Bridget Jones is soon to be a sad singleton once again. In an interview about the series’ forthcoming third book, Mad About The Boy, that ran in yesterday’s Sunday Times, Helen Fielding revealed that [spoiler alert, we guess] she’s killed off Mark Darcy, Jones’ “just as you are” love, presumably because a Bridget Jones book wouldn’t be interesting if its main character is actually happy. While the offing obviously doesn't mean much to anyone who’s not interested in the books or movies, it’s big news for fans, who are absolutely appalled that Fielding would kill a character so important to the series—and, of course, so tied to actor Colin Firth.
According to Fielding, Darcy dies in a car accident, five years before the events of the third book, leaving the now-51-year-old Jones a single mother of two who's dating (sigh) a 30-year-old “toyboy” named Roxster. A tiny excerpt reveals she’s still mourning Darcy, while also rambling about random erotic thoughts and her addictions to Nicorette gum, “Big Macs, and Starbucks ham-and-cheese paninis.”
For what it’s worth, Daniel Cleaver (played in the movies by Hugh Grant) is still alive and kicking in Fielding’s fictional London, and serving as the godfather to Jones' and the late Darcy’s children. Mad About The Boy is due in October.