Bridget Jones set to return for fourth film when cult rom-com starring Renee Zellweger begins filming later this year
24 February 2024, 23:36
Bridget Jones is set to make a return to the big screen after almost a decade when the cult franchise begins filming later this year.
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Renee Zellweger will reprise her role as the once desperately single Bridget Jones, who married love interest Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) and welcomed the couple's first child in the third and most recent film in 2016.
Filming for the lastest release based on author Helen Fielding's hit books will begin on May 23, The Mail on Sunday reported, with pre-production already well underway.
The fourth film will be based on 2013 novel Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy. Fielding depicts her heroine raising young children as a single mother while navigating modern dating life.
In more good news for fans, both Firth and Hugh Grant, who plays playboy and former love interest Daniel Cleaver, are reported as returning to the franchise - even though Bridget was shown at Daniel's funeral in the last film.
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A source told the Mail: "Filming is being mapped out already and all of the pre-production is in place."
They said there was "some uncertainty" as to whether they could ever get the fourth film off the ground, but the heroine is back for the latest release that will see her "take over London".
"Renee is excited about bringing Bridget back. She adores the character so much. Bridget Jones fever is expected to sweep across London this spring."
It comes after Fielding confirmed in October 2022 that she was working on a fourth film.
She told the Radio Times: "Every film that gets made is a miracle – it’s really difficult to make films happen and to make them good. But I’d love to see it on the screen."
The last cinematic instalment of Bridget Jones in 2016 saw the now single protagonist discover she was pregnant - not knowing if the father was Mark or charming mathematician Jack Qwant, played by Patrick Dempsey.
Amid several relationship scuffles filled with jealousy, Bridget eventually realises she wants to be with Mark again, marrying the ever-present human rights lawyer, not Jack.
It was also revealed that Mark was the father of the baby, and ends with the revelation that Daniel Cleaver is, in fact, alive.
