompson’s words:
He is someone who is very comfortable giving everyone a little piece of himself — but no more and no further.
We’ve seen this in earlier seasons (which you can stream with a Netflix subscription), too. While Benedict has had many love interests, he’s never had a super deep relationship with any of them. He keeps things light and shallow, and that will turn out to be an issue he has to deal with this season, as Thompson said:
How can you really give someone [everything] and show everyone, you know, the sort of more complicated depths of yourself? So I think that's his journey, it's sort of like how to go deeper.
As a massive Benedict fan, I cannot wait to see this new side of him, and I’m looking forward to seeing how this differentiates his season of Bridgerton from others.
Speaking of differences, another very big one will come by way of the female lead of the show. Yerin Ha has joined to play Sophie in this book-to-screen adaptation of the third Bridgerton book, An Offer from a Gentleman, and she’s a maid. And in true Cinderella fashion, she meets Benedict at a ball without him realizing who she is. That sets the stage for an upstairs-downstairs kind of story that we’ve yet to explore on this series.
All of these differences from previous seasons are reasons why Season 4 of Bridgerton is one of my most anticipated romances of 2026. It will allow us to see Benedict grow and find a way to give someone more than just a tiny piece of him, and it will immerse us in a love story unlike any that’s come before it in this series.
So, gentle reader, make sure you are ready to tune in on January 29, because that’s when Part One of Benedict’s story will drop on Netflix.
