Season 4 of Bridgerton just premiered on Netflix, and the final episode dropped a huge bomb on the audience: There’s a new Lady Whistledown, and we have no idea who she is. Departing from Julia Quinn’s books, the season finale revealed that there’s a new gossip maven in town, sure to torment, tease, and stimulate the Ton once Season 5 arrives.
For those unfamiliar, the original Lady Whistledown (voiced by Julie Andrews and portrayed on screen by Nicola Coughlan) was one Penelope Featherington, a wallflower friend of the Bridgertons who used her quill to inform and scandalize the London upper class. Penelope’s identity was slowly revealed, first to us, then to the show’s characters, causing scandal and delight alike. In Season 3, Penelope publicly came out as Whistledown and married Bridgerton sibling Colin (Luke Newton), leaving a gaping hole in the show’s appeal.
Well, now Lady Whistledown is back. And this time, it’s not Penelope. I sat down with the cast of Bridgerton Season 4 who revealed their prime suspects for the show’s big new mystery.
Luke Thompson (Benedict Bridgerton)
“It could be so many people. I don’t know where it’s going to go from there. We’ve only just discovered who [the previous Whistledown] is. And now we have to start all over again.
“It could be [Benedict].”
Yerin Ha (Sophie Baek)
“[We only had] one season to enjoy Penelope as Lady Whistledown. Back to square one. I kind of wish it was [youngest Bridgerton sister] Hyacinth or someone young trying to get their voice out into society.
“It could be Alice [Mondrich, the Queen’s lady-in-waiting]. It could be me. It could be Footman John.”
Hannah Dodd (Francesca Bridgerton)
“There’s quite a few characters who I think it could be. We all came up with quite different names when we were chatting about it. But I don’t want to know. So I’m trying not to give it too much thought. So I really want that moment, that payoff.”
Katie Leung (Lady Araminta Gun)
I was very, very surprised [at the Whistledown reveal]. And then obviously you start thinking, ‘Who is it? Who is it?’ I think it’d be really interesting if she were a he, because I feel like people might not expect that.
Isabella Wei (Posi Li)
“I was saying I’d love for it to be Eloise [Bridgerton. It would] bring a really interesting perspective. [But] I had no idea that was coming. I’m sure it was a surprise to most of us. So it was great.”
Victor Alli (Lord John Stirling)
“I love to go on that sort of hunt and I feel like I know who it is. I don’t want to say.”
While the cast of Bridgerton has a lineup of suspects for the new Lady Whistledown, there’s one person who knows the character’s identity for sure: Showrunner Jess Brownell. Brownell says that, even though the new mystery was a surprise reveal, it’s been in the works since 2024 and has been definitively planned out.