Bridget Jones fans outraged at detail in cast announcement for fourth film: 'Dead to me'

The fourth instalment in the Bridget Jones franchise has been confirmed, with Renee Zellweger and Hugh Grant set to reprise their roles. The films, which are based on the books by Helen Fielding, have been hugely popular among fans, but the fourth film has left some confused given Colin Firth has not been named as part of the cast.

Emma Thompson will reprise the role of Dr. Rawlings from 2016's Bridget Jones's Baby, and Love Actually's Chiwetel Ejiofor and White Lotus and One Day star Leo Woodall will join the franchise.

The movie, full title Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, will be based on the 2013 novel of the same name, and it's unknown if Colin will return at all for the film, because his character, Mark Darcy, is killed off in the book, which follows Bridget as a single mum-of-two navigating dating, dating apps and an age-gap relationship.

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In Bridget Jones's Baby, Bridget marries Mark, after being on-again-off-again with him for years. It was also revealed that he was the father of her baby. Hugh's character Daniel Cleaver, meanwhile, was presumed dead in the film, only for it to be revealed at the end of the film that he had been found alive, which is how he can appear in the fourth film.

Fans were left outraged that Colin Firth wouldn't appear in the film, with one user writing on X, "NO COLIN FIRTH? I DO NOT CARE, THEN."

"If there’s no Colin Firth, it’s not worth it," another said.

"Are you telling me they’re killing off Colin Firth?" a third added.

"Everyone shocked about the lack of Colin Firth didn’t read the books I guess," someone else pointed out.

"Knowing how the Bridget Jones books go a Bridget Jones film with no Colin Firth is concerning," another said.

"LEO WOODALL AND HUGH GRANT? I am going to throw up (from excitement)," one fan wrote before adding, "However the lack of Colin Firth in this line up is extremely distressing to me… Please respect my privacy whilst I take time to grieve x."

"You better dig up Mark Darcy, revive him, and allow me to lust after Colin Firth! Expeditiously!" someone else added.

"Without Colin Firth that project is dead to me," yet another angry fan wrote.

"Hugh Grant didn’t return to Bridget Jones 3 because he didn’t want to be involved in a love triangle again," one fan claimed. "His character was presumed dead at the beginning of the 3rd movie (only to be found alive by the very end). Colin Firth isn’t back so…rip."

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In 2014, Hugh shared that he had decided not to do the third film as he didn't love the script.

"I decided not to do it," he said in a Free Radio interview. "But I think they're going to go ahead and do it without Daniel."

"The book’s excellent, by the way, but the script is completely different — well, the script as I last saw it a few years ago."

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