Cinema News: ‘Bridgerton’ boss on the moment that ruined the vibe

January 30, 2026 | View in browser

Luke Thompson as Benedict Bridgerton, Yerin Ha as Sophie Baek in

By Yvonne Villarreal, Robert Lloyd and Greg Braxton

Welcome to Screen Gab, the newsletter for everyone who is eager for another round of Regency-era declarations of love, unrealistically high standards of romance and string covers of pop music to feel alive again.

After a roughly two-year gap, "Bridgerton" returned this week for Part 1 of its fourth season, which introduces a new love connection with plenty of yearning and stolen glances for fans to meme-ify. Based on the popular Julia Quinn novels, this season is inspired by "An Offer From a Gentleman" and shifts its focus to Benedict (Luke Thompson), the second-oldest son of the Bridgerton family, and his blossoming upstairs-downstairs romance with Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha), a maid who, unbeknownst to him, is the illegitimate daughter of an Earl. Showrunner Jess Brownell also stopped by Guest Spot this week to address the jaw-dropping proposal from Benedict that closed out the first batch of episodes.

But if romantic period dramas aren't your thing, we have more recommendations to add to your viewing queue: The first is a documentary that chronicles the tumultuous, year-long construction of Disneyland; the other serves as the ideal pre-game option to Rachel McAdams' latest flight-from-hell flick. Fasten your seat belts!

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Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times

"Disneyland Handcrafted" (Disney+)

What distinguishes "Disneyland Handcrafted" from other official and (the many) unofficial documentaries on the alpha Disney park is its crazy wealth of archival color footage and all-in focus on the construction of the physical plant. It pours one out for the craftsmen, workmen and artisans (and their cranes and diggers and earth-pushing machines) who transformed an Anaheim orange grove into a (mostly) up-and-running amusement space in the space of a year, racing to open on July 17, 1955. (Interestingly, some orange trees survived into the park, though the fruit was removed.) There is the drama of the financial gamble that made it possible (though I would have liked to hear more than half a line about a threatened strike), but the real excitement is in the sawing, nailing, sculpting concrete, bending metal, planting trees, laying train tracks and making the trains to run on them. If you've ever gone there just to admire the stagecraft (I used to, back when it was affordable), this sweet, moving, often-funny film's for you. (It pairs well with the first episode of "The Imagineering Story," about making the plans these workers realized.) — Robert Lloyd

"Red Eye" (Hulu)

There's no argument that Rachel McAdams is a compelling actress to watch onscreen. But bad things seem to happen to her when she flies — at least on film. The survival thriller "Send Help," opening in theaters this weekend, stars McAdams as a nerdy but smart office worker who gets stranded on a remote island with her domineering boss (Dylan O'Brien) after their plane crashes. The film might spark memories of Wes Craven's 2005 "Red Eye" featuring McAdams as a hotel manager forced into an assassination plot by a hitman (Cillian Murphy) sitting next to her on a red-eye flight. Perhaps her screen characters should consider traveling by train. — Greg Braxton

Guest spot

A weekly chat with actors, writers, directors and more about what they're working on — and what they're watching

"Bridgerton" has depicted a number of classic romance tropes: a fake courtship that turns into real love, an enemies-to-lovers story and a childhood friends-to-lovers slow burn. The show's fourth season goes full fairy tale — Bridgerton-style — with a"Cinderella"-type story that begins when Benedict (Luke Thompson), the charming and bohemian Bridgerton sibling, meets the mysterious Sophie (Yerin Ha), a maid who has snuck into a lavish masquerade ball and captured his heart. The brief encounter sets the pair on a star-crossed journey. With Part 1 of Season 4 now streaming, showrunner Jess Brownell stopped by Guest Spot to explain Benedict's mood-killing proposal, Sophie's mask and the TV show she thinks you should know about. (And by the way, I recently spoke with Thompson and Ha about stepping into "Bridgerton's" romance spotlight — you can read it here.) — Yvonne Villarreal

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There's that moment on the stairwell that ends Part 1 where the viewer is swept up in this moment of romance and everything that he's saying. Then that final line, where Benedict asks Sophie to be his mistress, is just a slap to the senses. "Bridgerton" is known for the sweeping declarations of love. How was it arriving to that one?

