Every season of the book-to-screen adaptation Bridgerton has been a bit of a gem, but heading into Season 4, I honestly thought the best was long behind us. I’m speaking of course of Season 1, when Regé-Jean Paige and Phoebe Dynevor gratified us with some lush and hedonistic outdoor love-making, a love affair that was so steamy his family threatened peach emojis. So, imagine my surprise when I started loving the much more demure Season 4 even more. Yet, author Julia Quinn firmly believes there’s a reason for it.
I’ve found two things to be quite startling in Season 4 of Bridgerton so far. The show has gotten quite a bit less rambunctious in the bedroom department since its early days, and I thought the new, more tasteful romance would not really fit Benedict’s story. Then there’s the fact Season 4 is basically a retelling of Cinderella, which should honestly feel passé. It doesn’t.
In fact, every minute of intense yearning, for a different, hopeful future, and for both Benedict and Sophie finding the courage to go forth and build a life better than the one they are currently stuck in has felt intense and palpable. The tension is real, and that moment on the stairwell in Episode 4 was long-awaited, yet it was earned by both actors. It may have been the "easiest adaptation" for Netflix, but I think the story has been the most compelling so far. Plus, it helps that other storylines, including Violet's, have been encouraging fans to tune in this season.
Turns out, Quinn would agree. The plot may be more well-tread than some of the other books the show is based on, but she says it’s exactly the nuances of this particular plot that make the story so compelling. She told People:
I think it has the most cinematic story. It's a little more plot driven, in some ways, than the other ones, which adapts a little bit more closely in a natural manner.
It’s hard to believe the writer wrote An Offer From A Gentleman 25 years ago. The way it’s been woven on the small screen makes it feel plucky and modern despite its period setting. I’m just so invested in the characters this season, much more so than I’ve been since Season 1. Quinn also says she knows there have been some complaints about the Cinderella nods, but says that was by design, and that the book even had a shoe on the cover all the way back in 2001 (though the shoes take backseat to a glove in Bridgerton.)
I mean, there's no hiding it. There was a shoe on the original cover. It was always meant to be an homage to Cinderella. I wasn't trying to hide anything.
Outside of TV and movie writing, in my personal life I’m a huge proponent of bodice rippers, and Julia Quinn is right up there with Lisa Kleypas when it comes to compelling storytelling. It may be genre fiction, but the Bridgerton books (and their companions the Smythe-Smith quartet) are really quite good. We still have a couple of weeks before Bridgerton Season 4, Part 2 returns on the 2026 Netflix schedule, so if you haven’t picked up a copy of An Offer From A Gentleman yet, I would highly recommend it.
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