Why Is 'Bridgerton' Season 3 About Colin and Penelope?

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When Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton started filming Bridgerton season two, they quickly learned that they would be the leads for season three—much to their surprise.

"Nic and I had always had conversations about if we'd get to our story," Newton, who plays Colin Bridgerton, tells Town & Country. "So it was always something that was exciting, but you just never know if you're going to get all that way down the line. At the start of season two, they told us that season three was going to be Colin and Pen's story. It gave me a little time to gather my thoughts and prepare, but I was really excited then." Coughlan, who plays Penelope Featherington, concurs. "Finding out really soon into season two that it [would] be us for season three flipped everything on its head," she tells T&C.

In its early chapters Bridgerton (the Netflix show) followed in the same order as Julia Quinn's Bridgerton books, telling the love stories of Daphne Bridgerton (played by Phoebe Dynevor), and then Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey). But instead of season three drawing from book three—which is focused on Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson)—the just-released third installment instead takes its plot from book four, centering on Colin Bridgerton's romance with Penelope Featherington.

Newton thought the decision to swap Colin's story for earlier made perfect sense. "I was really pleased," he says. "It was so clever in the writing in season one that from the first moment you see them, you see that they've got this history, but you also see that there's this connection. It was a great decision to swap the order of the books. There would've been a level of frustration if we had another season of Colin just not seeing what's right in front of him. In the end, fans wouldn't be on his side. They'd be like, 'bro, you missed your chance! You are out. She needs to move on.' So I feel like it's the perfect time. There was enough in the lead up to season three."

Showrunner Jess Brownell has also explained that the change made sense for Colin and Penelope's storyline. "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 told Variety. "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 realizing 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."

Catch up on all of Julia Quinn's Bridgerton novels here:

The Duke and I

The Viscount Who Loved Me

Romancing Mister Bridgerton

An Offer From a Gentleman

To Sir Phillip, With Love

When He Was Wicked

It's In His Kiss

On the Way to the Wedding

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