Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan and the show’s executive producer Tom Verica separately addressed the rumors that there were multiple deleted scenes of Penelope and Colin in season three.
Dearest gentle reader, Nicola Coughlan is correcting the record on a growing rumor.
The Bridgerton star addressed the speculation that the Netflix series left out several scenes between the leading couple Penelope Featherington (Nicola) and Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton).
“This is just a rumor,” Nicola responded to a fan’s comment asking for the deleted scenes under her June 20 Instagram post. “I think you got all the Polin we had but there’s lots of BTS still to share.”
The Derry Girls alum, who shared her comment under a behind-the-scenes video of her and Luke dancing, has continued satiating fans with photos and videos during filming. Case in point? Snaps of the entire cast taken during Penelope and Colin’s wedding, a photo of the infamous broken furniture and mirror selfies in Mayfair’s most beautiful homes.
And Nicola isn’t the only member of the Ton making it clear there isn’t a lot of Polin season three footage that got left on the cutting room floor. “Not sure where this all came from but these claims are false,” executive producer Tom Verica wrote on in the comments of his June 19 Instagram post. “The supposed scenes … don’t exist.”
However, some fans are far from pleased with the number of scenes between Penelope and Colin, especially the intimate moments, this season. In fact, over 66,000 signed a petition on change.org pleading with Netflix to release deleted scenes that they believe weren’t used.
“Fans were left a bit unsatisfied with the lack of happy moments between the couple,” the petition explained. “Throughout the world tour, we were made to believe that we would see ‘Polin take on the world together’, unfortunately that was not how most fans experienced Part 2.”
For some fans, the length of the seasons, compounded with the multiple storylines, created little room for Penelope and Colin’s love story. As one user on TikTok put it, “It left me feeling asking, ‘Who is this season about?'”
E! News has reached out to reps for Netflix and Shondaland but has not heard back.
But there are some deleted scenes. Martins Imhangbe, who plays Will Mondrich, revealed that his season three sex scene with costar Emma Naomi was cut.
”There was a whole scene written where Will and Alice do it everywhere,” he told Digital Spy in June. “Then the kids interrupt. There was all this stuff that happened.”
And while he doesn’t know the reason for the cut, Martins suggested it might be used in a future season.
“I think that there’s something [in] the show that might be coming down the line,” he noted, “but it would be good to see a married couple hold that [passionate] space too.”
Burning for more Bridgerton? Keep reading to learn more about how the books and TV shows compare.
Where We Find Penelope Featherington
In Netflix’s version, Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) becomes our heroine, deciding that at only 19 years old it’s time to give herself a full makeover in an effort to shed her wallflower ways and find a husband. To that end, she nixes the yellows and oranges she’s worn for most of seasons one and two, instead opting for more flattering dresses and colors—oftentimes wearing the famed Bridgerton blue. Pen also gets help from Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton), whom she has had a crush on for years, on how to improve her flirting techniques.
The circumstances are very different for book Penelope, who is already 28 years old in Romancing Mister Bridgerton, since the story is set in 1824, 10 years after Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) married Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley). Book Penelope is considered an old maid and her fashion transformation stems more from her mother finally leaving her alone after she doesn’t get married. While book Pen is also stressed about being stuck with her mother for the rest of her life, it does not prompt her to find a husband.
Another major difference? No one—not even the reader!—knows that she’s town gossip Lady Whistledown at the beginning of the book, a secret that only comes to light until about halfway through the fourth book; Netflix viewers, meanwhile, were treated to that bombshell in season one.
Where We Find Colin Bridgerton
Colin is our dashing young suitor in season three, and as has been the case for his character throughout the show, book Colin’s trajectory is different from show Colin.
In the book, he is 33 years old and has been traveling extensively for years—as opposed to just a few months in the show—rarely leaving him at home. He also finds himself struggling to find his purpose, which he’s slightly less concerned about on the show.
Much like on Netflix though, he finds his attraction to Penelope slowly growing throughout the book and spends much of his time marveling at just how kind, funny and stunning Pen is—all qualities he’s shocked that he and the rest of the ton never noticed before.
The Moment Colin Falls for Penelope
In both the book and the show, emotions really come to a head for Colin and Penelope when she accidentally on purpose reads his travel diaries. Book Pen was visiting the Bridgertons because she’s still best friends with Eloise Bridgerton (Claudia Jessie), while show Pen was at their house in episode two for private flirting lessons with Colin.
