Her leading man Luke Newton isn’t sure his own mother will be able to watch the steamy Regency romance past the new season’s second episode
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Things are going to get steamy between Bridgerton‘s Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton soon, and star Nicola Coughlan doesn’t want her mother seeing any of it.
Coughlan and costar Luke Newton are the leads of a saucy new installment of the Netflix series, and given the show’s penchant for sensuality and sex scenes, the actress might have taken the liberty of requesting a watered-down version for family viewings.
“I’ve requested a PG version for my mammy, because I am not doing that,” the actress, 37, told Ireland’s Today FM on Wednesday. “No way, no, no, no, no, no.”
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For his part, Newton said he doesn’t think he can even watch the second episode with his mother, to which Coughlan agreed, “Nope, I won’t.”
She joked that the version of the story — which sees Penelope and Colin’s long-awaited love story unfold — that her mom will see is “gonna be significantly shorter.”
“It’s gonna be about five minutes long,” quipped Newton, 31.
While season 3 — which is due out in two parts this spring — is the first time Coughlan takes the lead in the historical romance series, she told the Irish radio station that she’s cut out scenes from previous seasons of Bridgerton, too. “Even in season one I skipped bits with my mum. She was like, ‘That episode was short.’ and I was like, ‘It was a short one, yeah.’
original sound – Today FM
Wednesday also saw the release of a sneak peek showing Penelope finally put her longtime friend and unrequited crush Colin into his place. In the clip, she confronts the Bridgerton heir about dismissive comments to his friends she overheard in season 2.
After Colin compliments Penelope’s dress, she brusquely shuts him down with a, “Goodnight, Mr. Bridgerton,” prompting him to ask if there’s “something wrong.”
Rebuffing Colin’s suggestion to “talk about this somewhere more private,” Penelope continues that his remarks were “because I embarrass you. Of course, you would never court me. I’m the laughingstock of the ton even when I change my entire wardrobe. It just never occurred to me that you of all people could be so cruel.”
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In June, Coughlan told PEOPLE that the season is “really special and it stays very true to the books,” referring to Romancing Mister Bridgerton, the fourth book in Julia Quinn’s series about the Bridgerton family.
“I always look at the three seasons like this. I think season 1 was about passion, season 2 was about longing and season 3, I think it’s romance all the way,” she said. “It’s just so romantic.”
“There were a lot of moments on set where we filmed something and we’d turn around and everyone was sort of clutching their chest being like ‘Oh my God.’ It was that kind of love.”
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As the season begins, Penelope finds herself socially stranded after being outed as Lady Whistledown to her best friend Eloise (Claudia Jessie), who also happens to be Colin’s younger sister. Without the company and support of her friends, she decides to take her life into her own hands.
In Coughlan’s words, her character is “sort of like, ‘I can’t do this anymore. I’m out with Eloise. I’m out with Colin. I don’t want to be with my family. I need a husband.'”
“So she’s like a woman on a mission. She’s ready to go, ready to launch herself out into the marriage market in a new way. She wants a whole new look, and she gets it.”
