Chiwetel Ejiofor has acknowledged that Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is “a very different speed” to his usual projects.

The 12 Years a Slave actor recently ventured back into the romantic comedy genre after more than 20 years to shoot the fourth Bridget Jones instalment alongside Renée Zellweger and Hugh Grant.

Noting his pivot away from his recent output, Ejiofor told Variety, “I think is just wonderful. Renée is just amazing in this role. It’s a very different speed for me in way, and that’s something very engaging.”

The British actor, who previously appeared in 2003’s Love Actually, is believed to be playing Mr. Wallaker, a teacher at Bridget’s children’s school. Based on Helen Fielding’s 2013 book of the same name, Mad About the Boy follows mother-of-two Bridget as she returns to the dating scene following the death of Colin Firth’s character Mark Darcy.

Ejiofor added that he liked the prospect of joining the romance franchise “at a slightly different angle”.

Praising the series as a whole, he continued, “There’s such a warmth to those films. They’re funny and engaging and beautifully acted and so well made. So on that basis, there’s just such an extraordinary framework to move into. They have the sort of warmth of their humanity as well as engaging in the sort of the politics in the world of the modern day, and having something to say about the world we live in. But it’s always with a sense of optimism, hopefulness and sometimes actually just the very best of our possibilities. And I love that.”

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy follows 2001’s Bridget Jones’s Diary, 2004’s Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and 2016’s Bridget Jones’s Baby.

Filming wrapped earlier this month ahead of a U.S. release on Valentine’s Day 2025.

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