Bridget Jones 4: All About the Romantic Franchise's Next Installment

After eight years, Bridget Jones and Daniel Cleaver are coming back to the big screen.

Renee Zellweger and Hugh Grant are set to star in Bridget Jones 4, coming to theaters and streaming in 2025.

"I love being in her shoes," Zellweger said on Sirium XM's The Jess Cagle Show in 2022, when asked if she’d ever return for fourth turn as Bridget Jones. "I mean, it makes me giggle, you know, every day on set the choices that we get to make about just how awkward we can make her circumstances. It's just so much fun."

The film is the fourth in the Bridget Jones franchise, which are all based on Helen Fielding’s books and newspaper column about the lovably flawed and very human Jones navigating love and life.

The first, Bridget Jones’s Diary, was released in 2001 starring Zellweger, Grant and Colin Firth, and got Zellweger her first Oscar nomination. In the first Bridget Jones movie, Jones is torn between Daniel Cleaver, her dashing rogue of a boss, played by Grant, and the stable, slightly stuffy barrister Mark Darcy, played by Firth.

The second, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, was released in 2004. In the sequel, Jones breaks up with Darcy and goes to Thailand, only to briefly reconnect with Cleaver. The third, Bridget Jones’s Baby, was released in 2016. In that movie, Jones is pregnant and unsure if the father is on-again-off-again beau Darcy or newcomer Jack Qwant, played by Patrick Dempsey. Emma Thompson co-wrote the screenplay and plays Jones’ doctor in the film.

Returning to reprise her character for 2016’s Bridget Jones’s Baby is what brought Zellweger back from her acting hiatus. “I had a good five-year period when I was joyful and in a new chapter that no one was even aware of,” she told New York Magazine in 2019. “Six years. It was important, that time. It’s a quieter life, and I love it.”

Although he wasn't in the third film, Grant is back for the fourth installment of the franchise, although he had previously sworn off doing more rom-coms.

In April 2024, Grant expressed excitement for the new film’s “very good script,” saying it’s "very moving as well as funny. The film, he told PEOPLE, is partially based on author Fielding's "experiences of bringing up two children by herself after her husband died ... And so Bridget is bringing up two kids and wondering whether she should ever go back to dating."

From who’s returning and who’s joining the cast to the film’s release date, here’s everything to know about Bridget Jones 4.

When will Bridget Jones 4 be released?

On Apr. 9, 2024, Deadline reported that Universal Pictures and Working Title's Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy was in the works. It’s expected to release in U.S. theaters and on Peacock Feb. 14, 2025.

Who is in the Bridget Jones 4 cast?

Zellweger will return as Bridget Jones, Grant will return as Daniel Cleaver and Emma Thompson will return as Dr. Rawlings. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the cast also includes several newcomers to the franchise: Chiwetel Ejiofor from 12 Years a Slave; Leo Woodall from The White Lotus; Wedding Crashers' Isla Fisher; Josette Simon; Nico Parker and Leila Farzad.

James Callis, Sarah Solemani, Sally Phillips and Shirley Henderson will reprise their roles as Bridget’s friends. Meanwhile, Gemma Jones and Harry Potter's Jim Broadbent will return as Bridget’s mother and father.

What is Bridget Jones 4 about?

In this installment of the franchise, Jones is a single mother of two, grappling with the death of her husband Mark Darcy and deciding whether to reenter the dating world.

The film is based on Fielding’s 2013 novel of the same name. In 2022, the author revealed that she was working on a script adaptation of the book. "Yes I'm working on it and I really hope it will happen," Fielding told the Radio Times. "Every film that gets made is a miracle – it's really difficult to make films happen and to make them good. But I'd love to see it on the screen."

Where can I watch Bridget Jones 4?

The film is scheduled to premiere in U.S. theaters on Valentine’s Day 2025, and will also be available on Peacock, Universal’s streaming service, according to Variety.

Who is directing Bridget Jones 4?

Director and producer Michael Morris is directing this upcoming film. He has directed films like 2022’s To Leslie and episodes of shows like Better Call Saul, 13 Reasons Why, Locke & Key and Billions.

Where is Bridget Jones 4 being filmed?

Production is scheduled to start in May 2024, and as with the previous films in the franchise, will take place in London. Zellweger is temporarily relocating to the UK with her longtime boyfriend Ant Antstead for filming, a source told PEOPLE in April 2024.

Which cast members are returning for Bridget Jones 4?

Zellweger, Grant and Thompson are all reprising their roles from previous Bridget Jones movies. Zellweger, in particular, has been manifesting this fourth film for years. “I love this character,” she said on The Talk in 2019. “So, I mean, if they call me, I’ll go running.” She echoed those sentiments in the 2020 Hollywood Issue of Vanity Fair.

“Man, I’d love the experience of revisiting her. I love her,” she said. “I just think she’s so much fun. She’s the best.”

In 2018, Grant spoke to Jess Cagle, then-PEOPLE editor-in-chief, for The Jess Cagle Interview and shared his his affection for two of his costars in the upcoming film.

"Renée loves me and I love Renée,” he said. “Well, I mean she’s in the same category as Emma Thompson, in terms of lunacy, but an amazing actress of course, and very generous." Grant also went on to praise Thompson as “a genius” but adding that she is "not remotely sane. She’s nuttier and nuttier as the years go."

Which new cast members are joining Bridget Jones 4?

Woodall made a big splash in season 2 of The White Lotus, and is set to appear in this film. Ejiofor, who along with his Oscar-nominated role in 12 Years a Slave, has starred with Anne Hathaway in 2021’s Locked Down and directed The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, will also join the franchise.

Why isn’t Colin Firth returning to Bridget Jones 4?

In Helen Fielding's book of the same name, Mark Darcy has died — so Firth likely won’t be returning for this film. However, it’s possible he could make an appearance in flashback scenes. No details have been released as yet about the actor’s involvement.

What has Renee Zellweger said about transforming into Bridget Jones?

Zellweger gained weight to play the character of Bridget Jones in the first three movies, which became a widely discussed topic, but the actor doesn’t understand the preoccupation with her body changing.

“I put on a few pounds,” she told Vogue UK in 2016 ahead of the release of Bridget Jones's Baby. “I also put on some breasts and a baby bump. Bridget is a perfectly normal weight and I’ve never understood why it matters so much. No male actor would get such scrutiny if he did the same thing for a role.”

When Zellweger was promoting her miniseries The Thing About Pam in 2022, she spoke to PEOPLE about the power of physical transformation for a role. "It's just another tool really, isn't it, to have the presentation match the narrative," she said. "I enjoy it because it makes it easier to transcend when you're telling the story on the day. I love it because it feels like a safe space to hide."