Bridgerton fans rejoice! Bridgerton season 5 will be coming much earlier than anticipated, with Netflix looking to break tradition and end its streak of releasing new seasons every two years!
The fifth season of Bridgerton will be coming to Netflix in 2027. That's right, 2027! The news was announced by Netflix’s chief content officer, Bela Bajaria, during the Netflix upfront event, teasing that Bridgerton "will return next year with Season 5."
The news was somehow lost in the wave of announcements made by Netflix during the event, which included several renewals for beloved shows, including Love Is Blind, Running Point, and My Life with the Walter Boys. It's a major departure from the show's release strategy and means that instead of having to wait two years between seasons, we'll see new seasons released in back-to-back years following season 4's release in 2026.
Fans had been anticipating that season 5 would arrive sometime in spring 2028, but that will not be the case with the new season instead arriving sometime in 2027. It's going to be interesting to see if the season will arrive in the spring or if perhaps we'll see the show move back to the fall or even return to a Christmas Day release. Regardless, it's exciting to know that we won't have to wait until 2028 for the next season.
Season 5 will adapt When He Was Wicked, the sixth book in Julia Quinn's Bridgerton novels, which will put a focus on the love story of Francesca (Hannah Dodd) and Michaela (Masali Baduza). Set two years after the death of John Stirling, Francesca decides to re-enter the marriage market, but her plan to find a new suitor for practical reasons is thrown a curveball when Michaela returns to London to tend to the Kilmartin estate.
The season will see Francesca struggling with complicated feelings that leave her questioning whether to stick to her original pragmatic intentions or give in to her passions. It's going to be an exciting season that will feature the show's first LGBTQ+ couple, furthering the show's commitment to representation in a genre that historically hasn't had the best track record.
Production on season 5 began in March 2026, just weeks after season 4 was released. This marked the fastest turnaround for the show, a clear strategy from Netflix to close the gap between new seasons of the show, which have been released a season every other year since their release. Season 1 dropped in December 2020, season 2 then released in 2022, followed by season 3 in 2024, and finally season 4's release in 2026.
