‘Bridgerton’ Stars Talk Benophie Love Story And Return Of Anthony Bridgerton
SPOILER ALERT: This piece contains light spoilers for Bridgerton Season 4 Part 1.
Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) and Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha) are “Enchanted” to meet each other at Lady Violet Bridgerton’s (Ruth Gemmell) Masquerade Ball in the first Episode of Season 4 Part 1, though there are layers of disguise between them.
That specific string cover of Taylor Swift’s anthem backs a different Cinderella-esque scene involving the pair, who miraculously reconnect in the countryside after Araminta (Katie Leung) fires Sophie from her position as housemaid in the Penwood home.
By the fourth episode, the pair still haven’t acknowledged that they did, indeed, meet previously at that fateful event. Sophie knows this, but Benedict is still searching for his Lady in Silver thinking she is someone other than Sophie.
“It’s a really lovely dynamic. It’s really interesting because they are two characters that struggle or have a complex relationship with the idea of being seen, of being fully visible, I think for very different reasons,” Thompson told Deadline. “For Benedict, it’s more to do with not wanting to give himself in his entirety, to feeling that’s sort of too wild a bet to place in life, which makes sense if your dad died very young, you know? It’s lovely that [that] theme is carried on through the whole show with the masks and unmasking, and the moments when they miss each other and the moments when they connect. It’s really juicy territory isn’t it?”
From Ha’s perspective, what makes it so challenging for Sophie is that she did not expect to meet Benedict and become smitten the way she did that night.
L-R: Hands of Yerin Ha and Luke Thompson in ‘Bridgerton’ Episode 401
“It really was love at first sight, but she didn’t go to the ball hoping to find love. She just wanted a night of fantasy and to be in that world. She didn’t even know his name,” Ha told Deadline. “She just saw a gentleman and actually fell in love with him for who he is, which may be, I think, part of the reason why Benedict falls in love with the Lady in Silver. But I think after that, it was a little bit unlucky, in the sense that that night forever changes her and actually makes her yearn for love even more, that she never asked for.”
When asked if they would like to return for future seasons, the star duo of Season 4 both enthusiastically answer yes.
“I’ve been on this show for five years, and it’s given me so much, and it’s a part of me. Benedict is, and Sophie, [is] part of that world. We don’t know yet what the scripts look like. We don’t know anything,” Thompson said. “I’d love to [return] also because particularly this season, there’s specifically characters like Hyacinth and Gregory, who started so young, and who are now very slowly blossoming. I remember reading, I think it was Johnny [Bailey] who said he wants to be there for their moment. And I get that. It’s lovely to be in a long-form thing like that. And it’s such a huge chunk of my life.”
L to R: Will Tilston as Gregory Bridgerton, Luke Newton as Colin Bridgerton and Luke Thompson as Benedict Bridgerton in Season 4 of ‘Bridgerton’
Ha, though a newcomer, attributes her want to return to that very thing.
“I’ve just begun. I’ve still got a bit of energy in me,” she said. “Fingers crossed.”
One thing the pair cannot discuss is the much anticipated return of one Viscount Anthony Bridgerton (Johnathan Bailey), who — viewers are reminded in Episode 4 of Season 4 — kept a mistress himself at one point.
When asked if he could tease anything about that moment, Thompson playfully and promptly responds “No.”
“If we do, we won’t come back for Season 5,” Ha jokes.
