How will Bridgerton Season 4 shift gears from the previous chapters? Star reveals key details 

Netflix's highly anticipated Bridgerton Season 4 is shaking things up a bit in the Bridgerton and Featherington households.

The popular Regency-period romantic series will adapt Julia Quinn's novel An Offer from a Gentleman in the upcoming season, which will be released in 2026. The season is led by Luke Thompson's Benedict Bridgerton.

After his loathsome attitude towards relationships and marriages in the previous seasons, the young Bridgerton will lock eyes with Sophie Beckett (Yerin Ha) at a masquerade ball, which would be the beginning of their love story.

In addition to a wholesome fairytale-inspired love story, Bridgerton Season 4 will also feature many new exciting characters and will explore the lives of the Bridgertons' and Featheringtons' downstairs staff in the upcoming chapter.

More on this in our story.

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Bridgerton Season 4 to adopt a Downton Abbey plot model

While fans are excited to witness the Cindrella-inspired love story of the titular family’s second eldest son Luke, in Bridgerton Season 4, the show will also adopt a new storytelling model, inspired by the classic British historical drama series, Downton Abbey.

In an interview with Collider, actress Polly Walker, who plays Portia, Dowager Baroness Featherington in Bridgerton, teased this change in the upcoming chapter:

“I think this season will be — which we’ve just finished doing — I think it’s a very different tone. Sort of upstairs-downstairs, so you get to know some of the other, you know, the servants, the people who are standing at the door, witnessing it all. You get to hear their stories a bit more.”

While this upstairs-downstairs storytelling has been Downton Abbey's monopoly for a very long time, Bridgerton Season 4 is about to introduce the formula with a new perspective.

While all the previous three seasons have stayed loyal to the 'upstairs' — or, life of the elite Bridgertons and Featheringtons — the upcoming season will take a plunge into the lives of their loyal servants and footmen, as showrunner Jess Brownell revealed to Tudum:

"...We have these fantastic actors who have had smaller roles over the years. Mrs Wilson, footman John, Sophie Lamont who plays Celia and Lorraine Ashbourne who plays Mrs Varley in Featherington house.''

She added:

"We're getting a chance to go downstairs, meet new characters, see new sets and you really learn a lot about the upstairs characters from their downstairs characters. It's a good storytelling device for us, for sure."

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What can you expect from the 'upstairs-downstairs' storytelling in Bridgerton Season 4?

While the show has largely distanced itself from diving into the lives of the downstairs staff in the previous seasons, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story broke the norm and featured the heartwarming love story between the Queen and the King's respective footmen, Brimsley and Reynolds.

The first prominent queer romance of the Bridgerton world, Brimsley and Reynold's wholesome yet tragic love story became an instant hit, and likely led to the creator's decision to invest in more such tales.

This upstairs-downstairs storytelling will surely add an exciting layer to Bridgerton Season 4 and the stars of the show had already hyped this tonal shift in an interview with Tudum:

"I think that because of that whole upstairs-downstairs influence this season, I do think it's going to bring a new, fresh energy and vibe to the show." Yerin Ha said.

"It's wonderful to have characters that have been in the show for a long time, characters like Mrs Wilson or John the footman. Like to suddenly get to see a bit more of them...'' Luke Thompson added.

This Downton Abbey feel in Bridgerton Season 4 is surely an exciting turn for the show and fans are excited to dive again into the Regency period, this time with a new lens.

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