In both versions, Colin cuts his hand, although in the book it’s on a letter opener and in the show it’s because of a broken candle holder.
Regardless, it’s as she is wrapping his hand that Colin really notices Penelope.
How Colin and Penelope Share Their First Kiss
For Polin, in the book and show, their first kiss comes when Penelope directly asks him to lock lips, telling him she’ll live her life having never been kissed if he doesn’t do it.
On our TV screens, the moment occurs at the end of episode two, just after it’s been revealed to all of the ton that Penelope asked for Colin’s help in finding a suitor.
In the book, the kiss occurs in the Featherington drawing room when Colin visits Penelope to express his distress over the fact that he thinks his sister Eloise is Lady Whistledown (voiced by Julie Andrews).
How the Carriage Scene Really Went Down
Yes, in both the novels and the screen adaptation, Colin and Penelope’s second kiss happens in a carriage just before he FINALLY proposes.
Netflix decided to make the kiss and proposal happen in the Featherington carriage at the end of episode four, just after Colin has ruined Penelope’s chances with Lord Debling (Sam Phillips).
He doesn’t yet know that she’s Lady Whistledown, basically the Regency era DeuxMoi. In fact, episode one ends with Colin expressing his hatred for Lady Whistledown after she wrote some not-so-nice things about his “new” personality following his travels, telling sister Eloise that he will ruin whoever Whistledown really is.
In the book, Polin’s carriage kiss and engagement occurs in Colin’s coach after he’s followed Penelope into town and learned her shocking secret: that she is, in fact, Lady Whistledown, meaning he goes into their marriage fully aware of her double life.
What About Francesca Bridgerton?
Francesca Bridgerton (Hannah Dodd) is unfortunately sometimes considered the forgotten Bridgerton child, not because her family doesn’t love her, but because—as she does on the show—the sixth Bridgerton sibling prefers quiet and calm.
In the book series, it’s casually mentioned that Francesca found her husband seven years before we pick up with Penelope and Colin. However, executive producer Shonda Rhimes and team have decided to combine some of the book plotlines with Francesca, Colin and Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) all searching for love in season three. That leads us to…
In the TV show, Francesca becomes Queen Charlotte’s (Golda Rosheuvel) “diamond” of the season and finds herself being courted by the Queen’s pick Lord Samadani (David Mumeni), as well as by her preferred suitor, John Stirling, Earl of Kilmartin (Victor Alli). (Sadly, Queen Charlotte is not a character in the books, meaning the monarch—and her truly fantastic headpieces—never anoints a “diamond” of any season.)
But luckily for her, she and John find the ideal partner in one another and enjoy a small wedding at home, something book readers don’t get to experience. The couple then move to Scotland, where their story will continue to play out. We’ll avoid any spoilers about Francesca’s future, but if you are interested in spoilers, her story is expanded upon in the sixth Bridgerton book, When He Was Wicked.
What Happened to Benedict’s Story?
Those who have only watched the show might be surprised to learn that by the time Colin and Penelope get together in the books, Benedict has already been married for seven years and is quite a successful artist (book three, An Offer from a Gentleman—which Netflix skipped in favor of book four—tells his love story).
On the show, however, he is still trying to find his way in life as the second Bridgerton son, avoiding marriage and instead hooking up with a sassy widow, Lady Tilley Arnold (Hannah New) and her friend Paul Suarez (Lucas Aurelio). Viewers will have to see how his plotline unfolds in a potential fourth season.
Eloise and Her New BFF Cressida Cowper
Eloise has a very different storyline on the show, namely that she is no longer friends with Penelope after she found out that Pen is Lady Whistledown. Eloise is instead BFFs with the ton’s biggest bully Cressida Cowper (Jessica Madsen) after they bonded in the countryside. And when she learns that Colin and Penelope are engaged, she’s upset, thinking that Pen used their friendship to get to Colin. It’s not until the end of the season when she realizes how much she misses Penelope’s friendship and the two are able to come together once again.
As for book Eloise, like book Penelope she is also 28 years old—but unlike her double agent friend, Eloise has turned down six marriage proposals. And when she learns about Colin and Penelope, she could not be more thrilled for the two of them. Throughout Romancing Mister Bridgerton, there are also hints at Eloise’s future, which gets its due in book five, To Sir Phillip, With Love.
As for her new best friend Cressida, while the show sees her still unmarried, in the book she is already a widow and still a nuisance to Colin and Penelope. But more on her in just a moment.
