Bridget Jones is in an entirely new stage of her life, with a new love interest and new concerns, in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, the fourth installment of the popular rom-com franchise — and maybe the last? — which released its first trailer today.
Co-starring Leo Woodall, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Emma Thompson, the new film hailing from Universal Pictures, StudioCanal and Miramax is set to stream exclusively in the U.S. on Peacock on February 13.
Following Renée Zellweger’s endearing yet perpetually single character of the same name, it’s based on the third installment of the beloved book series from Helen Fielding, who penned the script, with contributions from Abi Morgan and Dan Mazer.
The film picks up with Bridget in her early 50s, finding her alone once again. Widowed four years ago, when Mark (Colin Firth) was killed on a humanitarian mission in the Sudan, she’s now a single mother to nine-year-old Billy and four-year-old Mabel, and is stuck in a state of emotional limbo, raising her children with help from her loyal friends and even her former lover, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant).
Pressured by her Urban Family —Shazzer, Jude and Tom, her work colleague Miranda, her mother, and her gynecologist Dr. Rawlings (Emma Thompson) — to forge a new path toward life and love, Bridget goes back to work and even tries out the dating apps, where she’s soon pursued by a dreamy and enthusiastic younger man (Leo Woodall). Now juggling work, home and romance, Bridget grapples with the judgment of the perfect mums at school, worries about Billy as he struggles with the absence of his father, and engages in a series of awkward interactions with her son’s rational-to-a-fault science teacher (Chiwetel Ejiofor).
In addition to Firth, Grant and Thompson, returning cast members include Sarah Solemani, Sally Phillips, Shirley Henderson, James Callis, Gemma Jones, and Jim Broadbent.
Other newcomers joining Woodall and Ejiofor include Isla Fisher, Josette Simon, Nico Parker, and Leila Farzad.
Michael Morris (To Leslie) directed the Peacock Original, which has a theatrical air to it, judging by the trailer, and should clean up on streaming. Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, and Jo Wallett produced through Working Title Films.
Working Title’s Amelia Granger and Sarah-Jane Wright exec produced alongside Fielding and Zellweger, and Miramax and StudioCanal co-financed the project, with the latter handling distribution in select international territories.
Mad About the Boy comes on the heels of Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001), Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004) and Bridget Jones’s Baby (2016), which together grossed over $800 million worldwide.
