Netflix just announced the Bridgerton season 4 release date, and while fans are excited the new season is coming a little sooner than expected, it's still not exactly what fans want.
Bridgerton season 4 premieres on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026. The first four episodes of the season will be released on that date. Then, four weeks later, Netflix drops the final four episodes of the season on Thursday, Feb. 26.
Needless to say, Bridgerton fans are hyped to watch Benedict Bridgerton, played by Luke Thompson, fall in love with Sophie Baek, played by Bridgerton newcomer, Yerin Ha, but there's one thing casting a shadow over the big announcement. And, that's the split-season release schedule for Bridgerton season 4. And, here's proof.
It's great Netflix is releasing the new season of Bridgerton so early next year. It's a lot better than waiting until spring, but I hate how they're releasing the new season, even if it makes more sense mathematically for the streamer.
Netflix needs to get rid of the split season release for Bridgerton and other popular shows
This might be one of my bad takes, but I'm fine with sharing it publicly. I've learned to hate the split-season release for Netflix's biggest shows. We've seen Netflix split seasons right down the middle for number of popular shows, including Bridgerton season 3, Wednesday season 2, Outer Banks season 4, and others. In every instance, it slows the season's momentum to a crawl. I don't think I've seen one split-season of a Netflix series actually work as well as it should.
For years, I've liked Netflix's all-or-nothing approach. It still works with a lot of shows, especially thrillers, mysteries, and binge-worthy titles. It gives the power to viewers to watch at their own pace. For new shows and smaller shows, I still support Netflix releasing every episode of a new season on the show's release date. It's a lot of work for creators to put everything on the for one day, but viewers can check out the series on their time, and that works for a lot of shows. Not every show needs a weekly release.
I also loathe the split-season because the gap between these shows is so long. It's one thing to get four episodes and then wait for the next batch of episodes if a show is releasing new seasons every year, but that's not the case. We're waiting at least a year and a half, and sometimes more than two years between seasons. Nothing spoils such a long wait between seasons by making fans who were excited to watch wait another month to see how the series ends.
Weekly releases make the most sense for Netflix's biggest shows
It looked like Netflix was moving away from some of the split releases earlier this year. Netflix dropped all the episodes of The Night Agent in one batch. The Witcher, which was another split-season show for a season, is getting a full-season release on Oct. 30.
Wednesday season 2 was the last split-season release, and the numbers prove it worked for Netflix fThe numbers also prove it worked for Bridgerton season 3. Both of those seasons rank back-to-back on the all-time Netflix Top 10 TV list. With both of those seasons, I remembered thinking, this would work better for everyone if new episodes were released weekly.
I understand that weekly releases make fans wait as long or sometimes even longer to see the end of the season than with the split-season release model. But, it feels different. Getting one episode per week of a show like The Summer I Turned Pretty worked very well for Prime Video. It's worked for HBO for, like, ever. It's worked for every TV network before Netflix, and it'll continue to work for every TV network.
Fans get to participate in the discourse every week. Even if the there's a bad episode, we know fans will always tune in to see what happens in the new season of Bridgerton. Why not draw out that interest?
We don't have a lot of data to understand Netflix's decisions, and we know they use data and their algorithms as much or more than any other streamer making content decisions. I'm sure there's a lot of math that proves the split-season model works for big Netflix shows, but narratively, I don't think any show works better because Netflix decided to take a break for a month in the middle of the season.
I know Bridgerton fans would stay up until midnight PT to watch new episodes of the series. Drop it in prime time, and even more fans would check it out.
Netflix is getting closer than ever to weekly releases for its biggest shows, but it still won't shift the strategy. Stranger Things season 5 is the perfect example. Netflix is dropping the first four episodes of season 5 on Thanksgiving Day at 5 p.m. PT, followed by the next three episodes on Christmas Day at the same time. Then, on New Year's Eve, Netflix is releasing the Stranger Things series finale. That's a three-part drop for an eight-episode season.
I don't know what it's going to take for Netflix to play ball and move to weekly episodes for some of these shows. Even if the numbers prove it works for keeping people subscribed, which is ultimately the name of the game for Netflix, there's a much better way for fans to watch and participate with these big Netflix shows, and it's with weekly releases.
Watch Bridgerton season 4 starting Jan. 29, 2026, on Netflix!