Hugh Grant Cried While Reading The New Bridget Jones Script

Hugh Grant has read the script for the upcoming Bridget Jones sequel — and he’s given it his seal of approval.

The actor will reprise his role as the notorious Daniel Cleaver in the franchise’s fourth installment, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy. While the film isn’t set to hit theaters until Valentine’s Day 2025, Grant recently gave fans a small tease of what to expect in an interview with Vanity Fair.

“I loved the script — it made me cry, and I wanted to help with this one,” he told the outlet. “But really there’s no part for Daniel Cleaver in it at all. They wanted him in it, and in the end, they’d done something I wasn’t crazy about.”

Grant went on to reveal that he “wrote some scenes” for his character in the new film, which director Michael Morris approved. The actor also explained why he declined a role in the 2016 Bridget sequel, Bridget Jones’s Baby, adding, “I really couldn’t fit my character in — he just didn’t belong, so I stepped aside.”

As for the new film, Grant believes “it’s absolutely the best” of the Bridget Jones movies so far. “I think it’s very funny and very, very moving,” he added. “I’m not in a lot, I did a week’s work, that’s it ... But when you see the film, you’ll be very moved.”

Bridget Jones 4

Based on Helen Fielding’s 2013 novel of the same name, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy comes after the original 2001 romantic comedy, and its two sequels, The Edge of Reason and Bridget Jones’s Baby.

Grant isn’t the only actor reprising his role in the franchise. Renée Zellweger again leads the cast as Jones, returning to the Bridget-verse with Sally Phillips, Shirley Henderson, James Callis, Jim Broadbent, and Gemma Jones.

The fourth chapter also welcomes a string of new faces, including Isla Fisher, Josette Simon, Nico Parker, and Leila Farzad — and potential love interests Chiwetel Ejiofor and Leo Woodall.

Potential Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy spoilers ahead.

In Fielding’s original novel, the character of Mark Darcy (played by Colin Firth) has sadly passed away, meaning Firth’s presence in the new film is unlikely should it follow the book. This isn’t to say the actor won’t appear in the movie in some capacity (in a flashback scene, for instance) — but fans will have to wait and see.