‘Bridgerton’ Season 5 Coming in 2027 With Sapphic Romance Story
Yesterday’s presentation at the annual Netflix Upfront 2026 event brought plenty of exciting updates about the streamer’s biggest upcoming titles, but the announcement that immediately caught our attention was the future of Bridgerton. Netflix officially confirmed that Bridgerton Season 5 is coming in 2027, and yes, as we reported back in March, Francesca Bridgerton (Hannah Dodd) and Michaela Stirling’s (Masali Baduza) long-awaited sapphic romance will finally take center stage.
The announcement was made during Netflix’s upfront presentation by Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s Chief Content Officer, who also confirmed that the new season is currently filming outside London. Leading the upcoming chapter are Doddas and Baduza, making this the first season of Bridgerton to focus on a same-gender central romance.
Following the heartbreaking events of Season 4, Francesca and Michaela are both still carrying the grief of losing Lord John Stirling (Victor Alli), a man they deeply loved in different ways. However, Season 5 will move the story forward by two years, opening the door for both women to begin healing and rediscovering love together. According to series showrunner Jess Brownell, the upcoming season will still deliver everything fans expect from Bridgerton—romance, longing, emotional drama, and humor—while centering queer joy in a way the franchise has never done before.
Brownell described the season as “a season about queer joy” rather than queer trauma, while also teasing that yearning will play a major role in Francesca and Michaela’s story. The creative team emphasized how meaningful it feels to bring a sapphic love story into the lavish fantasy world that Bridgerton has built over the years, especially within the period drama genre, where queer relationships have often been sidelined or erased altogether.
Season 5 will continue drawing inspiration from When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn, though the adaptation is expected to significantly rework the source material to focus on Francesca and Michaela’s evolving relationship. The story follows Francesca as she attempts to reenter society and the marriage mart two years after John’s death, largely for practical reasons. But when Michaela returns to London to help manage the Kilmartin estate, unresolved emotions and growing attraction begin complicating Francesca’s carefully planned future.
The cast also teased that grief remains an important part of the story, since both Francesca and Michaela loved John deeply and continue carrying his memory with them. At the same time, the new season will explore vulnerability, emotional intimacy, and the slow dismantling of the walls Michaela has built around herself. And honestly? The promise of “big-time yearning” between these two already has us seated.
For LGBTQ+ viewers especially, Bridgerton Season 5 feels like a huge moment for mainstream period dramas. While queer stories have absolutely existed within the genre before, seeing one of Netflix’s biggest global franchises fully embrace a sapphic romance as its central love story marks an exciting step forward for representation. And thankfully, it sounds like the series is committed to letting Francesca and Michaela experience not only heartbreak and longing, but also happiness, passion, and a genuine happily ever after.
Bridgerton Season 5 is currently in production and will premiere on Netflix in 2027. Follow us on X and Instagram for all queer stuff!
Featured Image: Image Courtesy of Netflix.
