Luke Newton, left, as Colin Bridgerton, and Nicola Coughlan as Penelope Featherington, perform in a scene from Bridgerton.HO/The Canadian Press
Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan says the ups-and-downs of her character’s long-anticipated romance with a high-society noble are not over.
The second half of the period romance’s third season, beginning Thursday, will dive into the newly minted engagement of Colin Bridgerton and Penelope Featherington, played by Luke Newton and Coughlan.
During a recent promotional stop in Toronto, the duo teased that more drama awaits in four remaining episodes that will also focus on Featherington’s struggle to maintain her secret identity as “Lady Whistledown,” the name behind a scandalous gossip newsletter.
“We filmed these beautiful romantic scenes and it was all wonderful and nice, and then I go, ‘Oh God she hasn’t told him’,” Coughlan says of the upcoming episodes.
“[It was] very stressful. I know that sounds really silly because it’s not real but I really hate lying, I’m a bad liar.”
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Still, the stars of the Regency-era saga say their characters’ shifting relationship from friends in the first and second seasons to lovers in the third is satisfying to put on display.
“There’s just like a beautiful sense of closeness and intimacy. And I want to say they’re being completely honest with each other, aside from the Whistledown stuff,” says Coughlan, a native of Galway, Ireland.
Previous seasons focused on newly introduced couples, but already having an on-camera dynamic in some form was something unique to Newton and Coughlan.
“People really resonate with these two characters, and I think it’s something to do with the shared experience that fans and viewers have watched their relationship sort of develop very slowly through seasons one and two,” Newton explained.
“They feel very invested.”
Netflix has previously announced a fourth season of Bridgerton, but the direction the series will take remains unknown.
The 37-year-old Coughlan, who also starred in Derry Girls, says she’d like the show to explore different types of love stories.
“I’m excited for there to be hopefully queer love stories in this show, I think there’s so much room for that,” she says.