This Bridgerton Season 4 Theory Predicts A Major Time Jump

The holidays may be winding down, but for Bridgerton fans, the greatest gift of the season has yet to be unwrapped. (Er, unmasked.) Now that Benedict and Sophie’s love story is right around the corner, fans are theorizing about the finer details of Bridgerton Season 4 and how it might impact the show’s overall timeline. Spoilers ahead for the Bridgerton books.

A Peek Ahead?

In a Dec. 30 Reddit post, one fan pointed out that Season 4 is shaping up to be the most faithful to its source material, and indeed, showrunner Jess Brownell did tell Entertainment Weekly that Julia Quinn’s An Offer from a Gentleman was the “easiest book to adapt” so far.

“I wonder if that means we’ll get a book-accurate epilogue set several years into the future with Benophie already on their third [child] and Sophie announces she’s pregnant with Violet at the ball with Benedict,” the user wondered. (In the book, the couple are parents to three boys when Sophie reveals that she’s expecting — and they plan to name the new baby Violet, in honor of the Bridgerton matriarch.)

While Benedict’s book isn’t the only one to end with a sizeable time jump — Daphne and Anthony each had multiple kids in their respective epilogues — the show has been a little more restrained in this area, only offering glimpses into the characters’ near future. But as the Redditor noted, there could be a structural benefit to ending Bridgerton Season 4 with a substantial skip. “I hope so,” they wrote, “because whoever is the lead for S5 needs the time jump.”

It’s a very good point. While Season 5 could theoretically follow either Eloise or Francesca, both characters would benefit from the passage of time. In the books, Eloise begins a pen-pal relationship with Philip Crane at a time when she’s feeling a bit lonely — her siblings have kept busy with their respective families. In fact, in the books, her story begins one month after Benedict’s epilogue.

And if Francesca helms Season 5, a time jump would also help cover the years-long mourning period following the death of her husband, John Stirling.

The Showrunner Promised A Skip

As the Redditor noted, a skip makes a lot of sense here, regardless of who the next lead may be. And Brownell has previously weighed in on the subject, telling The Hollywood Reporter in 2024 that while she couldn’t confirm whether it would happen in Season 4, “There will definitely be a time jump at some point.” What better time than the show’s midpoint to introduce a sort of in-universe regrouping? After Benedict, there are four single Bridgertons left!