Hugh Grant talks up the humor and the heart of the upcoming Bridget Jones sequel

Hugh Grant has been expanding on his career beyond his famous rom-coms, having starred in last year’s special effects-laden big-budget films Wonka and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Grant will be returning to his popular franchise with Renée Zellweger for the recently announced upcoming fourth film in the Bridget Jones movies, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy. The plot is said to “pick up with Bridget in her early fifties, as she navigates the challenges of modern life while juggling the responsibilities of motherhood.”

Grant recently spoke with the publication People as he teases the next installment in the series. The English actor stated,

It is very moving as well as funny. It’s partly based on Helen Fielding’s experiences of bringing up two children by herself after her husband died. And so Bridget is bringing up two kids and wondering whether she should ever go back to dating. It’s a very good script.”

Universal Studios and Working Title are the studios, with Michael Morris (Better Call Saul, 13 Reasons Why, Bloodline), Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave, Dirty Pretty Things, Serenity), and Leo Woodall (The White Lotus) joining the cast. Zellweger returns as the bumbling yet endearing Bridget Jones, Hugh Grant plays the antagonistic Daniel Cleaver, and Emma Thompson plays Dr. Rawlings. Meanwhile, Ejiofor and Woodall’s characters remain a secret.

Inspired by Helen Fielding’s popular novels and a previous column she wrote as the title character for The Independent, the Bridget Jones film series revolves around Zellweger’s Bridget Jones, a hapless single woman lost in love who explores a complex web of relationships. The series began in 2001 with Bridget Jones’s Diary, followed by the sequels Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and Bridget Jones’s Baby, debuting in 2004 and 2016. The trilogy was a surprising box office banger with $760 million worldwide in ticket sales.

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is being planned to release in theaters and on Peacock on Valentine’s Day 2025.