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It’s almost time to return to the Ton for an all-new romance as Bridgerton‘s third season turns its attention to secret gossip columnist Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan), a.k.a. Lady Whistledown, and her longtime crush Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton).
Trading in the enemies-to-lovers trope explored in Season 2’s fiery entanglement between Viscount Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) and his bride Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley), Season 3 explores the friends-to-lovers angle, one that showrunner Jess Brownell tells TV Insider “lent itself more naturally to rom-com sensibility.”
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“We’re definitely leaning into the humor and the playfulness and the coziness between the couple,” Brownell teases. As fans of the Netflix hit have seen over the years, Penelope has pined from afar, embracing her wallflower status, but as the Season 3 tagline points out, “even a wallflower can bloom.”
Eager to break free of the family who doesn’t recognize her brilliance, Penelope will seek out a mini-makeover to try and find a husband, resigned to the fact that she and Colin will never be more than friends after his comments in Season 2, that he “would never dream of courting Penelope Featherington.”
And so, Penelope is trading in her yellow-hued wardrobe for some fresh fashions, as teased in the recently-released Season 3 trailer, photos, and promo clips. It’s the kind of makeover often found in your favorite rom-coms, but an exemplary collection of new dresses doesn’t mean Penelope’s flirting skills are at a comparable level, making for some prime comedic beats.
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“I was pulling from a lot of different references,” Brownell shares. “I think any movie where there’s a setup where one character is less popular and pining for the more popular character felt really apt.” When Penelope calls Colin out for his unkind comments last season, he tries to amend his past behavior by helping her find a husband, creating a scenario in which he’ll lead her in courting lessons. The only problem with such a setup? Feelings will begin to shift.
For Brownell, that meant looking at films from John Hughes’ catalog for some inspiration as she cites Pretty in Pink and Sixteen Candles as well as “the Patrick Dempsey movie, Can’t Buy Me Love… [and] She’s All That.” And despite not having similar plotlines to Season 3, Brownell also notes, “I’m a huge Nora Ephron fan [and a] huge Richard Curtis fan. I pull from some older references as well, like An Affair to Remember and Love Story.”
For Brownell, “just that sense of banter and awkward comedy was really great to draw from for the relationship between Pen and Colin.” The comedic aspect surely plays to Coughlan’s strengths as she memorably played Clare Devlin in the much-loved Derry Girls leading up to her booking Bridgerton.
“She really nails the comedy, especially in the first half of the season where we’re really leaning into it,” Brownell teases. “I knew she had the chops, and when she’s given funny moments in Seasons 1 and 2, she really nails it. So to make that more of a foreground element was really exciting.”
But that doesn’t mean fans should count out Newton, who Brownell makes a point to say, “I also want to give Luke Newton his due—he is a fantastic deliverer of a dad joke. There’s a line in Season 2 where he makes an olive pun, and I remember writing that line and thinking, ‘This will maybe get cut,’ and the way he delivered it was so funny. It was exciting to give him some comedic moments this season as well.”
What those comedic scenes will look like is for fans to find out when Bridgerton‘s third season kicks off this May on Netflix. Stay tuned for more on Season 3 as we approach Part 1’s premiere, and let us know what you’re looking forward to in the comments section, below.
Bridgerton, Season 3, Part 1 Premiere, Thursday, May 16, Netflix
Bridgerton, Season 3, Part 2 Premiere, Thursday, June 13, Netflix