Four‐stage stepped‐impedance resonator (FSSIR) is proposed and its resonant characteristics are analyzed in detail. The formulas of the first four resonances are deduced and the optimization techniques are presented on the basis of the impedance ratios. A quad‐band bandpass filter with third‐order filtering response in each passband is synthesized and designed as a demonstration of the application of the proposed FSSIR. Thanks to the cross‐coupling topology and skew‐symmetrical feeding configuration, multiple transmission zeros have been generated out of the passbands. Additionally, the frequency and the couplings of each passband can be flexibly controlled, respectively.