Renée Zellweger and Hugh Grant are set to reprise their roles in the highly anticipated fourth installment of the Bridget Jones film series, titled Mad About the Boy. The film, adapted from Helen Fielding’s 2013 novel, is confirmed for release on Valentine’s Day 2025.
The announcement comes after months of speculation, with fans eagerly awaiting the return of the beloved scatty heroine. Hugh Grant will be returning as the appallingly dashing Daniel Cleaver, after sitting out the previous installment, Bridget Jones’s Baby, released in 2016. The third film saw Bridget navigating an unexpected pregnancy and a love triangle, with veteran on-off boyfriend Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) and a new suitor played by Patrick Dempsey vying for her affections.
However, Colin Firth will not be returning for the fourth film, which is set four years after the previous installment. The storyline follows Bridget as a widow with two small children, as Mark has been tragically killed by a landmine in Sudan.
Joining Zellweger and Grant in the cast are Emma Thompson, reprising her role as Bridget’s doctor from the third film, along with new additions Chiwetel Ejiofor and Leo Woodall. Woodall, known for his breakout roles in The White Lotus and One Day, is rumored to play a 30-year-old with whom Bridget starts a relationship as she navigates dating again following her bereavement.
The feature will be directed by Michael Morris, marking the first time a man will helm a Bridget Jones film. The film is set to shoot in London this summer and will be released next February, in time for Valentine’s Day. The franchise has been a box office success, grossing $760m to date, with the first installment earning an Oscar nomination for Zellweger in 2001.
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy will be produced by Working Title and released by Universal. For Zellweger, this will mark her first big screen role since 2019’s Judy, for which she won critical acclaim and a multitude of awards.