Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy continues the slice-of-life franchise with a shocking twist, as revealed when the first trailer dropped online. In Bridget Jones 4, the beloved bumbling lawyer Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) has passed away, leaving Bridget (Renée Zellweger) a widow and single mother to the couple’s two children.
The Bridget Jones movie franchise first began in 2001 with Bridget Jones’s Diary, following a 30-something Bridget making her way through life and love in Y2K-era London, based on Helen Fielding’s novel of the same name.
The franchise’s hilariously offbeat dialogue and dry British humor made the film a smash hit, despite the changes the Bridget Jones movies make to the books. Over 20 years later, the Bridget Jones franchise remains culturally relevant – namely, for its ability to showcase a dynamic and realistic female lead with contemporary commentary through Bridget’s career as a news producer. As the upcoming film approaches its release on Peacock, there are several major plot points to remember from previous installments and the new trailer itself.
8 Bridget Jones Works As A Successful TV News Producer
After Working As A TV Host, Bridget Now Finds Happiness In Producing
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In Bridget Jones’s Diary, Bridget first works in publishing under her handsome but womanizing boss, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant). Meanwhile, at a Christmas party, Bridget’s mother (Gemma Jones) re-introduces Bridget to a childhood friend, the stable Mark Darcy. When Bridget overhears Mark telling his mother that Bridget smokes, drinks, and makes too many vulgar jokes, Bridget’s New Year’s Resolution becomes to turn her life around, which she documents in the titular diary. In the film’s sequel, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, she works on a travel show with Daniel.
Without Darcy, I’m Actually Relieved Daniel Cleaver Has A Small Role In Bridget Jones 4 Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy will bring Daniel Cleaver back but in a smaller role, which is a huge relief now that Darcy won’t be around anymore.
As the story goes, Bridget first dates Daniel, and their tumultuous relationship coupled with his cheating leads to a disastrous and very public breakup. Bridget in turn leaves her job at the publishing house and instead opts to work in television. At first, she is given outlandish assignments. However, with the help of Mark’s connection, she lands an important interview about a landmark legal case that elevates her career. As the most recent installment, 2016’s Bridget Jones’s Baby, reveals, Bridget has since become a successful television news producer.
7 How Bridget Jones & Mark Darcy Met
Bridget & Mark Met First Met As Children Before Bridget Jones’s Diary
People are worried about Colin Firth not returning to Bridget Jones, for good reason. Mark and Bridget’s parents are friends, and the couple first met as children one summer decades before the events of the film. They are reunited when their parents attempt to match them up at an ugly sweater party on Christmas. Mark is at first floored by Bridget’s lack of decorum but later learns that it is part of her charm. The couple balance each other, with Bridget encouraging the calm and collected Mark to try new things and Mark offering Bridget the stability and comfort she needs.
The couple go through many trials and tribulations throughout the franchise, including countless misunderstandings that cause Bridget to distrust Mark, leading to their first breakup. They later reconcile when Mark comes to Bridget’s rescue in a prison in Thailand, where she is incarcerated after her friend accidentally attempts to travel with cocaine. They become engaged, but this engagement is later broken and Mark marries and divorces a woman named Camilla (Angi Scott). After all the chaos, the couple find their way back to one another in Bridget Jones’s Baby.
6 Daniel Cleaver Is Revealed To Be Alive
Bridget’s Ex Is Back As A Friend In Mad About The Boy
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The lore with Daniel runs deep for Bridget Jones. While the titular character ultimately falls for Mark after a string of miscommunications, Daniel continues to pop up throughout the franchise. From their mutual connections to overlapping careers, he is never far out of sight. Naturally, the men often tussle over their respective relationships with Bridget throughout the franchise, both due to their personal grudges and Mark always having her best interests at heart.
In Bridget Jones’s Baby, Bridget, Mark, and his ex-wife all attend the funeral of Daniel, who is presumed to have died in a plane crash, despite his body never being found. At the very end of the film, a newspaper clipping reveals that Daniel was discovered alive after all. As Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy has killed off Mark, the trailer thus far depicts Daniel as a family friend to Bridget’s children and hints that they are no longer romantically involved.
5 Mark Darcy Is The Father Of Bridget Jones’ Baby
Bridget Was Happily Married To Mark Until His Death
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Although Mark and Bridget reunite following his divorce, Bridget gets cold feet and abruptly runs out. Her friends console her by inviting her to attend a very muddy music festival (featuring a cameo from Ed Sheeran). She meets and sleeps with an American named Jack Qwant (Patrick Dempsey), who, unbeknownst to Bridget at the moment, is a billionaire dating app founder. Bridget then discovers she is pregnant when she returns home to London.
Bridget Jones’s Baby follows both Mark and Jack vying for Bridget’s affections, while they await the birth to confirm which one is the father. They humorously attempt to one-up each other until they ultimately wish one another well. The film’s ending reveals that Mark is the father of the baby, and given Bridget’s long romantic history and strong love for him, he is now her husband. The trailer for Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy reveals that the couple later had a second child.
