‘Bridgerton’ to Spotlight Penelope & Colin’s Romance in Season 3
Don’t Fall Behind, Dear Reader
For exclusive news and updates, subscribe to our Bridgerton Newsletter:
Dear reader, Lady Whistledown has more than a few surprises up her sleeve as Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan announced that Season 3 of the Shondaland hit will put a spotlight on Penelope Featherington’s romance with Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton).
At Netflix’s FYSEE Space’s opening night ATAS panel on Sunday night, May 15, Coughlan, along with costars Simone Ashley, Charithra Chandran, showrunner Chis Van Dusen, costume designer Sophie Canale, and composer Kris Bowers made an appearance to discuss the series during a panel moderated by Yvette Nicole Brown. Towards the end of the evening, Coughlan let the cat out of the bag, sharing the news that every #Polin fan wants to hear, that Season 3 will be about her character Penelope and Luke Newton’s Colin.
(Credit: Liam Daniel/Netflix)
“Like Lady Whistledown, I have been keeping a secret for quite some time and I can confirm to you all that Season 3 is Colin and Penelope’s love story,” Coughlan told audience members at the event. “I have kept that secret since two weeks into Season 2. This is the first time I am saying it here.”
As close friends in the series, Penelope and Colin’s relationship will blossom into something more as she attempts to balance it with her double life as the ton’s leading gossip columnist, Lady Whistledown. Despite not being at the event, Newton shared his own thoughts on the announcement via a statement shared by Netflix.
“I love Polin,” Newton stated. “There’s so much love for that relationship. Which brings its pressures because there are people that are really excited about this story to come to the forefront. But also it really warms me.”
(Credit: Netflix via Bridgerton’s Twitter)
Based on Julia Quinn’s best-selling series of novels, Penelope and Colin’s love story is chronicled in the author’s fourth book, Romancing Mister Bridgerton. This means, that for the time being, Season 3 will skip the book order, passing Benedict Bridgerton’s (Luke Thompson) love story for now.
Production on Season 3 of Bridgerton is slated to begin this summer in London with Jess Brownell taking the lead as showrunner and executive producer. Van Dusen will still serve as an executive producer on the show alongside Shonda Rhimes, Betsy Beers, and Tom Verica.
When TV Insider caught up with Coughlan and Newton during Season 2, the stars were hopeful that their characters would be led down a path of romance, despite their less than stellar ending. As viewers will recall, Season 2 concluded with Penelope overhearing Colin telling his friends he’d never consider courting her.
“I feel like he wouldn’t have wanted her to have heard that,” Newton told us in April. “I think in the times that they speak, they’re both quite sensitive people and quiet,” he added of Colin and Penelope as individuals.
Sure, Penelope might run a booming business as the secret pen behind Lady Whistledown’s pamphlets, but she’s quite shy on the outside as is evidenced by her relationship with Colin. “If they are eventually going to end up together, she’s got to stop idolizing him so much,” Coughlan teased. “She thinks he’s perfect. He cannot do any wrong in her eyes. So, she has to start seeing him as a real human being and not this perfect boy.”
In other words, Coughlan said, “the playing field definitely needs to level for the two of them ever to have a relationship.” We look forward to seeing how it all plays out when Bridgerton Season 3 arrives on screens. In the meantime, relive every steamy moment from the Regency-era romantic drama by streaming Seasons 1 and 2 on Netflix.
Bridgerton, Season 3, TBA, Netflix
