We’re in the long waiting period once again between seasons of “Bridgerton,” which brings the tempting prospect of pivoting to Julia Quinn’s novels to find out what happens next. It’s been confirmed that “Bridgerton” season 4 will focus on Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson), the second son of the eponymous family. However, Benedict’s journey through the Netflix series has been quite different from his characterization in the novels, which means that “Bridgerton” season 4 might make some big changes from the source material.

In the books, Benedict is the star of “An Offer from a Gentleman,” the third novel in the series. Netflix skipped to book four, “Romancing Mr. Bridgerton,” which focuses on Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) and Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan), for season 3, and is now going back for Benedict’s big love story. In Quinn’s version, he gets involved with a woman named Sophie Beckett, the daughter of an earl whom he meets at the Bridgerton family’s famous masquerade ball. The book is something of a Cinderella homage, as, despite her station, Sophie is forced to play housemaid to a cruel stepmother, all while Benedict searches for the masked woman who captured his attention at the ball. In the end, as you may assume, they marry.

Sophie will be played by Yerin Ha in “Bridgerton” season 4, an actor who’s recently made a name for herself on shows like “Halo” and “Dune: Prophecy.” The masquerade ball itself is also teased at the end of season 3, so we know that many aspects of the story will stay the same from the book. But how will all of that play into Benedict’s divergent Netflix storyline?

While Sophie is still Benedict’s love interest on the show, she’s a bit different than the character readers may be familiar with. First and foremost, her surname has been changed from Beckett to Baek, as Ha is a Korean actor from Australia. This is very similar to how the show handled the romance of season 2, which turned the novel’s Kate Sheffield into Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley). Given that the world of the show is different from that of the books in many small ways, there are sure to be plenty of other tweaks to both Sophie and her romance with Benedict.

“There’s this theme with masks that was running throughout all of my audition scenes,” Ha said in an interview with Netflix Tudum. Given that the love story begins at a masquerade ball that Sophie sneaks into, that makes a lot of sense. “When does Sophie put on this mask to cover her emotions?” Ha said. “Or vice versa, when does she take it off and when does she soften up? Playing with those [questions] is just really fun.”

In addition to Yerin Ha, several other new characters have already been cast for “Bridgerton” season 4. Katie Leung, perhaps most famous for playing Cho Chang in the Harry Potter movies, will join the cast as Lady Araminta Gun, a widowed mother of two looking to make good matches for her daughters during the upcoming season. Those daughters will be played by Michelle Mao (as the ambitious older sister Rosamund Li) and Isabella Wei (as the gentler, kinder Posy Li). Plus series regulars Emma Naomi and Hugh Sachs, who respectively play Alice Mondrich and Brimsley, have been upgraded to the main cast for season 4.

“Bridgerton” season 4 is currently in production, with filming having kicked off in the fall of 2024. If previous seasons are any indication, production will likely continue into the spring of 2025, and the season itself likely won’t be released until the latter half of 2026. Plus, if the show continues with the multi-part release schedule of season 3, that would mean even longer until the full season arrives. In short, fans still have a long wait ahead of them, but things are moving along at the expected pace, and we always have the books to fill our time in the interim.

For the first three seasons of “Bridgerton,” Benedict has been on a journey of self-discovery. His status as a second son in Regency England means he starts off a bit adrift in season 1, as he doesn’t have the direct role in family affairs that Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) has. He has a couple of affairs with women “below” his societal station, enrolls in art school (with his big brother’s secret help), and generally ambles about trying to find himself amid a society determined to tell him what he is. That all comes to a wonderful head in season 3 when Benedict has a love affair with both Lady Tilley Arnold (Hannah New) and Paul Suarez (Lucas Aurelio) at the same time, finally embracing his bisexuality.

Some fans have expressed disappointment that despite Benedict’s recent queer narrative, his own season will seemingly be a pretty straightforward adaptation of the novel. Of course, there’s room for his relationship with Sophie to take on some new dimensions on Netflix, and the studio would be foolish not to take his previous “Bridgerton” character development into account.

For a proper queer season of “Bridgerton,” we’ll likely have to wait until Francesca (Hannah Dodd) becomes the star of the show. Though she marries a man at the end of season 3, the show has set the stage for a sapphic love story down the line.

Beyond the new addition that Benedict is now bisexual, “Bridgerton” season 4 is already changing some other elements of his and Sophie’s story. For one, her surname has been changed from Becket to Baek, reflecting the character’s change in race from the page to the screen. This is very similar to how the show handled the romance of season 2, which turned the novel’s Kate Sheffield into Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley).

That may not have a huge impact on the actual story, but if season 2 is any indication, the show will at least do its due diligence to make some alterations here and there befitting this new background for the character. There’s also the matter of the many “Bridgerton” subplots that run through each season, and which have grown more numerous over time. Characters like Will (Martins Imhangbe) and Alice Mondrich (Emma Naomi) have continued to build out their own stories in parallel to the Bridgerton family, and other siblings like Francesca and Eloise (Claudia Jessie) have already begun major arcs well before their own respective seasons have started development.