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Mar 29 | 4 min readBridgerton Series 3: Colin Bridgerton and Penelope Featherington’s love story to be the focus of the new season
Bridgerton Series 3 is set to explore a friends-to-lovers storyline as it follows the romance of Colin Bridgerton, played by Luke Newton, and Nicola Coughlan’s Penelope Featherington.
Derry Girls star Nicola Coughlan will play a central role in Bridgerton Series 3, as the new season of the Netflix period drama follows the love story of Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton (played by Luke Newton).
The show's first friends-to-lovers storyline will delight fans of #Polin - that’s those hoping for a Penelope and Colin romance - following a will-they-won’t-they plot which has developed over the past two seasons.
The return of the Regency-set series will see a number of cast members return to the ton, although some fan-favourite actors have confirmed they won't feature in Series 3.
Here, we reveal everything we know about Bridgerton Series 3 so far, including the rumoured release date, cast, trailer, filming locations and plot.
When is the Bridgerton Series 3 release date?
Netflix hasn’t revealed when Bridgerton Series 3 will land on the streamer. However, with the Bridgerton prequel Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story released on Netflix in May 2023, we predict Bridgerton Series 3 will arrive after that, in late 2023 or early 2024.
It will consist of eight episodes, each around an hour long.
Where is Bridgerton Series 3 being filmed?
It was announced in July 2022 that filming for Series 3 had started in Bath and London, and it is still ongoing.
The cast featured in a behind-the-scenes video from filming at the time of the announcement:
Shortly after filming commenced, in August 2022, cast members were spotted filming in Greenwich, London, in pictures obtained by MailOnline.
However, filming is reported to have been delayed in January 2023, according to The Mail on Sunday, which said that some of the Bridgerton Series 3 script was deemed “too dark” by producers and needed to be re-written.
Later in January 2023, Metro.co.uk published behind-the-scenes photos of filming well underway in Bath, England. The city's famous Royal Crescent provides the location for the exterior of the Featherington home.
In an interview with The Evening Standard in February 2023, Nicola Coughlan revealed that the cast were still very much filming Bridgerton Season 3.
Who’s in the Bridgerton Series 3 cast?
Nicola Coughlan - Penelope Featherington
Luke Newton - Colin Bridgerton
Claudia Jessie - Eloise Bridgerton
Jonathan Bailey - Anthony, Viscount Bridgerton
Simone Ashley - Kathani "Kate" (née Sharma), Viscountess Bridgerton
Adjoa Andoh - Lady Danbury
Golda Rosheuvel - Queen Charlotte
Ruth Gemmell - Lady Violet Bridgerton
Hannah Dodd - Francesca Bridgerton
Luke Thompson - Benedict Bridgerton
Will Tilston - Gregory Bridgerton
Florence Hunt - Hyacinth Bridgerton
Polly Walker - Lady Portia Featherington
Kathryn Drysdale - Madame Genevieve Delacroix
Julie Andrews - the voice of Lady Whistledown
Daniel Francis - Marcus Anderson
Sam Philips - Lord Debling
James Phoon - Harry Dankworth
It’s been confirmed that Hannah Dodd (Enola Holmes, Anatomy of a Scandal) will be taking over Ruby Stokes’ role as Francesca Bridgerton.
Stokes had to leave the show in order to concentrate on her Netflix project, Lockwood & Co.
Another cast member who won’t be returning for Bridgerton Series 3 is Phoebe Dynevor, who played Daphne Basset, née Bridgerton, in the first two seasons.
She told Variety in January 2023: “Well I did my two seasons. I’ve done what I wanted to do with that character and she had a great arc. If they ask me back in the future, who knows?”
She later confirmed to ScreenRant: "Sadly [I’m] not in season 3. Potentially in the future. But season 3, I'm just excited to watch as a viewer."
Bridgerton Series 3 will, however, introduce three new cast members, who are potential marriage suitors for Penelope Featherington.
They include Marcus Anderson (Daniel Francis - Stay Close), Lord Debling (Sam Philips - The Crown), and Harry Dankworth (James Phoon).
What is the Bridgerton Series 3 plot?
The Bridgerton Series 3 plot will follow the love story of Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton).
As confirmed by Netflix Tudum, the Bridgerton Season 3 storyline is as follows:
"Bridgerton is back for its third season and finds Penelope Featherington finally given up on her long-held crush on Colin Bridgerton after hearing his disparaging words about her last season.
"She has, however, decided it's time to take a husband, preferably one who will provide her with enough independence to continue her double life as Lady Whistledown, far away from her mother and sisters.
"But lacking in confidence, Penelope's attempts on the marriage mart fail spectacularly. Meanwhile, Colin has returned from his summer travels with a new look and a serious sense of swagger."
It continued: "But he's disheartened to realise that Penelope, the one person who always appreciated him as he was, is giving him the cold shoulder.
“Eager to win back her friendship, Colin offers to mentor Penelope in the ways of confidence to help her find a husband this season.
"But when his lessons start working a little too well, Colin must grapple with whether his feelings for Penelope are truly just friendly.
“Complicating matters for Penelope is her rift with Eloise (Claudia Jessie), who has found a new friend in a very unlikely place, while Penelope's growing presence in the ton makes it all the more difficult to keep her Lady Whistledown alter ego a secret."
In a promotional video for Bridgerton Season 3, Coughlan revealed that the Episode 1 title was Out of the Shadows, and she read Lady Whistledown’s introductory narration to the episode.
"The crop this year appears to be rather dazzling, indeed. Unfortunately, not every young lady can attract the light," she teased.
You can watch the video in full below:
Is Bridgerton Series 3 based on a book?
For the first time in its history, Bridgerton Series 3 will diverge from the order of the book series in which it was based.
Each previous season has been based on the corresponding Bridgerton novel by American author, Julia Quinn. Bridgerton Season 1 was based on the first book, The Duke and I, while Bridgerton Season 2 was based on book number two, The Viscount Who Loved Me.
But Bridgerton Season 3 skips the third book in the series - An Offer from a Gentleman - and is based on book number four, which is titled Romancing Mister Bridgerton.
Could this mean that Bridgerton Season 4 is based on the third book? If so, we should expect Luke Thompson’s character of Benedict Bridgerton - the second eldest brother - to take centre stage.
Who created Bridgerton Series 3?
Bridgerton is based on a series of novels by American author Julia Quinn.
It’s been adapted for Netflix by Shondaland, Shonda Rhimes’ production company.
The show's creator Chris Van Dusen won't be returning to Bridgerton as showrunner for the upcoming seasons, with Jess Brownell taking over as showrunner for season 3.
Is there a Bridgerton Series 3 trailer?
There’s not currently a Bridgerton Series 3 trailer, but we’ll update this article when it is.
Will Bridgerton be back for Series 4?
Yes! It was confirmed in April 2021 that Bridgerton would return for a fourth series.
A release date for Bridgerton Series 3 on Netflix has yet to be confirmed.
Bridgerton Seasons 1-2 are streaming now on Netflix.
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story will premiere May 4 on Netflix.
