IndieWire caught up with “Bridgerton” Season 3 leads Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton at the New York City world premiere.

Dearest readers: It’s Bridgerton Week at IndieWire, and we’re celebrating the new season by diving deep on one of the best romance shows on TV.

After a very long two years, “Bridgerton” finally returns for the first half of its third season on May 16. And what place more fitting to hold the world premiere? New York City! Season 3 of the steamy Netflix hit will be following the friends to lovers pipeline between Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton, played by Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton.

“When I watched it back, I was more thrilled than I ever thought I would be because I am a very self critical person,” Coughlan told IndieWire. “Luke and I put so much into it.”

With each season facing a different lead couple, Coughlan and Newton reflect on the advice that they received from the previous lead lovers. “Johnny has just been been there with me the whole time,” Newton told IndieWire of Jonathan Bailey, who plays Anthony Bridgerton. “Even this week, when I’ve been leading up and doing all the press, he’s checking in. I feel very lucky with how busy he’s been that he’s been able to support me. I hope that I can offer that in the future to others. I don’t feel qualified to, but I really feel like I want to be able to offer that sense of support. It’s just like knowing that someone’s gone through that experience, done it so graciously, gone on to so many other things, but also has come back and and supported the show and continues to. That’s the biggest thing for me.”

Coughlan remains close with both Phoebe Dynevor and Simone Ashley as they both have prepared her for Penelope’s lead moment. “They were just so lovely about it and they just basically let it know that they were there for me and that is the nicest thing they could have done,” Coughlan told IndieWire. “I get to see Simone here in New York and we got to hang out a little bit. It’s lovely because I didn’t get to go to the Season 2 premiere because I was sick. I was at home in my flat going, ‘This is terrible!’ I’m excited to celebrate with her tonight.”

Tricia Brock, who directed the first two episodes of the upcoming season, had nothing but praise for working with the actors. “Working in the UK is different in that you only shoot for 10 hours,” Brock told IndieWire. “I always start by taking the edge off of just saying, ‘Let’s just read the scene, just take out our sides and read the scene together.’ I took out my sides and we start reading the scene. I look around the room and there’s 20 actors standing in this circle as we read the scene — no one had their sides, no one, they already knew it.
Nicola Coughlan, Shonda Rhimes, and Luke Newton attend Netflix’s ‘Bridgerton’ Season 3 World Premiere After PartyThe Hollywood Reporter via Getty
Creator Chris Van Dusen, who served as the showrunner for both the first and second seasons, is now taking a step back for the third. In reflecting on the series’ massive success, he muses on his thoughts about whether the series will continue after they get through the books. “It really is surreal and amazing,” Van Dusen told IndieWire. “I think wherever Netflix allows us to go, I think the show will go. I’m really, really excited to see now, Shonda [Rhimes] continue the work that I did and continue the work that I set up in these first couple of seasons.”

Before heading into the screening, Newton reflected on a funny story from filming his very first episode of the series. “I haven’t ridden a horse since Season 1,” Newton told IndieWire. “They wanted me to, like, trot off, but I hadn’t mastered the trot yet. They kind of gave [the horse] a little pat on the bum, tried to get him moving along, and it was throwing me about. I was moving way too much and I think it’s cut from the show. I hope it is, because it was really bad riding. I had a bit more training, but still, I don’t ride anything this season at all.”