Julia Quinn Spills the Tea on Bridgerton Season 4 – Plus a Subscription Box

Sex, romance and class conflict spice up the latest season of the Netflix smash.

Greetings from the Bridgerverse, where anticipation for Bridgerton Season 4 is reaching a fever pitch as the first four episodes drop today.

So far in everyone’s favorite Regency romance series, we have been thrilled by the exploits of a sexy duke (Season 1), a confirmed bachelor turned family man (Season 2), and a friends-to-lovers arc of our favorite Ton couple, Polin (Season 3).

So what does Season 4 have in store? It’s time to turn the spotlight on the second-oldest Bridgerton son — the Bohemian playboy, Benedict. His younger sister Francesca may also share that spotlight, as she’s off to Scotland with her husband John Stirling, her sister Eloise and his cousin, Michaela Stirling. And the budding marriage of fan favorites Colin and Penelope’s budding marriage will be explored, as will the newly-titled, formerly working-class family, the Mondrichs.

This season of the Ton opens with matriarch Violet Bridgerton throwing the bash of the year — an exquisite masquerade ball — and while we can expect most of the Bridgerton siblings to attend, once again, Daphne and her Duke will be in absentia.

As in An Offer from a Gentleman, the bestselling Julia Quinn novel on which the season is based (Book 3 in her Bridgerton series), a sizzling Cinderella story unfolds. Sophie Baek, the illegitimate daughter of a lord, lives with her stepmother and two stepsisters who treat her like a servant. The manipulative, twice-widowed stepmother, Lady Araminta Gun, is determined to marry off her two daughters, Posy and Rosamunde, as they make their society debut, and she bars beautiful Sophie from attending the party.

Aided by a sympathetic housekeeper, Sophie secretly attends the gala as the mysterious “Lady in Silver.” Swept up into a magical fairytale evening, she and Benedict meet and fall in love, without revealing their true identities. At the stroke of midnight, Sophie flees the ball to return home before her stepmother, leaving behind a glove embroidered with her family’s initials.

With the help of Eloise, Benedict scours Mayfair society to uncover Sophie’s identity. But they have no luck. Unbeknownst to Benedict, his heart’s desire is not where he seeks. Sophie is not part of his world; she is a lowly, long-suffering maid. When fate ultimately reunites the lovers, Benedict wrestles with his attraction to Sophie the maid, while yearning for the “Lady in Silver,” unaware that they are the same person.

Juicy conflicts arise as showrunner Jess Brownell explores the class divide in Georgian England, something he describes as a “new sensibility” for Bridgerton. “And I think, actually, it seamlessly blends into the themes that we are trying to explore this season.”

Viewers will be on the edge of their seats as they wonder whether the tormented couple will get their fairytale ending — or will class and privilege blind Benedict to the true love standing before him? Right now, only Quinn, show producer Shonda Rhimes, Brownell, and Lady Whistledown know the solution to this delicious Bridgerton mystery.

Perhaps Quinn can clue us in on the Ton’s latest secrets. To find out, dear gentle reader, you’ll have to read below.

What can you tell us about Season 4? Any inside tidbits?

I can’t tell you! But I will say, I think it follows the book a little bit more closely than the other seasons, which is fun for me. I think it’s great. I love the upstairs-downstairs aspect of it. I love the Gun family, the stepmother and the stepsisters. They’re done so well … it’s wonderful.

This is not giving away any spoilers, but Benedict is a gentleman, and he is a bit of a man of the town. I think he’s a little bit more of a rogue on the show than he was in the books, but a lovable rogue. During the Regency period, it was unheard of for a man of his class to marry a servant. It just was not done. And it could ruin your entire family. It would have been wholly unrealistic for Benedict to jump to the idea of marriage with Sophie, the maid.  But that’s part of his journey, to realize that love is worth taking risks for.

How did Shonda Rhimes discover your Bridgerton series? Was it a surprise that she did?

It was a big surprise, and I think in some ways, it was a surprise to her, too. She hadn’t been looking for anything like this. In fact, if you go to my social media, I posted on Instagram a little clip from Shonda on the Jennifer Hudson Show, where she was talking about how she discovered the books. She was on vacation at an inn, and she was sick. Somebody had left my book there, and she picked it up because it was the only thing to read. She liked it so much, she said, she got up and went down the street to the bookstore and bought all the rest. That’s how incredibly fortunate I am.

We know that Shonda Rhimes created the title character of the Bridgerton spin-off series, Queen Charlotte, and then the two of you co-wrote the novel. What was that experience like?

Queen Charlotte was not in the Bridgerton books. Chances are, she’s mentioned somewhere because she was a real person, but she’s not in the books. And I actually thought, when Season 1 came out, that it was my favorite change. Later, Shonda wrote the six scripts for the spinoff, but I had nothing to do with the story. Then she sent the scripts to me, and I turned them into a novel.

So, I always tell people, if Queen Charlotte made you cry, either on the page or the screen, it’s Shonda’s fault, not mine. But it was so much fun to adapt her scripts into a novel. I had never done that before. I had never worked with source material. It was very much like putting a puzzle together.

What do you think is at the heart of everyone’s adoration of the Bridgerton books and series?

For Bridgerton specifically, within the historical romance genre, I think people really like this sense of family. Everyone either has a sibling or is close to someone who does, and understands that relationship with someone who has a shared childhood and shared experience. There’s nobody who gets things quite like your siblings. I think there’s something about that family bond that is just really attractive to people.

You can have these great scenes where people are teasing each other and poking each other. There’s something fun about seeing this incredibly rich, incredibly beautiful, idealized family. Maybe they don’t have money troubles like the rest of us, but they still face decisions and problems that we can relate to. So, it’s presenting this world that is gorgeous, but it’s still very relatable, one you can see yourself in.

Finally, you recently revealed a wonderful surprise for your readers: JQ Editions. Do you want to tell us about that?

JQ Editions is a kind of love letter to historical romance. People are always asking me, what do I read after Bridgerton? What historical romance would you recommend? So, I thought about setting up a book club, where all the books are my personal favorites. I’m also working personally with an artist to bring beautiful art to these new editions of the books.

It’s a subscription box; readers subscribe and get a book every other month, so it’s not a huge commitment. Our first book will be The Last Lady B by Eloisa James, which hasn’t come out yet. I was fortunate enough to read an early copy, and I absolutely loved it.

And then the second book is by Alyssa Cole. It’s called An Extraordinary Union, and I think it’s one of the most important books in historical romance. It is set during the Civil War. And then the final book is Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase, which is universally recognized as the greatest historical romance of the modern era. It tops every list.

What about your books? Will any of yours be included in the future?

You know, not at this time. I really am trying to keep the focus on other authors, which doesn’t mean we would never do it. The ironic thing is that I would have to license it from my publishing house. So, I mean, I would actually have to sign a contract allowing me to do this.

How can people sign up for JQ Editions?

On January 13, the Kickstarter page went live, a pre-launch page with information. Kickstarter has a launch and a pre-launch. So, the pre-launch is when you sign up to follow us. When it launches on February 13, one month later, you’ll get the notice saying, “Come on in!”

Also, my website (juliaquinn.com) has a lot more information on the project, and there’s a lot of other fun things to explore. You can also follow me on social media. I’m on Instagram and Facebook, and I’m absolutely delightful on both!