Nicola Coughlan learned about her identity as Lady Whistledown in Bridgerton the most relatable way—and no, it wasn’t by reading the books.
Dearest Gentle Reader,
If Lady Whistledown’s identity came as a surprise to you during Bridgerton‘s season one finale, you might actually have been alone. After all, Whistledown’s own actress Nicola Coughlan—aka Penelope Featherington—knew her secret identity before she even stepped foot onto set.
But if you think she learned from reading the original book series, think again.
“I found out in a super professional way,” she told Seth Meyers during a May 14 appearance on Late Night. “I found out on a Reddit fan forum. Because I Googled it. And then I arrived day one and I was like, ‘This is amazing—am I her? Like is that me?’ And they were like, ‘Yeah, it’s you.'”
She continued, “And then I proceeded to tell everyone, so it was a surprise for nobody on the cast because I couldn’t stop talking about it.”
An irony, Seth was sure to point out. “So it turns out you were terribly cast as someone who is good at keeping a secret,” he joked, to which Nicola, 37, concurred, “Absolutely rubbish, yeah.”
But while Nicola has been nursing this side plot over the Netflix show’s first two seasons, this third installment is finally the one in which the seasoned wallflower is thrust into the spotlight as the love story between Penelope and Luke Newton‘s Colin Bridgerton takes center stage.
ANDREA RENAULT/AFP via Getty Images
And with the spotlight comes, as now expected by fans of the sultry series, a number of sex scenes—an artistic challenge Nicola not only was ready for, but one she embraced.
“I specifically asked for certain lines and moments to be included,” the Derry Girls alum told Stylist in a recent interview, per People. “There’s one scene where I’m very naked on camera, and that was my idea, my choice.”
As she explained, “It just felt like the biggest ‘f–k you’ to all the conversation surrounding my body. It was amazingly empowering. I felt beautiful in the moment, and I thought, ‘When I’m 80, I want to look back on this and remember how f–king hot I looked!'”
Plus, she had her perfect partner in Luke. As she told E! News’ Francesca Amiker earlier this month, having worked together for almost four plus years, “We had a certain physical comfort level with each other which helps immensely.”
And Luke, 31, agrees completely.
“It was natural,” he explained. “We didn’t have to do anything to ignite that. It was kind of like these characters had got there over a long period of time—they talk of Colin and Pen as the slow burn romance—but really when we got there…”
As Nicola finished for him, “We just went for it.”
Liam Daniel/Netflix
“We had to kind of hold back on the chemistry for the first two seasons,” she continued. “And then it was like when we were ready to unleash it, we were like, ‘Here you go!'”
And to see all that chemistry in action, tune into the first half of season three available now on Netflix—and don’t miss part two June 13.
News
MY MOTHER NEVER BELIEVED THE WHOLE STORY…😳💔 Tupac’s brother Mopreme Shakur has revisited questions surrounding the rapper’s murder over the years, but fans keep returning to one detail connected to the hours before the shooting — a detail that allegedly surfaced after a private conversation…
The legacy of Tupac Shakur is structurally intertwined with the fierce, protective matriarchy of his mother, Afeni Shakur. As a prominent activist, former Black Panther, and the ultimate custodian of her son’s estate, Afeni spent the two decades following the…
Tupac’s former bodyguard has just revived one of the biggest questions in the case… 🚨💔 According to him, the tire was faulty that day, and then, THE CAUSE OF TUPAC’S DEATH IS REVEALED
The lore surrounding Tupac Shakur’s death is one of the most heavily saturated spaces in true-crime history, frequently generating sensational headlines that warp logistical facts into massive conspiracies. The viral narrative claiming that Tupac’s former bodyguard revived the case by…
“THAT’S NOT WHAT REALLY HAPPENED…” 😳 A longtime friend of Tupac’s, Eminem, reportedly refuted part of the story many fans have believed for years — instead, she pointed out a forgotten detail in the Las Vegas sequence of events…
The intersection of hip-hop history and digital myth-making often creates narratives that spread across social media like wildfire, transforming distorted facts into accepted truths. A prime example is the viral headline claiming that Eminem—referred to in social media posts with…
Mike Tyson had just won his fight when Tupac’s night took a tragic turn… 🚨💔 After 30 years, Mike Tyson finally revealed the last three-word message Tupac sent him
The convergence of structural timelines, forensic evidence, and system-wide failures surrounding the premature deaths of Tupac Shakur and Michael Jackson continues to command global fascination. For nearly three decades in the case of Shakur, and close to two decades for…
If there’s a next life, let me be your son again…: Henry Nowak’s mother recently shared a touching message, revealing her son’s last 30-second phone call where he reported being stalked, and the last two words still haunt him to this day
THE TRANSCENDENT WEIGHT OF LAST WORDS: HENRY NOWAK’S MOTHER SHARES THE AGONIZING THIRTY-SECOND PHONE CALL THAT FORESHADOWED A NATIONAL TRAGEDY The emotional landscape of a family shattered by homicide is often constructed around fragments of time—the final hours, the last…
“Victor Drake’s mother reportedly made a request…” The request, just three words long, to Henry Nowak’s family is causing a huge backlash online. People are saying this request is even more shocking than the confession revealing his motives…
THE MATRIX OF GRIEF, DISTORTION, AND DIGITAL OUTRAGE: HOW THE LEGAL AFTERMATH OF THE HENRY NOWAK MURDER CASE EXPOSED SYSTEMIC FRAGILITY AND MASS SOCIAL FRICTION The judicial conclusion of a high profile homicide trial rarely marks the end of a…
End of content
No more pages to load
