The film once again stars Renée Zellweger as Bridget Jones, who is shocked when she finds out she is pregnant and must deduce which of her two recent loves is the father, lawyer Mark Darcy (Colin Firth, also reprising his role) or mathematician Jack Qwant (Patrick Dempsey), all while trying to hide one from the other.

On her forty-third birthday, Bridget Jones attends the memorial of her ex Daniel Cleaver, presumed dead after a plane crash.

After spending her birthday alone, Bridget decides to embrace single life, accepting Miranda's offer to go to a music festival where she meets a handsome man, Jack.

Returning home, Bridget goes to her friend Jude's new baby's christening, where she is the godmother and Mark has been asked to be the godfather at the last minute.

Bridget exits before he wakes up, leaving a note telling him she fears reconnecting will repeat their past mistakes.

Dr Rawlings proposes an amniocentesis DNA test, but Bridget decides not to, as she fears the risk of miscarriage.

Although disappointed, Jack takes the news well, but Mark is upset and walks out, though he eventually becomes supportive, and the trio attend prenatal classes.

[6] In July 2011, Paul Feig was in final talks to direct the film based on the script by author Fielding.

[9][10] Production was slated to begin in January 2012 with the returning cast including Zellweger, Firth, and Hugh Grant.

[9] On 30 November 2011, Peter Cattaneo came on board to direct the sequel, newly titled "Bridget Jones's Baby" from a script by Fielding, Feig, and David Nicholls.

[11] Producers on board were Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner of Working Title, along with Jonathan Cavendish of Little Bird.

[10] In April 2013, Firth spoke to the Chicago Sun-Times, stating "unfortunately, it might be a bit of a long wait", and he said he "wouldn't say that it's completely dead in the water, but the way it's going, you might be seeing Bridget Jones's granddaughter's story being told by the time we get there.

"[12] In an interview on 10 October 2014, Grant mentioned an existing script for a sequel, though he also expressed his dislike for it, and stated that he would not star in the third film.

[15] Later in the next week, producers hired Emma Thompson to rewrite the original script written by Fielding and Nicholls.

[30] An editorial focused on the trailer for the film by Variety critic Owen Gleiberman titled "Renee Zellweger: If She No Longer Looks Like Herself, Has She Become a Different Actress?

[36] Internationally, where Universal Pictures handled most of the releases, the film fared better and especially in the UK where the previous two installments registered the biggest grossers.

It debuted day-and-date in conjuncture with its North American release in 41 countries, including big markets like the UK and Ireland, Russia, Australia, Mexico and Spain in its opening weekend.

[38][39] It scored the biggest opening day in the franchise in the UK, the Netherlands and Latin America including Mexico, Panama and Peru, and had number-one opening days in the UK, Australia, Spain, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa and Ukraine.

[49] In Netherlands, it is the highest-grossing Working Title picture of all time with $8.1 million — passing Notting Hill (1999), which held the record for 17 years.

The site's critical consensus reads, "Bridget Jones's Baby might be late on arrival, but fans of the series should still find its third installment a bouncing bundle of joy.

[52] In October 2022, Fielding told the Radio Times that a sequel was in the works and would loosely adapt her 2013 novel Mad About the Boy.

[54] In April 2024, the sequel was confirmed, with Zellweger and Thompson returning and Hugh Grant reprising his role from the second installment.