Bridget Jones is back on the big screen! Returning in Mad About the Boy, the haphazard journalist is on the dating scene once more, after losing her beloved husband, Mark Darcy (Colin Firth). Based on Helen Fielding's 2013 novel, the fourth instalment is "very sad" and "extremely funny," according to scene-stealer, Hugh Grant – aka resident bad boy, Daniel Cleaver.
With the film slated for release on Valentine's Day 2025, a first look has finally dropped, and fans are mad about the trailer (pardon the pun). Watch below...
Voicing their reactions on social media, one wrote: "I am so happy to see Bridget again but am I the only one who is upset that Mr Darcy won't be in it?"
"Bridget without Mark Darcy? [sad face emoji] I can't accept it! [broken heart emoji]" added a second, while a third commented: "Oh Mark Darcy [crying face emoji] I'll miss you, but definitely I'll watch it."
© Giles KeyteReprising her role as the iconic Bridget, Renée Zellweger will reunite with her trusted cast members, Jim Broadbent and Gemma Jones, who play her parents. Meanwhile, Sarah Solemani, Sally Phillips, Shirley Henderson and James Callis are all back as Bridget's long-time pals. Emma Thompson – who co-wrote and starred in Bridget Jones's Baby – will also mark her second outing as Dr Rawlings.
Making their debut in the franchise, newcomers Leo Woodall (One Day) and Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave, Doctor Strange) have joined the cast. The former is billed as Bridget's younger love interest Roxster, while the latter portrays the headteacher of Bridget's two kids.
© Getty ImagesIsla Fisher (Wedding Crashers), Josette Simon (Anatomy of a Scandal), Nico Parker (Suncoast, How to Train Your Dragon) and Leila Farzad (I Hate Suzie) will feature, too.
While the cast remains tight-lipped about Bridget Jones 4, Hugh Grant was quizzed about it in October. Appearing on The Graham Norton Show, the British star noted: "It is a good and moving script – it is extremely funny but very sad."
"There was no obvious role for me, but I was crammed in," he continued.
"So we didn't have a 60-year-old Daniel Cleaver wandering around looking at young girls, I made up a good interim story for him," Hugh said of his character, who was one-third of Bridget's love triangle with Mark in the first two movies.
© GettyWhile Hugh didn't appear in the third film, his character was given a comical storyline. After Daniel was reported dead in a plane crash, Bridget was forced to deliver a eulogy at his funeral – which was attended by a horde of supermodels. In the final moments of the movie, however, a newspaper headline reveals that he was found alive after all.
An official synopsis for Bridget Jones 4 is yet to be released, however, fans of the book are well aware of the heroine's arc.
The novel's logline reads: "Bridget Jones stumbles through the challenges of single-motherhood, tweeting, texting and rediscovering her sexuality in what SOME people rudely and outdatedly call 'middle age'."
