Nicola Coughlan never set out to play the ingénue.
Not because the Irish actress finds herself “hideous” — which, as she wrote in Harper’s Bazaar, she absolutely does not — but “because they never seemed to get the best lines or looked as if they were having the most fun”.
Instead, the 37-year-old made a name for herself on shows like Derry Girls by embodying supporting characters who would best be described as wallflowers.
But the young Penelope Featherington, whom Coughlan plays in Bridgerton, contains multitudes. While she was largely ignored by society in the steamy period romance’s first and second seasons — despite her mother’s tendency to dress her in the most garish of gowns — and denigrated for her unrequited love for Colin Bridgerton, she is neither entirely wallflower nor ingénue, or even some mix of the two.
Because (season one spoiler) Penelope leads a double life as the daring, conniving and pioneering writer Lady Whistledown. Throughout the seasons she secretly writes a scandal sheet ruthlessly reporting the gossip of the ton, despite rampant opposition to it among high society, including Queen Charlotte.
And Bridgerton’s third season sees Penelope transform into something else entirely
Penelope is season three’s sophisticated and confident leading lady, the recipient of grandiose declarations of love she never thought she’d receive — and the star of its myriad sex scenes.
It isn’t hard to imagine why Coughlan was drawn to such a character. But that doesn’t mean stepping into the limelight has been easy.
As Penelope said in one of the show’s earlier seasons: “Once one finds oneself against the wall it is difficult to come off it.”
At the same time Coughlan had to learn how to be the romantic lead she never thought she would be, she was also playing Maggie, the confident and messy 30-something main character grappling with mental illness, friendship and love in the new original (dark) comedy Big Mood.
“It’s really crazy. I actually filmed both shows at the same time — they overlapped for about three weeks, so the very end of Bridgerton was the very start of Big Mood,” Coughlan told ABC Entertainment at the week-long PR stunt/press junket held in regional NSW to promote Bridgerton’s third season.
At one point on the trip I watched as a paramedic was ushered into a stately room to tend to an influencer who appeared to have broken a nail (dear reader, there was not a drop of blood to be seen) and at another I watched a journalist instruct a content creator to, “Dance, TikTok boy!” and that lives in my head rent-free now. But I digress!
Transforming the town of Bowral into something intended to resemble regency era England shows just how big and over-the-top Netflix was willing to go to promote this show.
The approach to Coughlan’s other show of the moment couldn’t have been more different — while Bridgerton took a long eight months to film, Big Mood’s six episodes were shot over just seven weeks.
“[Big Mood] would shoot between three different episodes in a day, whereas in Bridgerton in one day you’d only get one scene done,” Coughlan explained.
“One line, sometimes!” her Bridgerton co-star Luke Newton, who plays Colin, chimed in.
“But it really made me feel like I’d become a way better actor from doing it,” Coughlan continued. “When I got to set on Big Mood I really felt like an athlete at the top of my game … I was like, ‘Alright I’m not messing around, I can do this.'”
Bridgerton showrunner Jess Brownell doesn’t think Coughlan needed to improve to play either role — she thinks Coughlan has been a leading lady all along.
“The talent there is just incredible; she’s got comedy chops and she’s also able to bring this real effervescence and strength to her performances that I think really shines through,” she said.
After spending a handful of days in Coughlan’s orbit (read: mostly witnessing her from a distance), I wholeheartedly agree.
Every time she graced us with her presence in Bowral — whether on the night of the frigid premiere, at community screenings, or meeting the hundreds of dedicated fans who travelled from across the country for a chance to meet her — she never faltered.
Coughlan exuded effortless charm, frequently cracked genuinely funny gags, and was never not wearing a couture gown. I have to mention that the piece she wore on the night of the red carpet weighed about 18 kilograms.
“It had its own suitcase from London,” she said. “It is a beast.”
But there was one new element to her role this season that Coughlan was daunted by
“I was terrified in the lead-up,” Coughlan said, “But the intimate scenes were actually amazing to film. They ended up being really fun and liberating and I’m thrilled by them.” (For some reason Coughlan, Brownell and Newton never refer to them as sex scenes).
By episode five, she started to feel confident portraying the new, sexual version of Penelope.
Coughlan puts this down to their “amazing intimacy coordinator”, co-star Newton being a “dream” to simulate sex with and the fact they talked about what the intimacy scenes would look like a lot.
“One of the first conversations I had with Nicola was, ‘What are you comfortable with, both in terms of revealing yourself and what you’re comfortable with doing on screen?'” Brownell said.
“And we talked a lot about how important the friendship element to these intimacy scenes is. This is the first time we’ve gotten to show intimacy from a couple that has real depth in their relationship.”
(ICYMI: The love story at the heart of Bridgerton season one saw peak ingénue Daphne Bridgerton and Simon Basset, the tortured Duke of Hastings, fall in love after pretending to court each other. Season two saw Anthony Bridgerton and Kate Sharma go from enemies to lovers, while season three is about Penelope and Colin’s journey from long-time friends to lovers.)
“I’m really excited to have that be an example to counteract so many of the sex scenes we see on television, [which] are rough or there’s this passion that’s exciting, but to see depth and love in an intimacy scene is [rarer],” Brownell continued.
Rest assured they’re just as steamy — while still managing to centre Penelope’s experience.
“It’s not just about a quick flash of something sexy — it’s really in-depth in the characters and their emotions and feelings towards one another,” Coughlan said.
And Brownell described this season’s sex scenes as “on par” with season one: “Because season two was about Anthony, a big part of his arc was about his rigidity as a character. He isn’t someone who would have broken the rules about sex before marriage.” (With his intended bride — obviously Anthony had no problems sleeping with women outside high society before marriage.)
“Colin and Penelope are not quite as rigid, so that allowed us to play with the whimsy a bit more.”
(I am begging you to read into that last quote.)
Coughlan’s work has previously been overshadowed by comments on her appearance and age
But when I asked whether this line of questioning had returned ahead of her biggest roles to date in Bridgerton and Big Mood, she artfully dodged the question: “I think always my focus is doing really, really good acting and servicing the script, which was written brilliantly, and [Penelope’s] a character I love playing, I’ve got to play her now for the span of five years, she’s so complex and strong and I just love playing her.”
Coughlan has already said everything she wants to say on the issue, the rest is none of our business, and her work should be the only thing that matters.
Unfortunately, you’ll have to wait to see much of it, because Bridgerton series three is dropping in two parts. While the first four episodes are out today, the next four don’t release until June 13.
“I understand the sadness, I do,” Brownell said.
“[The series split] wasn’t actually something we’d been planning initially. Netflix approached us after we had finished breaking and producing the season about splitting it up.
“All I can say to fans is, I do think it will be worth the wait.”
What time does Bridgerton season three come out?
Part one of Bridgerton season three is streaming from 5:00pm AEST on Netflix.
Big Mood is streaming now on Stan.
