The following contains spoilers for all eight Netflix episodes Bridgerton – proceed at your own risk.
If there is any similarity between Nicola Coughlan and her Bridgerton character, Penelope Featherington, is that she knows how to keep a secret.
When timidly asked about anything she can share about the lush London drama of the era of regency guaranteed, but not yetofficial Second season, Coughlan swears that she and her co-stars know very little. This includes whether or not the series will begin filming in March, according to rumors.
“They’re keeping everything super, super secret, so I don’t really know yet,” Irishman Coughlan, whose previous credits include Derry girls and Whoressays TVLine convincingly. “Trust me, the cast, we have been speculating a lot. I send a lot of text to Claudia Jessie (who plays her best friend on screen, Eloise) and ask, ‘What do you think is going on?’ I’ve been speculating a lot about the stories and just trying to apply logic where I don’t know if logic works. “
Like us, Coughlan wonders about Penelope’s fate now that she has been revealed – again, SPOILER ALERT, gentlemen and ladies! – for viewers like Lady Whistledown, just as her family’s fortunes changed. (Although, as we have seen, being the times that were then, Lady Featherington, as a woman, did not inherit her husband’s property by default.)
“She is certainly rich because of Whistledown. But what will that mean? ”Coughlan wonders. “I don’t know who is taking over the family property and my father, was he really killed? Will Eloise find out who Whistledown is? I don’t know any of that. Honestly, I’m just as curious as you are. With luck, they will say yes [to Season 2]. “
Presented by Netflix as one of the biggest service releases to date, Bridgerton is designed to be sampled by 63 million families in the first four weeks, and is Shondaland’s first project by Shonda Rhimes to deal with the streamer. Chris Van Dusen created and exhibits the sexy and racially inclusive soap, which is based on the extremely popular book series by author Julia Quinn of the same name.
As for Coughlan, who turns 34 this weekend and barely looks older than his character, which is exactly half her age, the actress is grateful that she and her family are healthy and happy during a pandemic – adding that she can’t wait to get back to work … whenever and however.
Twitter.com/nicolacoughlan
TVLINE | You are active and quite funny on Twitter. Have you tried to avoid social media?
I’m terrible. I will dive unlike some of the others. I like Phoebe [Dynevor], who plays Daphne, I was like, “Are you looking?” And she said, “No, I’m staying away from my phone.” And I say, “Yes, me too” – but no, I didn’t say. I’m just looking at absolutely everything. I swear to god on christmas day [when Bridgerton was released] I was checking Twitter and I thought no one was watching, which is a good thing. And then the day after At Christmas, it was quite evident that many people were watching. When the numbers came out, I started looking and I can’t understand. Sixty-three million is not even a number that I am sure I could write down. To like, what? I tried to handle everything with a pinch of salt. I think everything seems to be happening in the ether.
TVLINE | It is also good to see your real hair. Was that a wig on the show?
Yes, it took some time. Especially in January and February, when we did a lot of the studio stuff – which was like Featherington House and Bridgerton House. I was being picked up at 4 am, it took about an hour to set, and then the process would begin. I would put my hair all down and then the wig cap and then the lace and style … and I would put on the embellishments and then the corset, and then the makeup. It was a serious process. I would say it took 2 hours 15 [minutes]. I had a beautiful hairdresser and makeup artist, Lou Bannell, and this is the coolest thing you can have. If it’s someone you can talk to, time goes by much faster. And there were puppies in the makeup trailer. Not for our pleasure, they belonged only to the crew. But sometimes, if you were very lucky, you could put a puppy on your lap to play.
TVLINE | Was the audition process arduous?
I thought it was going to be, because my agent said it’s a Shondaland / Netflix show and it sounds like a big, big deal, before you hear anything else about it. I thought, “Oh, no. This hearing process is going to be terrible. It will be months and months and meetings with executives and this and that. ”I had a couple of days to prepare for the first audition with two or three short scenes. I read with the casting assistant and then the tapes went to America. And I thought, ‘OK, bye. I’ll never hear from you again. So I got a call two weeks later, offering me the paper, and I was very shocked. I said to my agent, “Are they sure? They didn’t know me. What if I’m not the right person? “So you start reading the table and it’s Chris Van Dusen and [Shondaland’s] Betsy Beers and all these Netflix people, and you’re afraid to open your mouth. What if I open my mouth and they say, “Oh, no, actually. Sorry “? You hear horror stories like that. So I was scared.
