Shonda Rhimes won't reveal Bridgerton season 4's lead in advance (but it's already planned!)

Don't ask Shonda Rhimes who the lead of Bridgerton season 4 will be. Her lips are sealed this time around! According to the reigning queen of television, Shondaland HQ won't be spilling the beans on the season 3 follow-up's protagonist. In a conversation with Variety ahead of Bridgerton season 3 part 1's release, Rhimes insinuated that Netflix wasn't too thrilled with her pre-season 3 tease.

After the release of Bridgerton season 2, Colin and Penelope were revealed to be the central couple of season 3. As two of the most beloved characters in the book series, many fans were excited about season 3 delving into Polin. However, there were some Bridgerton purists who weren't too thrilled that the Netflix series would be skipping book 3 (Benedict's story) for book 4.

Naturally, that has fans wondering what could be in the cards after season 3. Will the powers that be circle back to cover Julia Quinn's third book for season 4 and make Benedict the lead, or will they divert from the book order once again and skip to Eloise or Francesca? Taking Rhimes' lead, we'll have to keep waiting to see. Maybe there's a tease at the end of season 3 part 2!

Here's what Rhimes told Variety about keep the season 4 lead a secret:

"Last time I made the mistake of mentioning what we were doing the next season, everyone got mad. Well, it wasn’t a mistake to me. But everybody else was not so pleased."

- Shonda Rhimes

Even though the Bridgerton creative team isn't going to casually reveal who's leading the fourth season this time, that doesn't mean that they don't know or that there won't be a fun reveal planned by Netflix for fans. More than likely, Netflix wanted to plan a reveal video with Luke Newton and Nicola Coughlan announcing they were the season 3 leads. That could have been quite the thrill for fans, and maybe the streamer has a top secret announcement planned post-season 3 part 2.

Speaking of not knowing who the next lead will be, Rhimes also shared with Variety that she and executive producer Betsy Beers, showrunner Jess Brownell, Shondaland head of content Alison Eakle, Bridgerton's directing producer Tom Verica, and Shondaland head of production Sara Fischer have plotted the show's course through its sixth or seventh season!

"I do have a very specific plan of where we go each season — which one is which. Because you really have to start seeding in the other siblings, and what’s going on with them, to push them to the next season. We’ve really talked about it through, I think, season 6 or maybe 7."

- Shonda Rhimes

Recently, the television mastermind reaffirmed her plans to adapt all eight of Quinn's books in the series on Netflix, and to craft a TV series of this scale and popularity, that takes some planning. Unfortunately for all of us fans, we're just along for the ride and aren't privy to the conversations that take place behind the scenes, as much as we'd like to be. But as always, in Shonda we trust!

Stay tuned for more Bridgerton news and updates from Netflix Life!