While Waiting for Bridgerton, I Found a Deliciously Cunning Regency Gem

In 2026, I am still thinking about silk gloves, stolen glances across a candlelit ballroom, and the absolute chaos of the marriage market. Bridgerton may be slow to return, but my appetite for the ton has not faded. So I went looking for something to fill that very specific, lace-trimmed void, and I found Mr. Malcolm’s List, the 2022 period romance directed by Emma Holly Jones. Adapted by Suzanne Allain from her own novel, the film sits at an 83 percent fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes, and after one viewing I completely understood why. It is witty, romantic, and just a little bit wicked.

I should be honest: the plot is not exactly high-stakes. In fact, it is fairly predictable for anyone who has read a Regency romance or seen a Jane Austen adaptation. But the pleasure is not in the destination; it is in the sparkling, barbed dialogue and the chemistry between the leads. The story follows Mr. Jeremy Malcolm, played with smoldering reserve by Sope Dirisu, a wealthy and eligible bachelor who keeps a very particular list of traits his future wife must possess. When Julia Thistlewaite, played by Zawe Ashton, realizes she does not measure up, she recruits her friend Selina Dalton, played by Freida Pinto, to help her take revenge. Selina is warmer, sharper, and far more genuine than the scheming Julia expects, and naturally, things get complicated.

A Dance That Felt Familiar

One of the first moments that hooked me was the masquerade dance scene between Selina and Mr. Malcolm. The masks, the secrecy, the electricity of being unknown while also being seen—it was impossible not to think of Anthony and Kate’s charged dance in Bridgerton season 2. A review I read before pressing play called the primary romance in Mr. Malcolm’s List 'especially electric,' and I have to agree. The film understands that the best Regency romances are not only about polite conversation. They are about longing, restraint, and the moment restraint finally breaks.

What surprised me even more was how closely the film mirrors the story Bridgerton season 4 is expected to tell. Season 4, adapting Julia Quinn’s An Offer From A Gentleman, is told as a Cinderella retelling. Sophie Beckett, played by Yerin Ha, is the illegitimate daughter of an earl who falls for Benedict Bridgerton, played by Luke Thompson, at a masquerade ball. Selina is not illegitimate, but she is a vicar’s daughter and a stranger to the games of the ton. Mr. Malcolm, like Benedict, moves in the highest circles. Both couples meet or reach a turning point behind masks. Both central women are kept apart from the men they love by someone locking a door.

A Cinderella Parallel and a Locked Door

The locked-door parallel is almost too specific to ignore. In An Offer From A Gentleman, Sophie is locked in her stepmother’s closet during Benedict’s visit, which prevents the couple’s reunion. In Mr. Malcolm’s List, Julia locks Selina in a room so that Julia can pose as her and reject Mr. Malcolm’s proposal. In both stories, a woman is physically removed from the conversation, and the misunderstanding nearly ruins the relationship. It is a wonderfully cruel, old-fashioned obstacle, and it made me appreciate how closely the film leans into the more theatrical side of the genre.

That table does not mean the two stories are interchangeable. Mr. Malcolm’s List adds its own flavor to the Regency recipe. Bridgerton often softens or speeds past the harsher edges of the marriage market, but this film lets the matchmaking mamas and desperate debutantes be properly cunning. There is real social ambition, real humiliation, and real meanness in the way the ton operates here.

The Cruelty I Did Not Expect

The biggest difference is Julia’s scheme. Yes, Bridgerton has had moments of public humiliation, like Colin loudly declaring he would never marry Penelope in season 2. But Julia’s revenge against Mr. Malcolm is more outlandish and more vicious. She is not just correcting a rumor or protecting her pride; she is actively trying to destroy a man because he had a private list of preferences. Her response is wildly disproportionate to the slight. Still, that cruelty gives the film an edge that made me lean in. It felt less like a polite drawing room and more like a battlefield of reputations, which is its own kind of fun.

Why It Scratches the Bridgerton Itch

Mr. Malcolm’s List has everything I wanted while waiting for Bridgerton: stringent high-society rules, a serious leading man with a heart of gold, a charmingly witty leading lady, and enough romantic payoff to leave me smiling. The fact that it was first made as a 2019 short film with Gemma Chan as Julia only adds to its charm, even though Chan did not return for the full-length feature. The rest of the cast reprised their roles, and the final film feels like a small, polished jewel in the period-romance crown.

A few details worth noting:

• Release Date: July 1, 2022

• Runtime: 117 minutes

• Director: Emma Holly Jones

• Writer: Suzanne Allain

• Key cast: Freida Pinto, Sope Dirisu, Zawe Ashton, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Ashley Park

• Genres: Romance, Comedy, Drama

Would I call it unpredictable? No. Would I call it satisfying? Absolutely. Sometimes a predictable happy ending is exactly the comfort I want. In 2026, with Bridgerton’s next chapter promising more masquerades, more misunderstandings, and more yearning, Mr. Malcolm’s List is the perfect reminder of why I love this world. It gives me the gowns, the gossip, and the grand romance, and it does so with a clever little smile. After watching it, I no longer mind the wait quite so much.