Bridgerton‘s third season may not arrive for a few months, but fans are already busy theorizing which characters will be back for the latest chapter in Netflix‘s Shondaland hit based on Julia Quinn’s novels.
While Season 3 will center around the romance between Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton), fans can’t help but wonder if Season 2’s Theo Sharpe (Calam Lynch) might return after playing a key role in Eloise’s (Claudia Jessie) storyline. The character created for the show worked at the print shop where Lady Whistledown (a.k.a. Penelope) was printing her gossip sheet.
As Eloise investigated the mystery, she struck up a friendship that grew seemingly romantic as the season progressed, but the characters left things in an uncertain place by the end of Season 2. Considering Theo isn’t a character plucked from the pages of Quinn’s books, his inclusion moving forward wasn’t a guarantee, but a recent social media post tagging the actor in anticipation of Season 3 seems to have some fans theorizing this is a confirmation of Theo’s return.
(Credit: Liam Daniel/Netflix)
Shared by Independent Talent Group, the agency seemingly repping Lynch, on February 3, the Instagram video of a clip between Coughlan and Newton is captioned, “Sneak peak [sic]. A first look at Miss Penelope Featherington and Mister Colin Bridgerton’s budding romance in #Bridgerton Season 3 coming to @netflix May 16th. ⭐️ @lukenewtonuk, @calamlynch, @martinsimhangbe, #DanielCerqueira, @tombyrne31, @lucasaurelio___.”
Lynch is very clearly tagged in the caption which was screenshot by one fan who reshared with the caption, “OMG??.”
And this isn’t the first time Independent Talent Group tagged Lynch in relation to Season 3. The agency also dropped Lynch’s name when sharing the premiere date announcement in December 2023. “The return of Lady Whistledown. @bridgerton season three will debut next year, with part one releasing on May 16th and part two releasing June 13th on @netflix.⭐️ #LukeNewton, @CalamLynch94, @MartinsImhangbe, #DanielCerqueira, #TomByrne.”
Certainly, if that was a slip-up in December, it wouldn’t have happened again in February, right? At the time of the Season 3 premiere date announcement, fans took to Reddit to celebrate the possibility of Lynch’s return as he has yet to pop up in any first-look photos.
“I knew it wasn’t the last time we would see Calam,” one fan wrote enthusiastically under a thread about the topic. Another fan suggested that the signs were quite clear that Lynch is likely to return as they wrote, “It’s his agency so it’s reliable, they did it with previous seasons too. Calam has also hinted multiple times about his return so it’s not a surprise.”
Does this mean that there’s room for an Eloise-Theo romance? If the show continues to stick to the book pairings, then fans shouldn’t hold out hope as Eloise ends up with Sir Philip Crane (Chris Fulton) in Quinn’s novels. But when it comes to the world of Bridgerton, Shonda Rhimes and team certainly know how to keep viewers on their toes.
Bridgerton, Season 3, Part 1 Premiere, Thursday, May 16, 2024, Netflix
Bridgerton, Season 3, Part 2 Premiere, Thursday, June 13, 2024, Netflix
