Bridgerton Season 4: Sophie Baek’s Family Tree & Status, Explained

Season 4 of Bridgerton centers on a Cinderella-inspired romance between Benedict Bridgerton and the mysterious Sophie Baek (or Sophie Baekett in the books). Based on An Offer From a Gentleman by Julia Quinn, Sophie is unlike any other female lead seen in the show before.v

In Netflix’s Regency-era world, Sophie’s background and status create dramatic tension because she was not born into the Ton but instead comes from a life of hardship and illegitimacy that greatly shape her position and relationships. 

So here is all you need to know about her family tree, her parents, and the dynamic with her step-mother, while explaining their social implications in the Regency era. 

Who are Sophie Baek’s Parents in Bridgerton?

In Bridgerton, Sophie Baek’s background is rooted in lineage and class disparity. Although Netflix changes the character name from Sophie Beckett to Baek to honor actress Yerin Ha’s Korean heritage, her basic familial origins follow the traditional Cinderella template, where her birth circumstances place her far outside aristocratic society. 

She is the secret daughter of the Earl of Penwood, born out of his affair with his maid. While her mother died after childbirth, she was raised by her maternal grandmother. But at the age of three, she was forced to stay at her father’s house. 

While he took her in, he refused to have her call him his father and would only refer to her as Sophia. The servants practically raised her. When she was 10, her father married Araminta Reiling, or Araminta Gun in the Netflix show. Araminta had two daughters from her previous marriage, Rosamund and Posy, who did not treat her really well. 

When Sophie’s father passed away when she was 14, her stepmother reluctantly agreed to raise her only because Araminta would receive an extra $2,000 for looking after her till the girl was 20. Following her father’s death, in true Cinderella fashion, she was turned into a lady’s maid. She remained so until she met Benedict Bridgerton and eventually married him. 

From what we saw in the first episode, Netflix has confirmed that Sophie’s life before meeting Benedict involved working as a maid. In Regency society, legitimacy and bloodlines carried immense weight: children born within wedlock to titled parents could inherit wealth, lands, and titles; those born outside marriage, even to nobility, had virtually no legal claim and often faced lifetime social barriers.

So, Sophie’s status as an illegitimate daughter of an Earl places her in the latter category, although she is somewhat respectable by blood but unrecognized by the law and society. 

Sophie Baek’s Relationship With Her Step-Mother

Katie Leung as Lady Araminta Gun, with her two daughters | Credits: Netflix

After her father’s death, Sophie’s life became entangled with her stepmother and stepsisters, who treated her poorly, a detail consistent with the story’s Cinderella archetype. Although we will have to wait until the season’s release to know the full extent of the adaptation, the first episode’s pre-release gave us a glimpse of Lady Araminta, Rosamund, and Posy Li.

In the book, Lady Araminta keeps making Sophie’s life difficult. After the ball, Araminta discovers that Sophie was at the ball and fires her, leading her to fend for herself and find work. Even after leaving the household, Araminta is not done and has her arrested. 

Throughout the book, she keeps being a thorn in Sophie’s happiness. Anxious to find perfect matches for her two daughters, she wants to elevate their status through advantageous marriages, yet she resents Sophie due to her illegitimate birth and the threat Sophie poses to their family’s prestige.

Araminta views Sophie’s presence as a burden and potential scandal, and raising her would have jeopardized the household’s reputation as well as hers. Sophie’s role as a maid within her own father’s former household illustrates precisely how precarious her social position is: she is close to power but denied the privileges that accompany legitimate standing.

Thus, even though Sophie may carry noble blood, she occupies a position closer to a commoner, and her stepmother makes sure of it. 

What do you think about the upcoming season and its lead? Let us know in the comments below.

Bridgerton Season 4 Part 1 will premiere on January 29, 2026, on Netflix.