Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan has landed her next big role as the lead in an upcoming movie.
Coughlan, who plays Penelope Featherstone in the Netflix period drama, is set to star in Love And War, a drama-thriller about a woman who must travel to Syria to find her daughter who has been abducted.
The film is based on real events and is inspired by the book Stolen: Escape From Syria by Louise Monaghan with Yvonne Kinsella.
Coughlan will play Sarah O’Meara, an Irish woman who travels to Syria in September 2011 to rescue her six-year-old daughter who has been abducted by her father and taken back to his home country, which is in the midst of a civil war.
While in Syria, O’Meara will find that her greatest challenge is not surviving the war but trying to outwit her abusive ex-husband who is also her greatest love.
Love And War will be directed by Lisa Mulcahy, who recently worked on BBC Drama The Tourist, and produced by Michael Garland. Mulcahy has co-written the script with Elisabeth Gooch.
Coughlan told Deadline: “I am so honoured to be playing this role and to tell the story of Louise Monaghan’s incredible bravery.”
Mulcahy added: “I am so thrilled that Nicola Coughlan has come on board Love And War. She’s a wonderful, versatile actress and a lovely human, and I cannot wait to get together on this film, which I feel so passionately about.”
Monaghan, who Coughlan’s character is based on, shared: “I am absolutely delighted to hear that the fantastically talented Derry Girls and Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan is excited to take on my role and bring my story of perseverance and heartbreak to the big screen.”
Meanwhile, Coughlan’s Penelope takes the spotlight in season three of Bridgerton which has just landed on Netflix.
In the new season Penelope gets a ‘glow up,’ something Coughlan has said she was “so ready for.”
“It was just so much fun to get to do it,” Coughlan said earlier this month.
When asked whether or not she’d miss Penelope’s signature citrus yellow colour palette, the actress added: “I wouldn’t necessarily say that all redheads can’t wear citrus because I don’t think that’s true.
“I think it’s a combination. It’s both that it’s neon yellow, it’s covered in flowers, I’m wearing a necklace with like 20 butterflies on it, I have a tiara and they have the tightest curls you’ve ever seen.”