TVLINE | Did you have to do a chemistry reading with any of your castmates? You had great chemistry with Claudia Jessie, who plays Eloise.
No, I didn’t know anyone except Claudia, but totally unrelated – we met through friends, briefly, and she was super adorable. People always say that Shonda has an instinct for the actors and who’s going to be right, and in terms of me and Claudia they nailed it. She is the best person to work for. It is simply delicious and when you work with someone like that, it gets easier. Claudia could have chemistry with anyone, to be honest.
TVLINE | Did you feel any reaction from fans who were angry with Penelope for revealing Marina’s pregnancy, like Whistledown?
Not much, and I think you have to develop a tough skin on that and let people have their opinions. Okay, too, because people have had these books in their lives for 20 years, so you realize that they have a very different idea about who the character is, and I was aware of that. I wanted to be sensitive to that too and say, “I’m the Penelope they chose. I hope I can do it justice for you. “On set, I tried to leave it all behind, all the weight of expectation, and just do the job, you know? With social media, you can easily torture yourself.
TVLINE | Did you find yourself reading the books to get a sense of what will happen next?
Definitely. I started in Book Four [Romancing Mister Bridgerton], which is Penelope’s book. However, this is 10 years later The duke and me, Season 1. So, I would be on the costume tests talking about Felicity Featherington and they would say, “Who are you talking about? This character does not exist. ”She is the fourth sister in the book, but not in the program. But I hadn’t had access to all the scripts yet, so I was talking about people who were not in our world, but in book world. And then I went back to Book One and read that. So I went to Book Two [The Viscount Who Loved Me] and realized that I needed to stop; I needed to not have my head 10 years ahead of these events. If we are confirmed [for Season 2], the first thing I’ll do is go back and reread Book Two. One of the things that stood out to me the most is that all fans have their favorite love story and connect with a certain couple. Many of them talk about Gregory Bridgerton and who is going to be [playing him], and is someone really hot? And he is like 12. You can’t look at him like that. You cannot answer all questions.
TVLINE | What do you like about Penelope? She’s so different from Clare, the character you played Derry girls.
What I really loved about her is that she’s so complex. She is not someone you can describe in three words. It is many things and many contradictory things. Penelope is a very sweet and kind girl, but she can also be very bitter and do terrible things. She is a woman with great ambition and who wants to have a career, but she also wants to have love and marriage and children and everything. She is a low status character when she is at dances because no one pays attention to her. But she is a character of high status for being Lady Whistledown, the most powerful woman in London. All of this as an actor is a complete delight because it is a little bit of everything. There is a lot of bubbling under the surface that you don’t see.
I would love to continue with her on this journey to see what comes out and what changes in her. What I like is that the writers allow it to be imperfect, like all characters. I know the fans are really upset about what Penelope did with Marina. I was super shocked by what she did, and I really didn’t think it would happen – but it did.
TVLINE | Not that you have a say in the writers, but what do you want for Penelope?
I would like to see Penelope mature a little and have a little more confidence in herself. I would like to see you be more honest, because the worst mistake is for Eloise, your best friend. Eloise is totally open with Penelope all the time, but Penelope doesn’t say much to her, and it stresses me to think when it will finally come out. What will this mean for their friendship? When a script has dimensions and levels like these, it makes your job as an actor very easy, because it’s all there for you. I never played a character before it got so far below the surface.
TVLINE | You watched Gossip Girl and do you see the similarities?
The OC it was my jam, it was my time. I think I was at university when Gossip Girl went out and thought that maybe i was too old. And so we were doing the press for this program and I kept being asked about it, I thought, “I really should have watched Gossip Girl! ” [Laughs] I know things about the osmosis show because it was part of pop culture. I think there are definite similarities, but what is also really interesting is that the thirst for gossip has been around for hundreds and hundreds of years. Human beings, we are nosy and comparative by nature. We want to know what’s going on.
TVLINE | When Bridgerton debuted, you’ve had a chance to watch something before, and who watched it with you?
I had watched it before and I am very grateful for that. I am very self-critical – “I shouldn’t make that face. Why did I do that? If I did it again, I would do it differently. ”Then I get to the“ get over it ”moment. And then I started watching the show and enjoying everything else. When Christmas day came, I had fully recovered and was able to enjoy it. I was in trouble with my Irish mother. She was not happy with me. She was like, “What is this? What’s going on? “And I told her it wasn’t my fault. [Laughs] But she loves it now. She’s a real fan now and that’s all I need.