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Yong

Yong Chavez

ABS-CBN News North America

<div><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/70mFMuIBbG8?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe> </div>I lose my place while asking the first question because I was momentarily undone by Yerin Ha’s flawless face. In a posh London hotel, I am sitting across &quot;Bridgerton&quot; Season 4 lead stars.It’s not just beauty, but Ha has a kind of quiet radiance that pulls focus, the sort that makes you forget what you were about to say. “Oh, my God, thank you!” She laughs when I quickly explain. Beside her, the equally striking Luke Thompson reaches out to gently hold her arm and watches the moment unfold with amused warmth.It feels, in its own way, like a perfect introduction to the season they are leading: a story about attention, vulnerability, and what happens when you allow yourself to be seen.For Thompson, this season marks a personal and professional turning point. After three years as Bridgerton’s affable middle child, he steps into the role of romantic lead. It’s a shift that requires him to excavate layers of Benedict long left unexplored.“It’s very, very satisfying to be able to show something so different,” he says. “You suddenly see the other side of the coin, and it makes sense of everything you’ve seen before about him.”<div> </div><div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1769157523987BRIDGERTON_404_Unit_06434R.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Luke Thompson. Netflix</div>That other side is where Benedict’s charm gives way to caution, and ease reveals itself as emotional self-defense. Thompson speaks thoughtfully about the character’s inner life, tracing it back to early loss and unspoken grief.“If he lost his dad quite young and watched his mum mourn, he probably doesn’t have a great example of what a loving relationship is,” he says. “So it might be something he’s worried about getting into. Because if you put down roots with someone, you risk losing everything.”It’s a quietly devastating reading of a man long defined by his levity. In Thompson’s hands, Benedict’s wit becomes a shield, and his flirtation is a way of skirting emotional danger.“He dresses himself up as someone who’s very easygoing,” Thompson adds, “but actually, he doesn’t like risk. He has anxiety. Because he’s human.”There is something deeply contemporary in this portrayal of masculinity. Shondaland’s series allows men to show fear, uncertainty, and emotional hesitation. Instead of grand declarations, Benedict offers introspection.<div> </div><div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1769157562670BRIDGERTON_403_Unit_04670R.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Yerin Ha. Netflix</div>Opposite him, Ha’s Sophie Baek carries her own carefully guarded interior world. Her storyline bears echoes of Cinderella, but Ha resists the idea of fragility, instead centering Sophie’s gradual awakening to her own worth.“For her to really start putting that doubtful voice aside and actually opening up and being vulnerable, and understanding that vulnerability is not a weakness,” Ha says. “It actually is a strength, and it opens up doors for connection.”That journey, she admits, became personal. Stepping into a global franchise as a newcomer demanded the same courage Sophie must find: to take up space, to trust her instincts, and to believe that she belongs.“Exploring that side of her was really fun for me,” Ha says. To her, it felt very close to home.There is an emotional symmetry between actor and character that gives Sophie’s arc a lived-in authenticity. The story gives Sophie permission to want, hope, and soften. Her performance reframes resilience as something tender and expansive, rather than armored and unyielding.Together, Benedict and Sophie form a romance built not on inevitability, but recognition. Each sees the other’s fear and responds with patience rather than pressure. In Bridgerton’s slow-burn fashion, their relationship unfolds in glances and in conversations that hover between humor and honesty.Their real-life rapport feels similarly intuitive. Asked about first impressions, Thompson smiles affectionately toward Ha. “I thought you were really funny. You brought humor where you wouldn’t expect it. The lake scene, you made me laugh.”Ha smiles. “When I first met him in person, I think because, you know, he was in &#x27;Bridgerton&#x27; for three seasons, you never know how someone&#x27;s gonna turn.” They laugh. “So I was like, is he going to be--? And I was like, ‘Oh, you&#x27;re the sweetest person alive.’ Very open, very kind from the get-go.”<div> </div><div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1769157595889BRIDGERTON_404_Unit_08434R.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Yerin Ha and Luke Thompson. Netflix</div>That sense of safety shaped their favorite moments on set: carriage rides filled with teasing banter, scenes steeped in flirtatious sarcasm, and the stillness of Sophie’s cottage where the grandeur of the world recedes, leaving only two people tentatively learning how to trust.“The cottage,” Ha says. “That whole sequence. It’s the cherry on top.”For Ha, there was also profound meaning in sharing scenes with Katie Leung, who plays Sophie’s stepmother. For many, Leung once stood as one of the only Asian faces in mainstream projects through the Harry Potter franchise.“Oh, my God, what an icon,” Ha says. “Katie is so sweet, and she’s so incredible as the villain. I’m so happy she gets a season to explore that. Being one of the newbies, it was such a joy to share that space with her.”As the conversation draws to a close, Thompson reflects on what it has meant to step into the emotional foreground of their story.“I think it brings him back down to earth,” he says of Benedict. “It makes him real.”In the end, their season feels less like a fairytale and more like an emotional reckoning: a story about risk, self-trust, and the radical act of letting yourself be seen.

Leading 'Bridgerton' Season 4, Luke Thompson and Yerin Ha open up about vulnerability, slow-burn romance and why this season’s love story is the show’s most emotionally revealing yet.

Leading ' Bridgerton' Season 4, Luke Thompson and Yerin Ha open up about vulnerability, slow-burn romance and why this season’s love story is the show’s most emotionally revealing yet.

Here in Hollywood: Luke Thompson, Yerin Ha lead Bridgerton’s most emotional season yet

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Here in Hollywood: Luke Thompson, Yerin Ha lead Bridgerton’s most emotional season yet

Yong Chavez,

ABS-CBN News North America

Published January 23, 2026 05:14 PM PHT

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Here in Hollywood

Yong Chavez

Netflix

Bridgerton

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