Hugh Grant has revealed he had a big reaction when he first read the script for the upcoming Bridget Jones movie.

The British actor is set to reprise his role as Daniel Cleaver in Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, after previously sitting out the third instalment in the series.

A new trailer for Mad About The Boy dropped earlier this week, introducing Bridget at a new stage in her life, following the death of her husband Mark Darcy.

During a new interview with SiriusXM, Hugh was asked if there were any details he could share about the forthcoming movie.

“I haven’t seen it, but obviously I know the script,” the Bafta winner began. “I’m a harsh judge of scripts, and it was really good. Really moving, as well as funny.

“Helen Fielding, who wrote the Bridget books, this [story] is based on her own experience of losing her husband and bringing up her kids alone. So it’s got a huge amount of heart. It made me cry.”

“Have I made it sound too dark? It’s also extremely funny,” he quickly added.

Back in September, Hugh reflected on his decision not to return for Bridget Jones’s Baby, claiming: “I really couldn’t fit my character in – he just didn’t belong, so I stepped aside.”

In his new interview, the Heretic star elaborated further on his absence from the third Bridget Jones movie, recalling: “It had a great set-up, that she’s pregnant, and doesn’t know whether it’s Darcy’s baby or Daniel’s baby. That was marvellous.

“But I could never work out how Daniel would handle either being a father, or not being a father. Couldn’t make him work. And we went through agony, months and months, and in the end I said, ‘I think I’d better sit this one out’. So I did. And they made a wonderful film anyway.”

Bridget Jones’s Baby actually opens at Daniel Cleaver’s funeral, although the end of the movie hints the character may still be alive after all, which, of course, turns out to be the case in film number four.

While Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy will be a streaming exclusive in the US, it’s due to hit UK cinemas on Friday 14 February 2025.