Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy – Fans horrified by major detail in first official trailer

Bridget Jones is back for a fourth – and final – film. Photo / YouTube

Warning: this story contains a spoiler for the upcoming film, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy.

Bridget Jones’ fans have been left reeling following the release of the trailer for the fourth film, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy – which confirmed the death of her husband, Mark Darcy.

The first look at the popular franchise’s long-awaited next chapter has finally been unveiled, with Bridget (played by Renée Zellweger) referred to as a “widow” right at the start.

Given that she married human rights lawyer Mark (Colin Firth) and the pair welcomed a child in the previous film, the news came as a crushing blow to some fans (although it must be said: anyone who read Bridget Jones author Helen Fielding’s 2013 book by the same name was braced for what was coming).

Mark and Bridget’s love story was central to the franchise.

“What do you MEAN there is a fourth Bridget Jones movie releasing soon, and they KILLED MR DARCY?!” one horrified fan wrote on social media.

“I was not prepared to cry over the death of Mr Darcy in the new Bridget Jones movie; IS MARK DARCY DEAD???” asked another.

One user admitted: “My heart sank seeing that Mr Darcy died in the new Bridget Jones trailer. Why couldn’t they have their happily ever after?”

In Mad About the Boy, Bridget appears to have a new, unexpected love interest: 29-year-old hunk Roxster, played by White Lotus and One Day star Leo Woodall.

She also has welcomed a second child, presumably with Mark, leaving her as a widowed mother-of-two.

Bridget Jones's Diary, the first instalment in the franchise, was released in 2001.

Returning once again for the final chapter is Bridget’s love-rat on-off love interest, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant); her tight-knit long-time friends Shazzer, Jude and Tom (Sally Phillips, Shirley Henderson and James Callis); and gynaecologist Dr Rawlings (Emma Thompson).

Love Actually star Chiwetel Ejiofor joins the story for the first time as a “rational-to-a-fault” science teacher, Mr Wallaker.

Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy is set to be released in New Zealand cinemas on February 13, 2025.