Feb. 26, 2026, 3:23 p.m. ET
Spoiler alert! The following contains spoilers for the fourth season finale of Netflix’s “Bridgerton.”
Four Bridgertons down, four to go.
Netflix’s Shonda Rhimes-produce historical romance “Bridgerton” has delivered four seasons of love, string orchestra covers of pop songs and very frilly Regency-era dresses. Season 4, which debuted its second part on Thursday, Feb. 26, featured Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) falling for maid and illegitimate child of nobility Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha) over the course of eight very Cinderella-esque episodes. Now that he’s found true love, it’s time for one of his remaining siblings to take the reins of the show for the new season.
Netflix has officially renewed “Bridgerton” for a fifth and sixth season so far, so we know we will get stories from at least two more of the fertile family’s brood of eight (Julia Quinn’s eight-book series on which the show is based focused on one sibling per novel). But who will be the star? And what rom-com obstacles will they have to fight through to make it to the altar? And who is taking over for gossipmonger Lady Whistledown now that Penelope (Nicola Coughlin) has laid down her pen?
Here’s everything we know about the forthcoming fifth season of “Bridgerton,” if the fourth season finale left you hungry for more.
‘Bridgerton’ Season 5 can only be about Eloise or Francesca
Of the four Bridgerton children left unwed at the end of Season 4, only curmudgeonly Eloise (Claudia Jessie) and quiet Francesca (Hannah Dodd) are full-grown adults, and thus ready to look for a match in the marriage mart. It’s a toss up for fans whose story will take center stage now that Benedict is stepping off.
If the show goes in book series order, its Eloise’s turn next. Her novel, titled “To Sir Phillip, With Love,” comes fifth in line, with the spinster Eloise falling for the titular ill-mannered Sir Phillip.
But the TV show has bucked book order before, putting Colin (Luke Newton) and Penelope’s story ahead of Benedict and Sophie’s. So instead, the series could skip ahead to Francesca’s novel, “When He Was Wicked.”
Why Francesca is the most likely candidate for the next ‘Bridgerton’ star in Season 5
For “Bridgerton” fans who have never read the books, the fact that withdrawn piano talent Francesca met and married a man in a subplot in Season 3, while brother Colin took the spotlight, might make it seem like her story was done without her getting a season of her own. But now, we all know better.
In the second part of Season 4, Francesca has finally found a happy place in her new marriage to Lord John Stirling (Victor Alli), after worries about conception and sexual intimacy concerned her in the first half of the season. She particularly bonded with John’s cousin Michaela (Masali Baduza). But then in a cruel twist of fate, John died suddenly (from some kind of brain aneurysm, it seems), leaving Francesca a young widow unsure of what her life will hold.
This all happens in her book, except for one major change: It’s John’s cousin Michael, not Michaela. When Michaela was introduced at the end of Season 3, fans realized the show would have its first real queer storyline whenever Francesca got her season. Considering John dies in Season 4 and Francesca and Michaela’s friendship is left in an uncertain state in the season finale, odds seem good that they could have their moment in Season 5.
The gender-swap change has been blessed by author Quinn. “I’m confident now that when Francesca has her Bridgerton season, it will be the most emotional and heart-wrenching story of the show, just like ‘When He Was Wicked’ has always been the true tear-jerker of the ‘Bridgerton’ book series,” Quinn wrote on Facebook shortly after Season 3 of the show debuted. “Honestly, it may pack even more of a punch, since John is getting a lot more time on the screen than he ever did on the page, and I think it’s fair to say we’ve all fallen a little bit in love with him.”
(USA TODAY has reached out to Netflix to ask who will be the next “Bridgerton” star.)
Who is the next Lady Whistedown on ‘Bridgerton’?
One of the big stories in Season 4 was Penelope’s dissatisfaction with her role as gossip columnist “Lady Whistledown,” an anonymous position she held until she outed herself in Season 3. Trying to gather gossip under her own byline didn’t work as well, and the new mom was also started to have ethical qualms about her work of ruining the reputations of women and men in the ‘ton. With the Queen’s permission, she officially laid down her pen at the end of Season 4.
But then, who wrote the new edition of “Whistledown” that came out in the season finale? Someone else has decided to peddle gossip, and the nobility is ready and willing to eat it all up. Fans have speculated it could be anyone from Eloise to new lady-in-waiting Alice Mondrich (Emma Naomi), who has a bone to pick with the discriminatory upper classes after she and her husband surprisingly entered their ranks.
When will Season 5 of ‘Bridgerton’ premiere?
Although Netflix has officially announced a fifth season will come, the streamer has not given fans any specifics yet. The show has released a season every two years or so since it debuted in 2020, so fans can probably expect to see more romance in late 2027 or early 2028.
Contributing: Saman Shafiq, USA TODAY