Bridgerton season 4 rumored to be casting for Benedict’s love interest Sophie Beckett

Now that the third season has wrapped up, more and more information about the highly anticipated Bridgerton season 4 keeps rolling in. In fact, we've just learned that a new casting call for the fourth season reportedly went out, and based on the character description provided, fans believe that the show may be looking for an actress to play Sophie Beckett, Benedict's love interest from the books.

Fans have been waiting for Benedict's season since the wrapping of Bridgerton season 2. The period drama was initially following the order of the books up until the third season when the writers decided to switch things up by going with Colin's story instead of Benedict's. If the show had continued to go in the order of the books, Benedict's story would've been the focus of the third season since his love story is told in Julia Quinn's An Offer from a Gentleman, which is the third novel in her book series.

Since the show's creative team isn't necessarily following the order of the books anymore, there's a chance Benedict's story could get pushed back again. But many fans believe that he could be stepping up to center stage for Bridgerton season 4 based on how the third season ends.

Spoilers ahead from Bridgerton season 3 and the An Offer from a Gentleman book!

At the beginning of An Offer from a Gentleman, Violet Bridgerton throws a masquerade ball, and this is where Benedict meets Sophie and falls in love with her at first sight. In the Bridgerton season 3 finale, this same masquerade ball is foreshadowed after Eloise tells Benedict that she'll see him next year at the ball.

Now with this new casting call, it looks like Benedict just might be leading the fourth season. According to Collider, the casting call went out for an actress to play a character named "Emily," who will have a major recurring role in the fourth season. However, this name is believed to be a code name. In casting calls, the characters' real names from shows and movies aren't usually revealed, and fake names are used instead.

The character description provided in the casting call says that Emily is roughly between 24 and 30 years old, plucky, endlessly resourceful, and has trouble trusting others. She's also described as being of East Asian descent.

If you read An Offer from a Gentleman, you'd realize that this character description lines up with how Sophie Beckett is in the book. The only differences are that Sophie is a Caucasian woman in the book instead of an East Asian woman, and she's much younger in the novel. However, the period drama could be looking to change the race from the book. I mean, it wouldn't be the first time the show has changed the race of a main character from the books. And age isn't always important in the show either. So, this casting could very well be for Sophie.

However, it could also be for another character in season 4. As of June 26, there isn't any confirmation that this casting is for Sophie. What makes us think that this casting might not be for her is the fact that the casting call says that the actress playing the Emily character will have a "major recurring role." Wouldn't the casting call be for a lead role if it was for Sophie? Who knows!

What we do know is that all this speculation about who will lead the fourth season has us super excited! Stay tuned to Netflix Life for more news and coverage on Bridgerton season 4.