'Bridgerton' Author Julia Quinn Reveals How Penelope & Colin Would Navigate Modern-Day Dating

With the premiere of the Bridgerton season 3 hitting Netflix on May 16, fans of the hit series are more curious than ever to see how third love story unfolds. The third season, which will follow the story of Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and Colin Bridgerton (Luke Hewton), will surely have romance, gorgeous ballgowns, picturesque views and steamy scenes all wrapped into one.

Ahead of the premeire, SheKnows sat down with the creator behind it all, author Julia Quinn, to talk about the new season and all things Penelope and Colin.

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We even asked how the two would fare in modern-day dating. “I think they would be on the apps. But I mean, I don’t know how much they would like it,” Quinn says of her season three protagonists.

“I think they would be the people who do a lot of messaging before they actually meet,” Quinn continues. “Because they’re both very involved with the written word so they would try to do some weeding out that way.” If you ask us, it looks like the two would definitely find each other, modern-day or not!

Quinn then went on to theorize what both Penelope and Colin would answer to some dating profile prompts. In “The key to my heart is…,” Colin’s would be “food” while Penelope would be “words.” Fans of the show and the book, of course, won’t be surprised by those two.

As for a dating non-negotiable, Quinn also had no hesitation. “Respect definitely for Penelope and Colin will be kindness,” Quinn says.

Answering “I’m weirdly attracted…,” however, slightly slumped the author. After some thinking, she surprised us all. “The first thing that came to mind was like manatees,” Quinn says of Penelope. “So Colin, and Penelope and Regency England would never have actually seen a manatee, but like I think if Penelope were living like in 2024 she would be giving her charity to save the manatees.” Didn’t see that one coming!

For Colin, Quinn had a similar unexpected answer. “Tie Dye T-shirts,” she says. “I actually have a soundtrack for every book and one of the songs on this particular soundtrack was a Phish song and I was like, ‘I think Colin would be a big Phish fan,'” she says. “He’d be a total deadhead, actually.”

Modern-dating aside, Quinn also gushed on what she’s most excited for fans to see this season. “What’s different this season is that we have two characters that we already know very well,” she says. “So it just gives it a different vibe than seasons one and two.”

“It’s a big change to be familiar,” she adds. “[Viewers will] be surprised by the way it makes them feel,” she says. “I’m looking forward to seeing how people react to that sort of different setup.”

“I can tell you it’s amazing,” she teases of the new season. “I think people are gonna love it.” We can’t wait!

Before you go, click here to see period TV shows to stream right now.

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