Image Credit: Pinterest
Bridgerton's official social media accounts, to no-one's surprise, have announced Benedict as the season 4 lead. The Netflix and Bridgerton promotion teams are obviously looking to try new things with promotion as the season 4 announcement was a departure from the way they announced season 2 and season 3. Season 2's lead was announced via a short post on their social media sites confirming that the show was returning for a second season and that it would be focusing on Anthony. Season 3's female lead announced her season live at the FYC event for season 2 during the promotional tour of the US being done by Simone Ashley, and this was followed up with an announcement on their social media pages. Whilst season 2's announcement had no mention, or hint, of the female protagonist season 3's announcement focused more on the non-Bridgerton half of the pairing as opposed to the Bridgerton. Season 3's announcement was a short video which featured scenes of Benedict from previous seasons and hinting at the Masquerade Ball, but again no mention of the female protagonist. We note that in the video Luke Thompson is holding a script for Bridgerton, but it is unclear if it is a S4 script or a S3 script.
Video Credit: Netflix
So with the announcement that season 4 is focussing on Benedict, again the fandom has turned to asking who will play Sophie in the show, she is one of the most anticipated Bridgerton spouses, with Michael (now known to be Michaela) and Kate being the other two spouses that have been highly anticipated in the fandom. It is believed that Sophie will be an actress of East Asian heritage, with the leak of a casting call widely believed to be Sophie, specifying an East Asian actress. Other rumours suggest that Sophie will not be of mixed race either. Many fans are of the certainty that she will be a Chinese actress, or a British actress of Chinese descent, which won't seem to anachronistic for the Bridgerton time period, however, there is a possibility she could be Japanese, or Korean as well, assuming that the casting is being specific and not using East Asia as a catch all term for East Asia and Southeast Asia. In historical terms China makes the most sense for the ethnicity due to the long history of trade between the UK and China - a relationship that has been present longer than the relationship between the UK and India.
However, is it possible that the actress playing Sophie could be Japanese? On the day of the season 4 announcement the make up designer, Erika Okvist, shared a video showing a young women having her hair tied in a traditional Japanese style. Was this video being shared a coincidence or a hint towards Sophie? Hopefully we will find out before 2026!
Image Credit: Screenshot from Erika Okvist Instagram
What we do know from varying social media posts this week is that costume fittings have begun for Luke Thompson, which could indicate that the part of Sophie has been cast. If Sophie has already been cast is there a possibility she will be announced during August, or will the production try to hold off announcing her as long as possible? One Reddit user has suggested that it would be a good marketing strategy to hide Sophie's actress until the season is released having her revealed to the viewers as she is revealed to Benedict. This is a strategy that could have worked if Sophie had been introduced in S3, however, as she will be starting the show as the lead this is not the best strategy for the production, especially after the way season 3 was promoted with two white leads. The optics would not be great for Bridgerton or Netflix to keep a woman of colour lead hidden for 2 years and during initial promotion, especially if they use a white woman in the initial promotion after the criticism of how the leads of season 2 were promoted compared to the season 3 leads.
Bridgerton has a perception problem when it comes to their treatment of woman of colour, especially a woman of colour lead who is neither mixed nor light skinned. If they were to take the route of keeping the actress playing Sophie secret for 2 years, and not promote her at all, and perhaps relying on the season 3 leads to do the initial season 4 promotion (as some fans have suggested), it will increase the negative perception of Bridgerton and Netflix that I have discussed previously. I hope that when the promotion period comes that the season 4 leads get a world wide tour and all the magazine covers and interviews they deserve to have as leads, just as the season 3 leads did.
Filming is expected to begin in September, finishing in April 2025, and from previous seasons of filming, the Bridgerton detectives will be out in force to see if they can make any guesses to the storyline from the filming leaks.
The only thing I have left to say regarding the announcement is - Finally! Benedict's season is overdue, and I can't wait to see him shine as the lead.
