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Renée Zellweger is set to reprise her Oscar-nominated role as Bridget Jones in a fourth movie in the series, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy.
The much-anticipated sequel will also see Hugh Grant and Emma Thompson return to the series, as well as appearances from newcomers Leo Woodall (One Day, The White Lotus) and Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave, Doctor Strange).
The new film from Universal Pictures and Working Title is being co-financed by Miramax and will be directed by Michael Morris (To Leslie, Better Call Saul).
It has not yet been confirmed whether Colin Firth will return as Bridget’s original love interest Mark Darcy.
The character of perpetual singleton Bridget Jones was created by Helen Fielding in a column for The Independent.
“The Independent asked me if I’d write a column about single life in London as myself. I said no because (ironically enough) I thought it would be embarrassing and exposing,” Fielding recalled later. “Then Charlie Leadbeater – a senior editor – suggested I write as an imaginary character, and I thought ‘Yessss!’”
Fielding published the novelisation of her columns in 1996, followed by a sequel The Edge of Reason in 1999.
The first film adaptation Bridget Jones’s Diary was released in 2001, with sequels Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and Bridget Jones’s Baby following in 2004 and 2016. The three films together have grossed over $760m worldwide.
The latest sequel will be based on Fielding’s 2013 book Bridget Jones’s Diary: Mad About the Boy, which follows the 51-year-old single mother of two children as she navigates dating in an era of social media and dating apps.
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The world has changed since her last hapless quests for a man and the original story follows the comic heroine as she continues to obsesses over her weight, alcohol intake, and calorie count – in a new world filled with new technology and new norms in her 50s.
In the book, we find that Darcy has died tragically in an accident and Bridget finds herself alone. However, according to the Mail on Sunday it is unconfirmed whether the movie will stay true to the books when it comes to his death.
However, the new movie could take a turn in a new direction as writer Helen Fielding remarked on Desert Island Discs that she was “staggered” by what she called “sexism” in the original movies, adding: “You couldn’t write that now”.
