L to R: Masali Baduza as Michaela, Hannah Dodd as Francesca Bridgerton in 'Bridgerton' Season 4 Part 2
L to R: Masali Baduza as Michaela, Hannah Dodd as Francesca Bridgerton in ‘Bridgerton’ Season 4 Part 2Liam Daniel/Netflix

For the first time in Bridgerton history, two consecutive seasons of the steamy period drama will premiere in two consecutive calendar years. During Netflix‘s upfront presentation, Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria announced that Season 5 of the Regency romance will be released in 2027.

Launching as a respite from the pandemic in December 2020 to become a global phenomenon, Bridgerton returned for Season 2 in 2022, Season 3 in 2024 and Season 4 in 2026.

To help close the gap between seasons, Netflix started production on Season 5 in March, just a couple of weeks after Part 2 of Season 4 debuted on Feb. 26. That is the quickest turnaround, topping that of Season 4, which started filming two months after the Season 3 Part 2’s release.

Season 5 of Bridgerton, produced by Shondaland, spotlights the Bridgertons’ introverted middle daughter Francesca (Hannah Dodd). Two years after losing her beloved husband, John Stirling, Fran decides to reenter the marriage mart for practical reasons. Francesca’s book in the Bridgerton series is When He Was Wicked.

But when John’s cousin Michaela (Masali Baduza) returns to London to tend to the Kilmartin estate, Fran’s complicated feelings will have her questioning whether to stick to her pragmatic intentions or pursue her inner passions.

Tega Alexander, Jacqueline Boatswain and Gemma Knight Jones have joined the cast for Season 5. Bridgerton is executive produced by showrunner Jess Brownell, Shonda Rhimes, Betsy Beers, Tom Verica, and Chris Van Dusen.

The Bridgerton universe has featured on Netflix’s Global Top 10 over 60 times, reaching the local Top 10 in all countries tracked. Seasons 1 and 3 are on Netflix’s Most Popular TV List of all time, each one exceeding 100M views in their first 91 days.