Guys, it turns out Luke Thompson improvised THAT super steamy Bridgerton stairwell moment

Another season of Bridgerton, another moment that has us fanning ourselves and questioning whether we need to sit down with a cold drink. This time, it’s Benedict’s very steamy stairwell encounter, and yes, the detail everyone’s talking about wasn’t even in the script.

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From Simon and Daphne’s honeymoon era to Anthony and Kate’s slow-burn chaos and Penelope and Colin’s iconic carriage scene, the show has never exactly been shy about turning up the heat.

Season four part one ends with a very racy interaction between Benedict and Sophie, and show runner Jess Brownell has now revealed that the scene’s most talked-about detail was improvised during rehearsals.

In episode four, Benedict confronts Sophie about his overwhelming feelings for her. The tension quickly escalates into a passionate stairwell make-out session. Coats come off, Sophie gets swept up into Benedict’s arms, and the pair dive into a forbidden moment while she’s technically meant to be on duty.

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During the encounter, Benedict delivers the line: “I stay away from you because you consume me. But the reality of you is better than any fantasy.”

Benedict then puts his fingers in his mouth before putting his hand under Sophie’s skirt and his fingers… ahem, elsewhere.

Speaking to Glamour, Jess Brownell explained that Benedict putting his fingers in his mouth wasn’t in the original script.

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Inspired by the fan reaction to last season’s improvised intimacy detail from Luke Newton’s carriage scene (where he removes his hands from between Penelope’s legs, and only uses the dry fingers to fix her dress), she wanted to create something that felt equally real and talked-about.

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She said she started thinking about what kind of physical gesture might feel authentic to intimate moments on screen; something people would recognise as realistic rather than overly polished: “What is that moment this season? What is the physical moment that people go, ‘That’s so realistic to things that happen in intimate moments’? And I think Benedict is someone who knows what he’s doing.”

During rehearsals, she suggested that thought to Luke Thompson, who immediately came up with the idea.

Jess added that she’s proud of how the scene turned out: “If any person who’s watching our show is like, ‘Oh, a little extra moisture is a good idea’, I’m like, ‘Good for you.’ That’s a good thing we can teach the world.

“There are certain moments in our intimacy scenes that I think hopefully set a good example to balance out other depictions of sex elsewhere.”

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Of course, because this is Bridgerton and happiness can never last longer than five minutes, the scene ends on heartbreak. Just as the chemistry reaches peak intensity, Sophie shuts things down when Benedict asks her to be his mistress.

She bolts down the stairs and out of the house, leaving Benedict stunned.

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Featured image credit: Netflix