The return of Renée Zellweger’s wacky English character is bringing back some favorites and will now feature some new blood in the series.
Renée Zellweger will don the English accent for the revisit to Bridget Jones’ world. In the upcoming fourth movie in the franchise, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, the plot is said to “pick up with Bridget in her early fifties, as she navigates the challenges of modern life while juggling the responsibilities of motherhood.” Along with Zellweger, returning players from the past films are set to include Hugh Grant (Wonka, Notting Hill, The Gentlemen), and Emma Thompson (Nanny McPhee, Cruella, Sense and Sensibility).
Variety has now reported that the new installment has added some notable names to the cast. Isla Fisher (Wedding Crashers, Now You See Me, Tag) will be joining the comedy along with Nico Parker (How to Train Your Dragon), Josette Simon (Anatomy of a Scandal) and Leila Farzad (Black Mirror: Joan is Awful). Additionally, Jim Broadbent and Gemma Jones are set to return as Bridget’s mum and dad. Sarah Solemani, Sally Phillips, Shirley Henderson and James Callis will be coming back to reprise their roles as Bridget’s friends. Neil Pearson, Joanna Scanlan and Celia Imrie are also set to return for the new entry in the series.
Universal Studios and Working Title are the studios, with Michael Morris (Better Call Saul, 13 Reasons Why, Bloodline), Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave, Dirty Pretty Things, Serenity), and Leo Woodall (The White Lotus) joining the cast. Zellweger returns as the bumbling yet endearing Bridget Jones, Hugh Grant plays the antagonistic Daniel Cleaver, and Emma Thompson plays Dr. Rawlings. Meanwhile, Ejiofor and Woodall’s characters remain a secret.
Inspired by Helen Fielding’s popular novels and a previous column she wrote as the title character for The Independent, the Bridget Jones film series revolves around Zellweger’s Bridget Jones, a hapless single woman lost in love who explores a complex web of relationships. The series began in 2001 with Bridget Jones’s Diary, followed by the sequels Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and Bridget Jones’s Baby, debuting in 2004 and 2016. The trilogy was a surprising box office banger with $760 million worldwide in ticket sales.
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is being planned to release in theaters and on Peacock on Valentine’s Day 2025.