In many ways, this season is about the clash between fantasy and reality. Benedict represents fantasy in every way, and has lived in a fantasy world in every way; whereas Sophie, not by choice, has lived in a harsher reality. One of the themes that we're exploring is, that for true love to blossom, you can't live all the way in one or the other; there has to be a meeting in the middle. Structurally, that moment in the stairwell is where the fantasy of our story comes crashing into the reality of our story. If Part 1 is really a fairy tale, Part 2 does get into the nitty-gritty of the reality of their situation a little bit more. Benedict will absolutely have to reckon with this question he asked Sophie. It's not something we're going to let him get away with. It's part of his arc and journey to understand why he wasn't able to be braver in that moment.

With this being Season 4, there's been time to establish the Benedict character. And we've seen some of the changes the show has brought to his arc, in terms of his sexuality. Will we see how it informs or shapes his dynamic with Sophie?

I don't want to spoil anything, but I will say we had a lot of conversations in the room about the fact that when a queer person ends up in a heterosexual-presenting relationship, it does not negate their queerness. And it was really important for us to find a way to make it clear that Benedict still owns that part of his identity. So it is touched on in Part 2, and I think thematically, we tried to tie it to a larger piece of the story, which is that I don't think that you can really fully have love with someone until you've shown them your true self. And his queerness is really part of who he is and always will be in the show.

A pivotal moment to the story of Benedict and Sophie is how they first meet — the masquerade ball. It's what fans were anticipating. Tell me what you wanted it to be, what you didn't want it to be and what you needed out of those masks.

Obviously the mask has a very practical story purpose, which is that it obscures Sophie's true identity and provides one of the obstacles to the couple being together. Now, if you are a modern-day person, and you meet the masked woman, then you meet Sophie Baek, you probably are going to recognize her. We talked a lot about: Do we give her a full face mask? Do we give her a wig? It's such a key moment that we needed her to be able to emote and express herself, and so we needed to not cover her entire face.

What becomes really interesting then — and what I hope people pick up on — is outside of the fact that Benedict is being a dope, is that a big part of the missed identity is this class difference. Even a progressive, well-meaning young man like Benedict, he is so blind to, in some ways, the humanity of the servant class, that he couldn't possibly imagine that this maid he meets in Episode 2 could possibly be the masked woman he's been searching for so long. In terms of the ball, the masquerade ball itself, it's such an iconic set piece, so beautifully written by Julia Quinn, I just really relied on my department heads, on Alison Gartshore in production design, John Glaser in costumes, and Nic Collins hair and make-up to create this incredibly rich, textured, layered world. I think all the departments took a lot of inspiration from "A Midsummer Night's Dream." We wanted that space to feel really surreal and to feel as if anything could happen. In order for a character like Benedict, who's done it all and seen it all, to be shaken out of his routine and to be moved to actually want to commit to something, it took a night like that, a character like Sophie Baek and an actress like Yerin Ha.

What becomes harder as we move deeper into the show's run, is fans want to stay connected to the previous couples, see how they're story progresses. We see Penelope and Colin, who now have a child. Are we gonna see Anthony and Kate?

You have to see what happens in Part 2, I guess. We always want to keep our previous leads. It gives such a richness and a depth to have that history there. I'm always hoping to find ways to include everyone.

What have you watched recently that you are recommending to everyone you know?

"Gogglebox" [Netflix, Prime Video]. This needs no recommendation to anyone in the U.K., but I wish more people in the U.S. knew about it. The most charming non-actors from across the U.K. watch television and react. It's not only heartwarming and hilarious and affirming of our shared love of being entertained, it is also a great source of ideas for what else to watch.

What's your go-to "comfort watch," the movie or TV show you go back to again and again?

"Phantom Thread" [TVOD]. Picture-wise, it's one of the most beautiful movies ever made. The dynamic between the two leads is completely twisted but it's proof that chemistry and great writing can make even the most unhealthy love stories feel romantic. It shouldn't be comforting, but it so is, and I find it impossible to stay on my phone doomscrolling when this movie is on.