The ‘ton was ablaze with gossip this morning when Luke Thompson‘s Benedict Bridgerton was announced as the lead for Bridgerton season four.

Netflix revealed the second-eldest Bridgerton sibling would be on the marriage mart for the next installment, following season three’s love story between Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) and Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan).

According to the logline, season four “turns its focus to bohemian second son Benedict. Despite his elder and younger brothers both being happily married, Benedict is loath to settle down.” However, when he meets a mysterious Lady in Silver at Violet Bridgerton’s (Ruth Gemmell) masquerade ball, that all changes — and Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) and Colin couldn’t be prouder.

Julia Quinn’s An Offer from a Gentleman — the third book in her novel series — will serve as the basis for Benedict’s season as he pursues (spoiler alert!) Sophie Beckett. According to the book’s description, she never dreamed of sneaking into the famous masquerade ball as she has been relegated to the role of servant by her stepmother. There, in the arms of Benedict, she feels like royalty, but it can only last until midnight.

“Ever since that magical night, a radiant vision in silver has blinded Benedict to the attractions of any other — except, perhaps this alluring and oddly familiar beauty dressed in housemaid’s garb whom he feels compelled to rescue from a most disagreeable situation,” the description continues. “He has sworn to find and wed his mystery miss, but this breathtaking maid makes him weak with wanting her. Yet, if he offers his heart, will Benedict sacrifice his only chance for a fairy tale love?”

On Sept. 11, Netflix announced it had cast Yerin Ha in the role of Sophie Beckett, who will be named Sophie Baek in the TV adaptation of the novel.

“What drew me to Sophie was that she immediately has obstacles — something that she constantly has to overcome,” Ha told Tudum. “Whether it’s this battle around social status or trying to hide her feelings from Benedict.”

The Halo actress, who is Korean and from Australia, explained she felt even more connected to Sophie because showrunner Jess Brownell gave her character the Korean last name of Baek, out of respect for her culture.

“A name is the first bit of identity that you share with the world, and that’s why changing a name can be so powerful,” Ha said. “To make Sophie’s name fit someone who looks like me is really empowering. All credit to Jess Brownell, our showrunner.”

She added, “It’s a really nice way for me to feel like the role is fit for me, rather than me having to fit a certain mold. It’s amazing what it can do just in a psychological sense. So it means a lot that Jess did that for me.”

In another conversation with Tudum, Thompson explained that season four was more of a “proper, old-school fairy tale” in the romance of it “and the actual reality of the world.”

“And both are true,” he continued. “You have to hold both of them — the romance and the reality — in your hand. In its best version, ‘true love’ happens in the middle of that.”

As season four explores the Lady in Silver and a masquerade ball, there are aspects of it that will seem like a “twist on Cinderella,” the actor noted, adding, “You remember being told those stories as a child — the magic and the romance of them. It’s really exciting to have that weaved into the world that we know of Bridgerton … It’s such a great story, but it’s also, I hope, really relatable.”

When the season officially went into production in mid-September, Netflix shared the first look of Thompson’s Benedict with Ha’s Sophie.

The streamer also unveiled several more casting announcements, including Katie Leung, most well known for her role as Cho Chang in the Harry Potter films. Leung will play Lady Araminta Gun, a twice-married and twice-widowed mother of two girls debuting on the marriage mart. Michelle Mao and Isabella Wei will play Araminta’s daughters, and familiar faces Emma Naomi (Alice Mondrich) and Hugh Sachs (Brimsley) will be promoted to main cast.

While Benedict will be the focus of season four, the other siblings also have a busy love life. Colin and Penelope welcomed their first child; Francesca (Hannah Dodd) and John Stirling (Victor Alli) are off to Scotland to begin their new life together; Kate (Simone Ashley) and Anthony sailed to India to welcome their first child; and Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) and Simon (Regé-Jean Page) have at least one child by now. Not to mention, Violet and Lord Marcus Anderson (Daniel Francis) began their own potential courtship in season three.

Coughlan told E! News on Oct. 10 that she’s enjoyed taking a more backseat role during production this season after she and Newton’s Colin were the focus of season three.

“It’s quite nice to take a step back and can let them like do it all,” she said. “We’ve been filming for about a month now. But I get to pop in and out, so I get to come to New York, which I couldn’t have done last year, so it’s quite nice.”

As for Thompson and Ha’s season, the actress teased that it will be worth the wait when season four drops. “It’s gonna be amazing,” she noted. “Luke and Yerin are hard at work now. They’re having such a good time.”

Yerin Ha and Luke Thompson for ‘Bridgerton’ season four. @netflix

The previous installment also saw Benedict explore his sexuality in a new way, when he entered into a situationship with Lady Tilley Arnold (Hannah New) and Paul (Lucas Aurelio). Showrunner Jess Brownell told The Hollywood Reporter that Benedict’s relationship with Tilley helped him see how he can be truly himself while also very much a part of society.

In another conversation, Brownell explained to THR that Benedict’s sexual identity was not a fixed belief for him, noting that in today’s world, he may be considered pansexual, and that was something they talked about since season one.

“I do think that he’s a character who would naturally be more about connection than he would be about gender,” she shared in a Bridgerton season three postmortem. “In a bigger way, I think the threesome, or throuple, storyline for Benedict is about him learning to embrace his true self in the same way that Pen and Colin are embracing their true selves. Benedict has always been an unconventional character who lives a little bit outside of society in terms of his comfort.”

As for how Benedict’s storyline will play out in season four, Brownell teased they’re going to continue giving him space to grow and figure out how he wants to exist in this world, reflecting on one scene in particular that really resonated with the second-eldest Bridgerton.

“There’s a moment towards the end of the season where Benedict is talking to Tilley about how he doesn’t want anything serious, and Tilley, in a very powerful way, says to him, ‘That’s OK, but it was really nice to want something for once,’” she said. “Benedict is someone who experiences a lot of breadths in his life in terms of a million different experiences, but he’s never really committed to anything. I think what he’s starting to realize is that he also craves depth, and so Benedict reconciling breadth with depth is something we’re going to dive into pretty deeply in future seasons.”

Luke Thompson as Benedict Bridgerton in season three of ‘Bridgerton.’ Liam Daniel/Netflix

While there’s no news yet about when fans can expect Bridgerton season four, Brownell told THR at the London premiere of season three, part two, that they will likely have to wait another two years before season four hits the streamer.

“We are working to try and put the seasons out more quickly, but they do take eight months to film and then they have to be edited, and then they have to be dubbed into every language,” she said. “And the writing takes a very long time as well, so we’re kind of on a two-year pace, we’re trying to speed up, but somewhere in that range.”