Spare a thought for all the Bridget Jones fans out there who will be delighted to hear that Renée Zellweger is reviving the iconic character for a fourth film, then devastated to learn Colin Firth won’t be in it.
After months of speculation, the news was confirmed by Universal Pictures and Working Title with Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, set to be an adaptation of Helen Fielding’s 2013 best-selling novel.
Colin Firth, Renee Zellweger and Hugh Grant starred in the original instalment in the adventures of Helen Fielding’s scatty heroine.
The film has been slated for a Valentine’s Day release next year and sees Hugh Grant reprise his role as the sometimes-creepy-but-often-charming Daniel Cleaver, while Emma Thompson, who played Bridget’s doctor in the third film, also returns.
However, in sad news for a generation still obsessed with the 1995 BBC production of Pride and Prejudice, Colin Firth will not don Mr Darcy’s silly Christmas sweater once more.
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy picks up four years after the last film, with Bridget now a widow raising two small children after Mark Darcy is killed by a landmine in Sudan.
While fans of the franchise are unimpressed that Firth won’t be returning for the latest Jones film, there is a silver lining in the shape of Leo Woodall, the attractive young English guy from The White Lotus and One Day.
More like Bridget Jones Sugar Baby. Young English star Leo Woodall will join the franchise.Credit: HBO/Binge
According to The Guardian, Woodall is rumoured to play “the hot 30-year-old with whom Bridget starts sleeping as she starts dating again following her bereavement”.
Replacing stuffy-yet-loveable Firth with slick-yet-loveable Woodall seems a smart move by producers. While long-time fans may miss Darcy’s Daddy vibes, Woodall can help introduce the franchise to a new generation.
Academy Award nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor will also join Woodall, but there was no mention of Patrick Dempsey, who played American billionaire love interest Jack Qwant, in the previous film.
The three Bridget Jones films (2001’s Bridget Jones’s Diary, 2004’s Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and 2016’s Bridget Jones’s Baby) have been enormously successful, bringing in more than $1.1 billion at the worldwide box office.
Renee Zellweger and Colin Firth in ‘Bridget Jones’s Diary’.
The next instalment will be directed by Michael Morris, whose previous film was To Leslie, a drama starring Andrea Riseborough, who nabbed a surprise Oscar nomination for her role last year.
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy will be released in theatres on Valentine’s Day 2025.
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