Bridgerton's Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton on future: "We can take a step back"

The love story has been a long time coming for the pair, who viewers have known since the show's season 1 premiere back in 2020. Unlike previous seasons, where the focus has been on Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) and Simon (Regé-Jean Page) or Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) and Kate (Simone Ashley), we've known Penelope and Colin throughout all three seasons.

Now, they're truly in the limelight, with season 3 part 2 set to take us on a deeper dive into their now romantic relationship, but the actors admit that after their tenure as series leads, it'll be somewhat nice to take a bit more of a backseat.

Chatting exclusively to RadioTimes.com, when asked about how they'll feel once their season is over, Newton said: “One of my favourite things about this show is that someone else takes a step forward and gets to really explore their story in such detail.

"Also, I really look forward to supporting. Particularly because it’s a show focused so much on family and we kind of know what the future holds for these other characters and being able to explore other genres.

"We got to, this year, kind of dive into elements of romcom in the show and we hope that we can continue to explore that theme as we go on in the future. We’ve already had conversations with Jess [Brownell] about the future in the show, it is just really exciting to again, play another version."

Read more:

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Newton added: "That’s the thing in this season, it’s so busy and so much is going on, that they’re kind of like – particularly for Colin – he’s tortured throughout, it feels quite stressed at times. So it’ll be really nice to sit back and be comfortable for a little bit and enjoy some time.”

Coughlan similarly added: “You know it’s hard work – we have like months of prep and then filming is eight months and then we’ve been doing press since January. So, it’s hardcore. So we can take a little step back."

Coughlan then joked: "We keep talking for next season like ‘What if we’re only in for one day a week?’. We worked our asses off for season 3 and have no regrets but it’ll be quite nice to be like ‘You go, it’s your turn’."

As for who will be taking up the Bridgerton lead for season 4, it remains to be seen, with fans waiting to see whether Benedict (Luke Thompson), Eloise (Claudia Jessie) or even Francesca (Hannah Dodd) could be stepping into the spotlight for their own love stories.

For now, Bridgerton fans will just have to wait patiently to see what unfolds for Colin and Penelope in the latter half of season 3, which is set to be released next month. Fans of the novel will already know what could be on the cards for the pair but, like previous series leads, we'll just have to wait and see how much of a backseat Penelope and Colin take in future seasons of the period drama.

Of course, the new season is based on Julia Quinn's Romancing Mr Bridgerton and with only four episodes of the new season airing so far, fans of the novels may have some more book-to-TV scenes to anticipate.

Showrunner Jess Brownell revealed to RadioTimes.com about the book scenes that could be making it to the series: "It’s hard to talk about that without giving spoilers away, but I’ll just say, the key scenes that fans are talking about constantly, there’s a reason they’re talking about them.

"And we were talking about those scenes in the writers' room, as well. We’re very keen to see them portrayed on screen."

Bridgerton season 3 part 1 is now available to stream on Netflix, part 2 will then be released on Thursday 13th June. Seasons 1 and 2 are streaming now on Netflix. You can buy the Bridgerton book series on Amazon.

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