'Bridgerton' Season 4 Sneak Peek Goes Behind the Scenes of a Masquerade

On Bridgerton's Season of Love teaser for Season 4 + some recommendations

Mar 02, 2025

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Dearest Gentle Readers,

As Queen Charlotte says in the latest teaser, “Well, we begin another season.”

I’m still dwelling on the details about Bridgerton Season 4. Can you blame me?

To be more specific, this time, I’m dwelling on the details of the Bridgerton Season 4 sneak peek released at its Season of Love virtual event on Valentine’s Day. I know I only wrote about the event last week, but that post was all about the photos. This one is all about that magical one-minute teaser.

It’s still unclear when Bridgerton will return to the small screen with new episodes. I have my wish for when I hope Season 4 will drop, but Netflix can crush those with a single social media post announcing the alternative.

So, instead of wishing for the unknown, I want to take the time to celebrate what is known. Right now, I know that Bridgerton Season 4 is already bringing me a whole lot of joy. Joy can be hard to come by, takes many forms, and looks different to everyone. Most days, my first bout of joy comes from my morning coffee.

But I also find consistent happiness in storytelling and storytellers. I always have, ever since I was young enough to rent the maximum number of books from the library. I have sensory memories of carrying that overflowing basket of books.

So when I watched the Season of Love event and heard Yerin Ha say this in response to what she hopes the audience will take from Season 4:

“I think they’d just feel a sense of hope. Especially now, I think that there is a lot of, like, division, and I just hope that this story just proves that, you know, no matter what race or class or religion or whatever it is, you know, you see the person for who they are and that, you know, love can combine us together and unify us.”

And Luke Thompson later said this about why he loves the show:

“I think what I love about Bridgerton is that it is entirely on its own terms. As in, it is just this thing that everyone can sort of get into, but it’s on its own terms. It’s just flawless. It’s perfect. It’s just absolutely that. It sort of can’t really be compared to anything else. It makes it very unique.”

I knew I wanted to write about the hope and uniqueness of Benedict and Sophie’s romance and how the maquerade-centric behind-the-scenes teaser captures all of that.

Like I’ve written before, I’m entirely biased. Benedict has been my favorite Bridgerton brother from the beginning. From the second I learned that it was a Cinderella retelling, Julia Quinn’s An Offer from a Gentleman became my favorite book of the series before I ever read it. When I finally did, I became obsessed with Benedict and Sophie Beckett (Now Baek as Yerin Ha brings the heroine to life) and their love story. Sophie instantly felt like a multi-dimensional character that defied the mold of “only the love interest” for the next Bridgerton sibling.

Needless to say, when Golda Rosheuvel — Queen Charlotte herself — ended the Season of Love event by throwing the panel to the sneak peek, I gasped.

I never anticipated that the event would lead to actual footage — albeit mostly behind-the-scenes — from Bridgerton Season 4. I had hopes for photos and maybe, just maybe episode titles. I was excited to listen to Rosheuvel, Hugh Sachs, season leads Luke Thompson and Yerin Ha, and showrunner Jess Brownell chat.

I was more than pleased to hear Thompson describe Season 4 as “a whole symphony” for Benedict and Ha discuss her approach to a character as complex as Sophie. I was eager to hear Brownell discuss devices like the Cinderella element and Bridgerton’s world expanding by going downstairs. I’m also still stuck on the now-infamous kite scene, which isn’t in the book but imperative to the show.

So, this sneak peek absolutely astonished me in the best way. It alone swept me away, and I can’t imagine what experiencing it all after the final edit will be like.

Until then, I have to appreciate the edit of this teaser — it’s energetic and inviting. It feels like a new era of Bridgerton, and it all starts with the masquerade ball that will be a “a very large chunk” of the first episode. There’s no wonder why!

Of course, it is a large part of the beginning of An Offer from a Gentleman. But this sneak peek shows how much energy, love, time, and hard work went into marrying the storybook fairy dust with the realism of the world of Bridgerton.

None of the B-roll footage in this sneak peek is a waste of space — it’s all riveting. From familiar sets and the ballroom dressed for the masquerade to a staircase and all of its symbolism, it’s wall-to-wall with immersive extravagance.

It’s so jaw-droppingly enchanting that I had to rewatch it and pause it every second just to admire the details in costumes. (Violet’s masquerade costume! Eloise is dressed as Joan of Arc in the background, as in the book! Francesca’s mask because she and John are at the masquerade! Rosamund as Marie Antoinette, like in the book! Pirate Penelope to rival Pirate Colin from Season 3).

Everything feels intricate yet larger-than-life, and that alone is so magical to me.

I love seeing the work that goes into creating this show. I love seeing Tom Verica behind the camera and the actors blocking a scene and the make-up team doing touch-ups. It never ruins the illusion for me. It gives me a deeper appreciation of every aspect of Bridgerton’s storytelling before it’s on TV.

Even the edit of this video tells a story about Benedict and Sophie. She is so taken with everything around them on that (presumably) gazebo. There’s a twinkle in Ha’s eyes that translates to hope in Sophie’s eyes. I love that Benedict only has eyes for her. The camera tracks that by staying on Sophie as she takes everything in on the “spectacular night” and only pulling focus to Benedict when he says, “Do not worry. I will not tell my mother.” It’s a wonderful example of their dynamic.

Between those two clips, the Bridgerton teaser frames Benedict and Sophie’s dance with such intimacy and warmth. It lands as a private, extraordinary moment. As a fan of the book, it’s a bit surreal to see that scene come to life. It gave me butterflies when I saw it for the first time on Valentine’s Day.

Meanwhile, the first footage of My Cottage made my jaw drop in an entirely different way. While I always hoped the masquerade ball was somewhere in Bridgerton’s future, I thought My Cottage could go by the wayside. I’m so relieved that it hasn’t because, again, every detail looks incredible and lived-in.

I sound like a broken record, but seeing these sets and sequences leap off the page and watching Bridgerton put its unique spin on them is exciting. It’s exciting to see the show’s iterations of the characters mold them into versions that work for them. It’s exciting to see everyone’s hard work and passion in every frame this Bridgerton Season 4 sneak peek manages to fit into, really, less than one-minute.

Ending with Jonathan Bailey waving is just an extra dose of joy — Viscount and Viscountess Bridgerton will return for Season 4. Oh, it feels so good to be immersed in Bridgerton’s stories about dynamic characters in an expansive world with happy endings again. Like Adjoa Andoh says at the very end, “Welcome back.”

♡ Bookmarked ♡

Mia Brabham Nolan’s Why Are People So Obsessed With Sophie Baek? A Deep Dive Into the Literary History of the Soon-to-Be Season 4 ‘Bridgerton’ Lead for Shondaland — I keep rereading it

If you’ll indulge me, the rest of the bookmarked posts are from my newsletter. I wanted to share them again, just in case anyone is interested in reading them.