Luke Thompson wasn’t sure how he would feel on the night of Bridgerton Season 4’s world premiere in Paris. He had been playing the titular family’s libertine second son, Benedict Bridgerton, for nearly seven years, but that fateful January 2026 evening would place him — and his co-star, series breakout Yerin Ha — in the global spotlight like never before.  

“It can feel like a very out-of-body experience. You’d think the idea of hearing lots of shouting fans would make it even worse — that it would make your head completely leave the ground,” Thompson tells Tudum. But the moment he and Ha greeted Bridgerton viewers at a special fan screening introducing the love story of Benedict and Sophie Baek (Ha), they found the opposite. 

“The reaction was so warm and lovely. Also, a lot of them were French fans. Since I was brought up in France, it felt like a homecoming,” Thompson continues. “It actually was incredibly great.” 

In the weeks since Ha and Thompson presented their season of Bridgerton to the world — now streaming in its entirety on Netflix — they’ve felt an outpouring of love from a variety of sources: conversations with doormen, appearances at talk shows, and an endless algorithm of affectionate fan edits online. Ha’s favorite Sophie meme? “The ones where people stitch the ‘be my mistress’ line with Eloise, where she’s got that frown on her face,” Ha tells Tudum, evoking Season 4, Part 1’s breathless staircase romp. “It’s just so sweet to see how creative people get.” 

The actor sees the deeper meaning in the fandom around her character, a resilient and witty woman who perseveres through devastating hardships without losing her capacity for love. Benedict is the first person she feels safe enough to share that piece of herself with. “For people to say they really see themselves in Sophie and to feel like they’re worthy of love as well and to understand it’s OK to be strong and soft at the same time — that’s all you can hope for as an actor,” Ha says. 

With the arrival of Bridgerton Season 4, Part 2 comes even deeper wells of feeling and fire from Benedict, an aristocrat, and Sophie, a maid with secrets. Yes, the final four episodes see the central couple finally consummate their simmering attraction. Yes, there’s also a steamy bathtub scene that is sure to set TikTok aflame (more on that soon). But these encounters aren’t just spice for spice’s sake. As Benedict and Sophie’s connection intensifies, their walls crumble, and heart-touching vulnerability spills out. “That’s what love is, isn’t it? Pouring everything out and giving someone else everything,” says Thompson.  

This tale is a capital-R romance, with a happy ending as its ultimate goal. 

That’s why Season 4 has key scenes like Benedict and Sophie’s conservatory conversation in Episode 6. Benedict invites Sophie to the dreamy location to pledge his commitment to her. He even brings a hand-drawn sketch of his country estate, My Cottage, as proof of what their lives could look like — and it now reads “Our Cottage.” Considering the obstacles ahead due to class divides, he knows that a healthy future between a nobleman and a maid necessitates honesty now. So Benedict tells Sophie about his past romantic relationships with men and women. 

“What makes Benedict distinctive, particularly as a male character, is that queer sex is not something he feels tense or anxious about,” Thompson says. “He’s not saying anything in order to get something off his chest that he’s been worrying about. That scene is about Sophie. He wants to, as a gesture of honesty, open up and not hold stuff back.”

Thompson hopes viewers “see some elements of themselves reflected” in Benedict’s refreshing perspective on intimacy and romance. “Because I think male characters or male sexuality tends to be very boxed in, anxious, all about repression,” he continues. “What’s lovely about Benedict is that he isn’t into that.” 

Sophie isn’t either and immediately understands Benedict. “I think what’s so lovely about Sophie seeing Benedict is that she really does just accept him for who he is in his entirety,” Ha says on Bridgerton: The Official Podcast, now streaming on Netflix. “It doesn’t faze her because it’s him, and she just sees him for who he is — whatever his past is.”  

Showrunner Jess Brownell underscores how important it was for the Bridgerton creative team to maintain who Benedict was, no matter the gender of his soulmate. “Just because someone ends up in a heterosexual-presenting relationship, that doesn’t negate their queerness,” she tells Tudum. “Benedict’s queerness is still very much a part of his identity.” 

