It's been six years since the third Bridget Jones movie came out, with Renée Zellweger starring as the titular character in Bridget Jones's Baby.
And now fans of the films are losing it as it's been reported a fourth instalment is in the works.
Talks are 'secretly' being had about the film, according to The Sun, with Zellweger, 53, reportedly on board to return once again as the loveable character.
And while we now couldn't imagine anyone more perfect for the role of Bridget, it seems many people weren't initially pleased with the casting ahead of the original movie in 2001, which was based on Helen Fielding's 1996 novel, Bridget Jones's Diary.
Zellweger faced backlash when she got the part, due to her being Texan and not British - and even co-star Hugh Grant described her casting as a "stretch".
Speaking in the 2020 documentary, Being Bridget Jones, he said: "There was a whole scandal about why isn't this a British actress? I didn't know Renée Zellweger, and a Texan playing a British character, it did seem like a stretch."
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However, Grant did defend Zellweger at the time, saying after he'd met her that she was "bang-on" and that the film would be a "triumph".
The Hollywood star beat out other big names such as Helena Bonham Carter, Rachel Weisz and Emily Watson for the role of Bridget Jones.
Speaking to Yahoo in 2021, Zellweger shared how she was mostly unaware of the backlash at the time, as she was busy preparing for the film by working as a trainee in the publicity department of book publisher, Picador.
As part of this, she was filing clippings from the media that related to the authors the publisher represented - which included Helen Fielding.
She recalled how she would occasionally see something in this about herself - but it was just the tip of the iceberg.
"There were a couple things that I picked up closer to the time we filmed because part of my job or ‘work experience,’ as they said, at the publishers was to clip any clippings in the media that had to do with the authors that Picador-Macmillan represent," she said.
"So every now and then something would pop up and I would see ‘Cr*p American Comedian Playing English Icon,’ and I’d have to cut it out and go put it in the file."
"I thought it was just a tiny little thing. I didn’t realise just how widespread this controversy was. I mean, I understand it. I get it," she added.
And the other controversy that has surrounded the franchise has to do with Zellweger's weight gain for the part.
It's no secret that Bridget Jones is preoccupied with her body image and losing weight in both the book and film and in order to play the part, Zellweger put on weight.
Some reports claim she was following a 4,000-calorie diet while filming Bridget Jones's Diary and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004), gaining 30lb between the two films.
The star herself spoke to The New York Times in 2000 about the diet she followed to play Bridget.
She said: "I'd have an omelette with cheese and sauce for breakfast with a fatty yoghurt and then a fruit salad with a topping and juice and coffee and cream and a bagel with butter and a few hours later a chocolate shake with weight-gain powder in it."
Zellweger rushed to lose the weight when she was done with the first film but then had to put it all back on for the sequel, as there was an expectation for Bridget to look a certain way.
While filming The Edge of Reason in 2003, she spoke to Closer Magazine about gaining weight again for the role: "It's easier for me this time around because I know what I have to do and how to do it.
"It would be silly if Bridget was talking about her chubby thighs and they weren't chubby."
When the second movie wrapped, it's thought the star headed back to the gym to shed the extra two stone she had put on.
But all the weight fluctuation took its toll and Zellweger became scared of putting on too much weight too quickly after seeing the documentary Super Size Me, in which a man only eats McDonald's for a month to see how much weight he puts on.
In a throwback interview, she recalled: "I had a panic attack with all the specialists talking about how bad this is for you, long term, putting on that much weight in short periods of time. They’re all saying, ‘You must stop this now or you’re going to die’."
When Bridget Jones returned in the third film, Zellweger refused to be pressured into piling on the pounds for entertainment purposes.
The actress told Vogue that she had "put on a few pounds" but that she'd also "put on some breasts and a baby bump".
She added that she'd never "understood" why Bridget's weight matters so much as she's a "perfectly normal weight" and she called out the industry for it's double-standard.
"No male actor would get such scrutiny if he did the same thing for a role."
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