'Bridget Jones': Renée Zellweger, Hugh Grant returning for 4th film
FILE - Co-stars Hugh Grant and Renee Zellweger attend the premiere of "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason" at the Odeon, Leicester Square. (Photo by rune hellestad/Corbis via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES - Two-time Academy Award winner Renée Zellweger is returning to one of her most beloved roles as Bridget Jones, according to multiple reports.
Zellweger is set to star in "Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy," the fourth installment of the romantic comedy film series, according to Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and more.
The "Bridget Jones" films, based on the Helen Fielding authored novels of the same name, follow an ordinary woman and her professional and romantic woes.
The three previous movies – 2001’s "Bridget Jones’s Diary," 2004’s "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason" and 2016’s "Bridget Jones’s Baby" – have been hugely successful at the box office.
Hugh Grant, who plays Daniel Cleaver, and Emma Thompson, who appeared in the third "Bridget Jones" installment as Dr. Rawlings, are also confirmed for the fourth film, Variety and THR reported.
Additionally, Chiwetel Ejiofor, known for his roles in films like "12 Years a Slave" and "Love, Actually," and Leo Woodall from "The White Lotus" will be in the new "Bridget Jones" film, the news outlets reported.
In the first three books and films, Bridget Jones seeks to improve herself, gets into love triangles, and even has a baby. Universal Pictures has not yet shared much about the plot of the fourth film, but the "Mad About the Boy" book follows 51-year-old Bridget, now a widow with two young children, convinced she will never find romance again.
Also armed with a Twitter account and text messaging, Bridget navigates "head lice epidemics, school-picnic humiliations, and cross-generational sex," while learning that "life isn’t over when you start needing reading glasses—and why one should never, ever text while drunk," a synopsis by the book publisher reads.
Fielding previously revealed in 2022 that she was adapting her book into another movie.
"Yeah, I’m working on it and I really hope it will happen," Fielding told a Radio Times podcast. "Every film that gets made is a miracle. I think it’s really difficult to make films and to make them happen and to make them good and we want it to be really good. But I really hope so. I’d love to see it on the screen."
"Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy" will be released on Valentine’s Day 2025 on Peacock, while it will be released in theaters internationally, Variety and THR reported.
This story was reported from Cincinnati.