Everything You Need To Know About Bridgerton Season 3
The hit Netflix series recently announced it’ll focus on Penelope Featherington’s unrequited love for Colin Bridgerton.
LORDS AND LADIES, be prepared for another Regency romance. Netflix has announced that season three of Bridgerton will focus on the ‘will-they-won’t-they’ pairing of Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton.
As arguably, some of Bridgerton’s best characters, we can’t be more excited to see Penelope — also known as Lady Whistledown — and Colin together. And perhaps he’ll even discover Penelope’s double life as London’s secret gossip columnist.
While the Shonda Rhimes hit has steadily geared us for the eventual Featherington/Bridgerton couple, the adaptation is actually somewhat straying from the original book series written by Julia Quinn.
Here’s everything we know about Bridgerton Season Three — including what Nicola Coughlan (as Penelope Featherington) has said about the new plot, as well as who is returning.
What will season 3 of Bridgerton be about?
The next season of Bridgerton is all about Penelope Featherington’s unrequited love for Colin Bridgerton. Except, we’re assuming Colin finally comes to his senses. Throughout the first two seasons of Bridgerton, we’ve felt for Penelope as Colin fell for her distant cousin Marina Thompson back in season one, and then ignorantly shrugged her off when Penelope subtly shared her feelings for him in season two.
But their relationship isn’t meant to be explored until the fourth season.
Based on Julia Quinn’s popular book series, season one followed her first book The Duke and I — about Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) and the Duke of Hastings (Regé-Jean Page) relationship. Then season two saw Anthony Bridgerton’s (Jonathan Bailey) love triangle with Kate (Simone Ashley) and Edwina (Charithra Chandran) Sharma — which honoured the second book, The Viscount Who Loved Me.
The third book, An Offer From a Gentleman, delves into second-eldest son/aspiring artist Benedict Bridgerton’s endeavours for matrimonial bliss — however, Netflix has revealed his story will come later.
Moving away from the books’ chronological series of events, Bridgerton’s showrunner and writer Chris Van Dusen revealed the third season takes its plot from the fourth book, Romancing Mr Bridgerton. During an interview with Variety, Van Dusen said the decision to focus on Penelope and Colin was because we’re “already invested in them.”
“I really feel like it’s Colin and Penelope’s time. Because we’ve been watching both of these actors on our screens since Season 1, we’ve already invested in them a little bit. We know who they are as people,” she began.
“I feel like, especially in the last season, there are these moments of tension between them where it’s like, Colin walks up to the line of almost realising that Penelope has feelings for him but doesn’t quite get there. Instead of treading water on that dynamic, we wanted to push it into their season. It really felt like the perfect moment to tee it up.”
As an ensemble show, Van Dusen explained that they may continue to change the order of the series — to retain certain characters’ story arcs. She also said Benedict will still be a “vital part” of season three. When it comes to storyline, those familiar with the book will have some idea about how Penelope and Colin get together. But when it comes to the Netflix series’ signature aspects, Van Dusen is remaining tight lipped. That being; the steamy period drama scenes.
“I think of Colin and Pen as being characters who bring a lot of comedy to the show. So I think we’re gonna get to play a lot of that this season,” she began.
Season two finished with Penelope overhearing Colin tell a group of friends he would “never dream of courting her,” so hopefully — he does everything he can to redeem himself.
“It’s possible Colin’s wilful obliviousness is the biggest obstacle to romance heading into season three. After all, Colin isn’t currently pursuing anyone at all,” a press release says.
Who stars in season 3 of Bridgerton?
Nicola Coughlan returns as the loveable Penelope Featherington during Bridgerton season three — likewise, Luke Newton takes on the seemingly naïve Colin Bridgerton. Both cast members shared their thoughts on being the season’s key protagonists during a Netflix panel discussion in Hollywood.
“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 began. “I have kept that secret since two weeks into season 2. This is the first time I am saying it here.”
Newton also acknowledged that while fans may be unhappy with Colin’s actions, his season two finale words about never wanting to marry Penelope were just “throwaway comment[s].”
If you’re wondering whether the rest of the Bridgerton world is coming back for season three, we can blissfully say yes. How much we’ll see of each character — such as Phoebe Dynevor (as Daphne Bridgerton) — is another question, however.
Bridgerton’s showrunner and writer Chris Van Dusen said they “want to keep seeing all of our Bridgerton siblings” but can’t yet confirm how much they’ll feature. Fans were understandably upset when Regé-Jean Page (as the Duke of Hastings) left after season one.
“We want to keep seeing all of our Bridgerton siblings. We feel like those moments when the whole family is together is what really makes the show and makes all of us, I think, want to be a Bridgerton. So yes, you will definitely be seeing Daphne, Anthony and Kate — how much, I don’t want to say quite yet, but you have to tune in.”
There will also be a new addition to the cast, as Deadline revealed on May 12 that Hannah Dodd will take over Ruby Stokes’ role of Francesca Bridgerton. Stokes left the series as she’ll be playing the lead in another Netflix show, Lockwod & Co. Nonetheless, viewers will remember Dodd from the newly-released Anatomy of a Scandal show as the younger version of Sienna Miller’s character.
When will season 3 of Bridgerton be released?
With season two of Bridgerton only recently hitting streaming screens, it’s likely we won’t see season three for some time. But Deadline says with production to return mid year, it’s possible we could see Penelope and Colin’s romantic reunion sometime in early 2023. Regencycore fans will also be excited to learn that a season four has already been confirmed — with creator Shona Rhimes also saying she’d like to adapt all eight books from the series.
Written by Hayley Peppin for Harper’s Bazaar Australia
Lead image courtesy of Instagram/@bridgertonnetflix