Renee Zellweger Officially Signs on for ‘Bridget Jones’ Revival

‘Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy’ is the fourth installment in the franchise, and will also star veterans Hugh Grant and Emma Thompson and newcomers Chiwetel Ejiofor and Leo Woodall.

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Renee Zellweger
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy—the fourth installment of the British-based romantic film comedy series—is heading to the big screens, and, as The Hollywood Reporter put it, “after months of quiet chess pieces moves,” the talent is put together for the film. 

What is a Bridget Jones film without Bridget Jones herself? Yes, the star of the show, Renee Zellweger, is set to return, alongside Hugh Grant as Daniel Cleaver. The star-studded cast will also include Emma Thompson (who appeared in 2016’s Bridget Jones’s Baby), as well as franchise newcomers Chiwetel Ejiofor and Leo Woodall, who stole hearts in White Lotus’ second season and One Day. Helen Fielding—who wrote the bestselling novels about the character—wrote the script for the forthcoming film. 

Renee Zellweger

Zellweger has signed on to reprise her role as Bridget Jones five years after her last film role in "Judy," for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. 

(Image credit: Getty Images)

“Readers and audiences have seen Jones have love triangles, find romance, and even have a baby, but in the novel Mad About a Boy, the woman found new levels of embarrassment as tweets and texts were added to her diary as her forms of expression,” The Hollywood Reporter writes. “Jones is now navigating life, work, family, and love as a 51-year-old single mother and widow, to boot. And, of course, there’s the hot sex with a 30-year-old man.”

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Zellweger first starred as Jones in the 2001 original; it was not only a massive hit, but earned her an Oscar nomination. Its sequel, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, was released in 2004, followed by Bridget Jones’s Baby in 2016. The trio of movies have grossed more than $760 million at the worldwide box office. 

Renee Zellweger

Colin Firth, Zellweger, and Grant at the premiere of the 2001 original.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Renee Zellweger

Zellweger and Grant at the 2004 film's premiere.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is due on Peacock on Valentine’s Day 2025; it will also be shown in theaters.

Rachel Burchfield
Rachel Burchfield
Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor

Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.