As Bridgerton returns, stars Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton talk about their favorite scene from season three.
The extremely popular Netflix series “Bridgerton” is back on Netflix with season three starting May 16th. This time the focus of the plot is Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan, 37) and her long-time crush Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton, 31), who become the inevitable lovers of the new season in early 19th century London.
In an interview with the news agency spot on news, the main actors Coughlan and Newton reveal which of their scenes particularly touched them in season three, how their characters have developed and why now is the right time for Penelope and Colin’s love.
Ms. Coughlan, Mr. Newton, what was your shared favorite scene for which you were in front of the camera in the new “Bridgerton” season?
Nicola Coughlan: There were so many…
Luke Newton: There are so many. We still discover them when we think back and say, “Do you remember this place? And that was that day.”
Coughlan: We shot for over eight months, which is a really long time. It’s tiring and the days are super long. So you don’t remember every detail. But then when you look back at it later you think: Oh my God, that moment was really special. There is a moment in every single episode this season that I love. I can honestly say that.
Newton: I don’t know how much I can reveal, but in the second episode, Penelope and Colin agree to put their differences behind them and move forward. There’s a really beautiful scene there. Colin visits Pen in her garden. It’s like they’re starting the next chapter of their relationship and are on equal terms, and it goes from there…
Coughlan: That’s where viewers can feel the first bit of electricity between them. And it’s so funny because their words are the complete opposite of what they feel. They say they’re just going to be friends, but then their hands touch and as a viewer you feel: Oh, there’s something there.
The actual chronological order of the “Bridgerton” novels on which the series is based has been changed this season, so that Colin and Penelope now become the new lovers. Can you tell us why this happened?
Coughlan: That was our new showrunner Jess Brownell’s decision. She spoke to Luke and I at the beginning of season two and said, “We’re used to it. We know these characters. We’ve followed their development over two seasons.”
So she said it was the right time. And it was intimidating for us to hear that. But I also agreed with her somewhere because Penelope has been in love with Colin for so long. A third season of this isn’t really sustainable. You’d say, “Get over it, girl.”
Newton: Normally the Benedict Bridgerton story would have been next. But this gives Benedict and his actor Luke Thompson the freedom to explore a few more themes and things before it might be his turn.
Ms. Coughlan, her literary alter ego, Lady Whistledown, undergoes another development in the new “Bridgerton” episodes…
Coughlan: Well, in the first season, of course, we didn’t know it was her for most of the time until the end. But in season two she has to deal with being the most famous woman in London, and anonymously. This is a pretty bizarre thing. I think I wanted to play that juxtaposition of her shyness with this kind of arrogance that underpins it, which was really fascinating.
This has subsided somewhat in the new, third season. I think Penelope is more likely to come to terms with the fact that Lady Whistledown is a part of her. The two aren’t really separated, but how will Penelope unite these two halves and find peace with it?
Colin Bridgerton returns from his travels in season two and is a very changed man. What happened to him?
Newton: In previous seasons, Colin was kind of the naive, innocent younger brother. Penelope was probably the only one out of everyone who saw something different in him. Now he goes away and has these incredible experiences that I think he always wanted to have. It gives him a certain sense of purpose. He feels like he has a secret. And he doesn’t really want to share his stories.
He feels like he has this knowledge of the world that no one else will understand. He is also a very generous person and has a certain hero complex. So when he comes back, he wants to pass on wisdom and help people in any way he can. And in the sticky situation we find ourselves in at the end of season two, he realizes he can dig himself out of a hole by using this newfound charm he discovered while he was away.