Benedict’s vulnerability about his past inspires Sophie to be truthful about her own. She tells Benedict that she’s the illegitimate daughter of a lord and recounts the ways that his death destroyed her life for many years. This is the first time Sophie has been so forthcoming with another person, and Benedict really listens. When Sophie later mentions that her father, Lord Penwood (Arthur Lee), omitted her from his will, it’s Benedict who realizes such behavior doesn’t make sense. Benedict suggests it’s more likely Lord Penwood’s cruel widow, Araminta Gun (Katie Leung), has been lying for almost a decade. Araminta has already had Sophie wrongfully jailed. Why would that be her first manipulation of the legal system? 

As the scales fall from Sophie’s eyes, her connection to Benedict feels stronger than ever. So the couple gets even closer in the seductive tub that is conveniently heating up Benedict’s bed chambers. The result is a Bridgerton sex scene that is as tender as it is passionate. Benedict prioritizes Sophie’s needs, pampering her and finding enticing approaches to avoiding pregnancy. Ha is proud to be the latest Bridgerton heroine to center women’s pleasure onscreen.

“Oh my God, it’s amazing,” Ha says, visibly brightening. “It’s nice because I know people project themselves onto certain things, and the show is so creative. It’s a lot of fun to see.” 

The actor also recognizes how emotionally integral the bathtub scene is for her character, who hasn’t felt such unconditional love or physical care, well, ever. “It’s really poetic, isn’t it, for someone to take care of her? It’s like Benedict is washing all her troubles away,” Ha continues. “It was really special to actually let her hair down properly and feel love finally be reciprocated after all this time.” 

Thompson sees another theme within the swirling ripples of Benedict and Sophie’s sultry soak. “There’s something quite romantic about that scene because there’s always been this thing with them and water,” he notes. “The first time they meet, they talk about wading in deeper and being in shallow water … I just love the poetry of the fact they end up in a bathtub together, just in their little world.”

However, Benedict and Sophie must exit their love bubble and put themselves in front of Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel) if they really want their happily ever after. In a final bid to save Sophie from prison — and allow her and Benedict to marry — the Bridgertons involve the queen. They introduce her as Sophie Gun, presenting her to the queen as a distant cousin of the late Lord Penwood. Queen Charlotte, charmed by the theatrics and intent to see Benedict wed, accepts the obvious falsehood. Suddenly, Sophie has been accepted into the ton. 

“Sophie has held on to this misunderstanding about her father for so long. To be introduced as Sophie Gun almost makes him proud. And if the most powerful person in the world at that time believes it, then that’s all Sophie needs,” Ha says. “She’s lived her entire life through giving grace and kindness to other people. For her to receive that back is really wonderful.” 

So Benedict, the man who once couldn’t even commit to a kite, proposes in the middle of the queen’s ball. Thompson says that the death of his brother-in-law, Lord John Stirling (Victor Alli), put the fragility of life into perspective for his character. “Benedict is someone who has always quite enjoyed deferring action, deferring choice,” Thompson says. “There’s something about the death of John which wakes up this sense of, ‘Oh, life’s short actually, and it can be taken away from us at any time.’ ”

So neither Benedict nor Sophie wastes a second. In the last scene of Season 4, a surprise mid-credits treat, the couple marries at My Cottage (or should we say Our Cottage?), surrounded by the Bridgertons and Sophie’s found family from the many eras of her life. Inside the estate — where the first spark of attraction caught for the duo — a painting hangs of Sophie Bridgerton as the Lady in Silver. Benedict’s signature is emblazoned upon it — he’s back to his art. The artist who once sketched Sophie alone in his brother’s study now paints his wife at their home. The woman who learned to survive by vanishing into the background is now the focal point of the room. Fantasy has met reality, just as Violet once predicted it would.  

“The symbolism of finishing a painting is that Benedict is finally taking something to its utmost limit rather than giving it up,” Thompson says. “Something has shifted in him.” 

Benedict’s wife has also evolved. Once upon a time, Sophie was sure that she would disappoint as the true identity behind the Lady in Silver. Now she knows she’s a piece of art — literally and figuratively. “Her whole motto was to know her place and be invisible,” Ha says. “It means a lot to her, to be someone’s muse. To have that painting hung on the wall? To be able to take her mask off and truly show who she is inside without having to hide anymore? It’s a really powerful message.”

See the message for yourself by (re)watching Benedict and Sophie’s entire love story now in Bridgerton Season 4 on Netflix. And keep coming to Tudum for more news out of Mayfair as we head toward Season 5. 

Watch Bridgerton S4 Leads on Their Full-Circle Ending and That Bathtub Scene