Earlier this year, Netflix announced that Thompson’s character Benedict Bridgerton would be taking centre stage for series four. Each series of Bridgerton follows the life and love affairs of one Bridgerton sibling, with the last series focusing on Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton, The Lodge) and his relationship with longtime friend Penelope Featherington (Nicola Couglan, Derry Girls).

The free-spirited brother, Benedict, has been entrenched in the art world, exploring psychedelics and other people’s wives for the first three series. When we last saw Benedict, he had just begun discovering his sexuality with Lady Tilly Arnold (Hannah New, Black Sails) and her friend Paul Suarez (Lucas Aurelio, The Pretenders).

Bridgerton follows Julia Quinn’s series of novels of the same name, with Benedict starring in the third, An Offer from a Gentleman. The plot follows a ‘Cinderella story’, as a masquerade ball leads Benedict to look at one of the Bridgerton housemaids in a different light. Yerin Ha (Bad Behaviour) will join series four as the female lead, Benedict’s love interest Sophie.

In this official announcement from Netflix, Thompson and Ha sit down with Julia Quinn’s An Offer from a Gentleman, reading an invitation to the much-anticipated masquerade ball. At the end of the video, Ha says “you know what this means, don’t you?”, with Thompson responding, “we have a ball to get ready for.”

Netflix showrunner Jess Brownell has previously stated that the fourth series Bridgerton is looking at a 2026 release date.