'Bridgerton' Showrunner Talks Season 4's 'Juicy Conflict,' Says It Was 'Easiest Book to Adapt'

Bridgerton season four is finally almost here!

Ahead of the part one January release date, showrunner Jess Brownell is teasing the upcoming episodes and what we can expect from the latest book to screen adaptation.

Keep reading to find out more…

“We start with a character trope that we’ve seen a million times before, which is a maid who falls for someone above her station,” Jess told EW in a recent interview. “But I think a lot of times in these classic Cinderella-like stories, Cinderella is a bit of a damsel in distress. And, in the case of Sophie Baek, she is no such thing. We get to watch a very headstrong young woman try to decide her fate for herself and pick up the courage to believe in and dream for a life greater than the one she currently has.”

The new season is based on Julia Quinn‘s third Bridgerton novel, “An Offer From a Gentleman,” about Benedict (Luke Thompson) and Sophie’s (Yerin Ha) love story, and Jess said it was “the easiest book to adapt” so far.

“It lent itself really closely to television structure for a love story,” the writer and producer said. “There are just a lot of rich set pieces that gave us juicy conflict and high stakes. I think fans will be happy to see quite a few of the set pieces from the book in the show.”

“It’s a season where we try to make sure all of the siblings feel present in some way and present in the main love story as much as possible,” Jess teased. “Eloise [Claudia Jessie], for example, has a very tight relationship with Benedict and she will be involved in his search for the masked woman this year.”

This season will also see a different side to the show.

“We talked a lot about going downstairs and how that would affect the overall tone of the show and I think, actually, it seamlessly blends into the themes that we were trying to explore this season,” the showrunner shared. “Benedict very much lives in a fantasy world. Sophie very much lives in a harsher reality. The idea is that, for each of them, neither of those stations are where they need to live in order to find true love.”

If you missed it, find out when both parts of Bridgerton season four debut on Netflix.