Bridget Jones Starts A New Chapter: What Could Be Next as Renée Zellweger Returns For Fourth Film?

Some good news dropped today in the form of a new installment in the beloved Bridget Jones series.

The fourth installment in the series was announced, with Renée Zellweger reprising her iconic role and a few new characters entering the fray just as Bridget enters a new chapter in her life.

With the working title 'Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy,' Bridget, now in her 50s, will be navigating life and love, just as she always has, seemingly with the same charm we've grown accustomed to.

It's thrilling news for fans of both the book series and the movies, who've watched Bridget on the big screen since 2001, when she was in her early twenties, writing away in her diary, scared she'd end up a spinster if she didn't play her cards right.

2001 was a much different time, and that's evident when you go back and watch the first film nowadays (which I admittedly do a few times a year.)

It's a world without Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and DoorDash. Bridget worked for a publishing company and attended a real-life book launch at one point.

The news wasn't at her fingertips, but instead, she relished in a good magazine and met guys the old-fashioned way: at work or through her parents.

Throughout the first three movies, Bridget's central love story centered around Mark Darcy, the son of one of her parents' friends who made an official first impression upon re-meeting Bridget as adults but slowly endeared himself to the bold Bridget once she realized he didn't actually have a gherkin thrust up his backside.

Hugh Grant's charming yet scandalous Daniel Cleaver made an effort in the first film to be Bridget's one true love, but it was obvious early on that he would never be Mark Darcy.

Even when he was a little cold and unable to read the room, one thing about Mark was his love for Bridget never wavered.

And through breakups, failed marriages, and a baby, they finally found their happy ending during Bridget Jones's Baby.

But one of the early tidbits we're learning about the new installment is that Bridget will be a widow.

That's right, folks. After three movies seeing Bridget and Mark fall in love over and over again, it looks like their love story is over, which is incredibly sad, though the sadness is dulled a bit knowing Bridget and Mark were finally able to get it right in this life and spend his final years together.

It's bittersweet knowing there will be a Bridget Jones world without Mark Darcy, but it's also exciting to see Bridget enter a new phase.

Bridget Jones's Diary, both the novel and the original film, were inspiring in their portrayal of women looking for love while also looking to understand and navigate life on their own terms.

All the movies are romantic comedies but also veer into conversations about family, friendships, careers, and parenthood. Love may be at the center, but the films always explored deeper issues, and the original, in particular, was a groundbreaking movie when it premiered.

As previously mentioned, 2001 was a different world. Bridget Jones was an outlier, as referenced many times throughout the film by those in her life who constantly wondered why she wasn't married. Or why she wasn't a specific size.

Bridget navigated a world that may feel like it was out to get her a lot of times in a way that felt relatable.

Bridget did not have it all together. Bridget did not have all the answers. And maybe, most importantly, she realized throughout the film that trying to change herself wasn't actually getting her any closer to the things she wanted.

There were a lot of classic lines from the original, but the best and most simple will always be Mark Darcy's classic line at the bottom of that narrow and long staircase, "…I like you very much. Just as you are."

After you stop swooning, you realize just how paramount that was for Bridget to hear in the moment.

Coming off a hard breakup with that scoundrel Daniel Cleaver, she wasn't even looking for romance but just trying to pour herself into work, friendships, and the like, and here came Mark Darcy saving mankind with words she didn't know she needed to hear.

It's a love declaration in many ways, but the sincerity always gets me, and it's something Bridget deserved to hear.

Throughout the next two movies, we see Bridget fumble her way along in only the hilarious way she can, but she is always true to herself. And it can take your entire adult life to learn that.

And you can STILL be learning that. There's no end date on growth.

'Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy' will be an adaptation from the Helen Fielding novel of the same name, and much like Bridget Jones's Baby, we'll be diving into the age of the internet, with all those aforementioned social media apps making things a bit more embarrassing for our favorite heroine.

In the aftermath of Mark's death, life will go for Bridget, and while the early movies focused on that Mark romance, it'll be interesting to see what romance looks like for Bridget now that she's older, wiser (?), and of course, a single mother.

She'll be doing her thing as only Bridget does by engaging in some sexy times with a younger man, and we'd expect nothing less from the free-spirited Jones.

Things will be much different for her than when we met her, especially the dating part, but this is Bridget Jones. There may be a hiccup along the way, but she always finds her way.

While we'll be waiting until 2025 for the film to debut, we know that alongside Zellweger and Grant, Emma Thompson will be reprising her role from the previous film, and newcomers will include Chiwetel Ejiofor and Leo Woodall.

Romantic comedies don't seem as prevalent as they once were, so it feels like perfect timing to hear that Bridget Jones is returning to save the day.

And the genre is noticeably short on stories involving people dating in their 50s, so we already have high hopes this one will retain the magic from the earlier films and inject a new sense of vigor into the franchise.

It's an exhilarating time to be a Bridget Jones fan!

Let us know how you feel about the news in the comments and what you think this new film could bring to the table!