Related What is the best Bridget Jones movie? The official poster for Bridget Jones: Mad About You, the fourth installment in the series, has been released. It could be hard for the movie to live up to the past ones, especially the first movie, Bridget Jones’s Diary, which is the best of the three that have been released. Bridget Jones’s Diary set a high bar as a charming romantic comedy with heartfelt, funny performances. Though the sequels are worthy follow-ups, nothing can beat the first movie.
Bridget’s marriage to Mark had been a long time coming. Despite his early protestations, Mark later famously reminds Bridget that he loves her, “just the way she is,” a moment loosely based on Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice. The films are all adapted from writer Fielding’s novels, and Fielding confirmed in an interview with the BBC that the allusions to the classic Regency-era novel were intentional, including Mark’s last name. Screenwriter Andrew Davies adapted the 1995 version of Pride & Prejudice, in which Firth additionally starred (via Bustle).
4 Why Bridget Jones Previously Broke Up With Daniel Cleaver
Bridget Dumped Daniel For His Womanizing & Lies About Mark
Bridget first breaks up with Daniel in Bridget Jones’s Diary because of his noncommittal womanizing ways; the final straw is his cheating on her with an American coworker. Daniel then makes several vain attempts to get Bridget back, including trying to persuade her to continue working for his publishing house. During a visit to her parents’ house, Bridget’s mother casually mentions that Daniel also told Bridget a major lie during their relationship, changing the game entirely.
That being, Daniel told Bridget that Mark slept with his ex-fianceé. The opposite is revealed, meaning that Daniel slept with Mark’s ex-fianceé behind his back, effectively marking the end of their friendship. Mark and Daniel were once best friends during their college years at Cambridge University. The pair have not crossed paths in years until their mutual involvement with Bridget, which culminates in their glass-shattering fight in Bridget Jones’s Diary.
3 Jack’s Current Role In Bridget Jones’ Life
Jack Will Not Appear In The Upcoming Bridget Jones Film
Jack is seen attending Mark and Bridget’s wedding at the end of Bridget Jones’s Baby. Dempsey is not returning or Mad About the Boy, and is unlikely to be a significant part of Bridget’s life anymore in the upcoming film. Despite his willingness to step in as a father when he was potentially the child’s biological parent, Jack is a hardworking and career-driven character and is distinctly American. It becomes clear that while Jack has good intentions, he would not be a strong match for Bridget in the long term.
A major aspect of Bridget Jones’s Baby is Jack learning to adjust to life in London. Given that Mark was alive for several years between the last film and Mad About the Boy, it is likely that Jack gradually lost touch with Bridget. However, knowing Bridget’s complex inner monologue style narration, it is likely he will be name-dropped in Mad About the Boy, but will still not have a significant role.
2 Bridget Jones’ Friends Will Be There To Support Her
Bridget’s Friends Always Uplift Her In Trying Times, & They Will Soon Return
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Bridget’s quirky friend group has always been an integral aspect of the Bridget Jones world. Her friends often encourage her to believe in herself and offer her advice on how to tackle her predicaments. Even when things go wrong, her friends are there to support and console her without judgment, often offering the unconditional love she needs. These companions add a unique layer to the film and make Bridget one of the more developed female romantic comedy leads in recent decades.
Additionally, in Bridget Jones’s Baby, her friend Tom (James Callis) tells her he plans to adopt a baby with his long-term partner. Mad About the Boy will likely examine the friend group now that they are all parents. As Tom and Bridget’s first children would be close in age, the film can also showcase the second generation of friendship between them.
1 Mad About The Boy Will Introduce A New Love Interest
Leo Woodall Will Appear As Roxster
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Yet it wouldn’t be a Bridget Jones movie without some romantic tensions. Leo Woodall will appear as Roxster, Bridget’s strapping 29-year-old new love interest. Woodall has previously appeared as a scammer from Essex in The White Lotus and Dexter Mayhew in Netflix’s adaptation of One Day. Little is known about the character, but based on the trailer, he appears to rescue Bridget and her children from a tree they attempted to climb at the local park. As Bridget is now a widow and mother of two, Mad About The Boy will explore the complexities of finding new love through grief.
Related 10 Movies With A Sweet Female Lead That Redditors Rooted For Whether it’s a female inventor or publisher whose life enters into sheer chaos, these sweet female leads had fans rooting for them from the beginning.
This plot element makes the upcoming fourth installment of the Bridget Jones franchise feel decidedly contemporary. Mad About the Boy will join the ranks of other recent age-gap romance films featuring younger men and older women, including Prime Video’s The Idea Of You, Netflix’s The Lonely Planet, and the upcoming A24 thriller Babygirl. While the absence of Mark will be felt, it is clear from the trailer that the spirit at the heart of the Bridget Jones franchise remains strong in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy.
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy premieres in February 2025 on Peacock.
Source: Bustle