1. One of the most important jewelry pieces in the show is Sophie’s necklace, which was given to her by her grandmother to symbolize her connection to her mother. According to head costume designer John Glaser, in an interview with Teen Vogue, the designers wanted to make it small enough that the audience (and Benedict) might not notice it at all times. Also, they wanted to give a small nod to her Korean background, which is why it’s made of amethyst, Korea’s national gemstone.

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2. When it comes to Sophie’s heritage, the costume designers didn’t want her outfits to have too many influences from Korean culture, since she and her family are third- or fourth-generation from the ton. John told InStyle, “The season before, with the Sharmas, they had just come in from India, so we could see that [in their clothes], but this family is supposed to be integrated into the ton.”

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3. Talking about Sophie’s look, throughout the show, her hair and clothes evolved as her character went through emotional changes. “Sophie’s transformation is something we talked about. … When we see her in the Penwood household, she has a really slick bun; even her costume represented that with the high collar and the darker tones,” Yerin told Allure. “And then, as she transitioned throughout the series, we wanted her hair to be looser, maybe the necklines to be softer. Little details like that helped me remember what stage I was in, ’cause we also shoot quite out of sequence.”

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4. When it came to the masquerade ball scene, the costume design team told Shondaland that they treated the event like a regular Halloween party rather than a Venetian ball. “Some people are overdressed, some people are underdressed, some people were in their street clothes…it would just be a large mish-mash and potpourri of different things all working,” John said.

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5. According to hair and makeup designer Nic Collins, in the same video, Violet’s masquerade ball look was inspired by Titania from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with Michelle Pfeiffer’s look from the movie as the main inspiration, especially for her hairstyle.

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6. The masquerade ball wasn’t the only thing that was slightly different about this Bridgerton season. In an interview with Shondaland, composer Kris Bowers said he had to come up with a whole different sound for the maid and servants. “The opening starts with the pretty traditional Bridgerton sound, and then as we go down to the maid quarters and the servant quarters, we start to hear a totally different, more folksy sound. And I feel like that was the idea: to represent this whole new side of the world that we’re seeing,” he explained. “We’re looking from their perspective. It was focusing much more on fiddle music. I feel like fiddle music feels like it’s much more propulsive rhythmically and has more of a dance kind of feeling to it. And once you [go] downstairs, you feel more of that drive.”

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Some of the songs from the soundtrack include: “Life in Technicolor” by Coldplay, “All I Wanted” by Paramore, and “bad idea right?” by Olivia Rodrigo.

7. Some scenes in Bridgerton Season 4 are filmed in real houses and castles. Yerin told Allure that the Cavender House is on the market for about £75 million ($100M). Some of the other real homes are the Ham House, which was a gift from King Charles I to his loyal courtier William Murray; a 400-year private family home called Loseley House; and Hampton Court Palace, which was given to King Henry VIII, who later brought all six of his wives there, according to Elle Decor.

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All of these real-life homes are used for various Bridgerton sets, including Bridgerton House, Penwood House, My Cottage, the MiBrose Estate, Kent House, and Rotten Row.

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8. According to production designer Alison Gartshore, in an Architectural Digest interview, the Queen’s blue state room in her home is often used when she is going to be a bit firm with someone, because it is a harsher, more intense emotional color. For instance, when the Queen told Lady Danbury she would fail in finding a new Lady in Waiting in Episode 3.

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9. Talking about interiors, the famous “be my mistress” scene was actually a metaphor for Sophie and Benedict’s different social standings: him as the second-oldest brother in the Bridgerton family and her as a maid. “Bridgerton is very good at making the scenes feel actually poetic. There’s a brilliant metaphor there about meeting at the center of the staircase,” Yerin told E! News. “To be able to engage with that makes it seem like it’s a scene like any other scene. They feel meaningful. Put it that way: They don’t feel sort of tokenistic, which then makes it much more fun.”

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10. While the famous bathtub scene seemed sexy, Yerin told Allure that the water was actually very, very oily, which made her and Luke slip all over the place. “It’s [filled with] a little bit of oil to make your skin really nice and glisteny and smooth,” she said. “That was a powder that they put into [the water] to make it opaque…they would just stir it with their fingers, and I was like, ‘I can help you. Let me stir it for you.’”

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11. According to Luke in a Refinery29 interview, he and Yerin were in the bathtub for six hours while filming.

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12. Yerin also states that the scripts are filled with a lot of detail on how the writers believe the intimate scenes may play out, and then, intimacy coordinator Lizzy Talbot would talk to the actors about what they’re comfortable with doing and showing. She would then create a blueprint or choreography of sorts for what the actors would follow.

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13. Francesca’s pregnancy loss storyline in the show is different from the book. In an interview with Swooon, showrunner Jess Brownell said this detail was changed to not go too dark with her storyline. “Ultimately, I think John’s death and the funeral are already in so many ways such a departure from the tone of the show,” she said. “I think Episode 7 has hints of lightness, but it is a much darker version of Bridgerton in a way that I think is really interesting, and especially in the way we get to watch the family come together.” Jess also states she believes it would have been too difficult for Fran to come back from the miscarriage if it had been left in the show.

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14. During the engagement scene between Sophie and Benedict, Yerin told Allure that the makeup department purposely added more color to Sophie’s look because, at this point in the show, she has become more comfortable in who she is as a woman. “There’s a bit more color in the eye shadow that she really didn’t have as the Lady in Silver; it was a lot simpler than this,” she explained. “Even with the lip color, I think it’s just those little nods to perhaps Sophie being more comfortable in her skin and embracing her womanhood and her femininity.”

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15. In the post-credit wedding scene, associate costume designer Dougie Hawkes says he initially looked to the 1820s for inspiration for Sophie and Benedict’s wedding attire to give a nod to a “bright future of marital bliss.” “We wanted to push to a fantasy place somewhere in the future,” he told Netflix’s Tudum.

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16. Actually, many small details for each couple’s wedding drew inspiration from their time at My Cottage. “The main idea was that the dress must be country and romantic at the same time,” head embellisher Maria Elena Gomez Patino told Netflix’s Tudum. “Our work was to make hundreds of silk and tulle flowers with beads on every single center.”

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17. This includes a very romantic detail that Benedict wears on his cravat: a kite pin, which is a nod to their first day at My Cottage in Episode 3. According to jewelry maker Poonam Thanki, the kite represents the sense of freedom Benedict finally feels now that he’s married to Sophie. Plus, according to Luke in a BuzzFeed interview, the kite image was hand-painted.

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18. Luke told Netflix’s Tudum that he believes the finished painting of Sophie at the end of the series showcases Benedict’s growth. “The symbolism of finishing a painting is that he is taking something to its utmost limit rather than sort of giving it up,” he says. “I think the fact that he finishes the painting — that something has shifted in him.”

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19. And finally, while Penelope is Bridgerton author Julia Quinn’s Whistledown, there’s a major reason why the writers ended her storyline in the show. “We knew we couldn’t really play with that reveal for too long because people could just Google it,” she told Netflix’s Tudum. “But now, we get to play with audience expectations.”

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