SPOILER ALERT: Don’t read if you haven’t watched “Bridgerton,” broadcasting now on Netflix.
Netflix pulled all the stops for Shondaland’s scripted series premiere, “Bridgerton,” a sweeping approach to the period drama that follows premieres in the London era of the Bridgerton and Featherington clans of the Regency era.
Most fans of the show, which is based on Julia Quinn’s best-selling book series, will agree that when they weren’t absorbing the confusing drama between Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) and Duke Simon Basset (Regé-Jean Page), they they were savoring the discreet feminist icon Penelope Featherington, played by “Derry Girls” star Nicola Coughlan.
Although something like an afterthought in an ignoble family of human markers, Penelope’s gentle but self-deprecating nature makes her one of the most relatable characters in “Bridgerton”. It is even more gratifying when, in the final moments of the show, she reveals herself to be Lady Whistledown, the “Gossip Girl” style truth teller whose acid-language newsletter wreaks havoc on high society, who still cries out to buy all copies – doing she is one of the only women independently wealthy in high society.
Coughlan appeared in the UK channel 4 hit comedy “Derry Girls”, which follows a group of friends at a Catholic school in Derry, Northern Ireland, during the end of the Troubles. The show gained a global fan base after its debut on Netflix in December 2018, and remains one of the UK’s most successful comedy exports in recent years.
Here, Coughlan talks to Variety about potential plans for Season 2 of “Bridgerton” and what we can expect from Penelope as Whistledown; the fanatical fanbase behind the “Bridgerton” books; his thoughts on Daphne and Simon’s turbulent relationship; and what’s next for “Derry Girls”.
Did you know that Penelope was linked to Whistledown, getting into the role?
When I went to the first audition, I only had a few days to prepare; I didn’t have time to read the books or do anything like that. I just thought, “I’ll give it a try and if I get a second call, I’ll read it all.” But that didn’t happen, I just got the job. So it was like, “I better read these books and find out who this character is.” I also went to several online fan forums, because these books have been around for 20 years. People love them and have a great connection with them. Penelope is really close to their hearts. It was on a forum that I realized that she was Lady Whistledown. When I saw it, I thought, “No, no, no, no, that can’t be right”. I kept rereading, because it didn’t make sense: [I’m] getting this amazing role on a Shondaland-Netflix show, and it’s This one Occupation. It is very mind-blowing.
I suspected Whistledown was Penelope. I felt revenge for seeing you in that carriage!
It was so fun. We had to film this in the middle of COVID. I had to be super, super secret. I had to fly from Ireland and be tested, tested and tested, and tested. It was hyper secret; I couldn’t let anyone know that I was there or what was going on. But it was really fun to shoot that.
How much was filmed in the days of COVID?
Just that scene. We finished at the end of February. We were very lucky because the scale is huge in the show, especially the balls. There are hundreds and hundreds of people.
Why didn’t Penelope, like Whistledown, reveal her cousin Marina Thompson’s secret pregnancy before?
We didn’t get all the scripts at once, so [I could see] I was kind of taking it there, but I kept thinking, “Penelope is never going to do that. She is very cool; she is very kind. “But then, part of Shondaland [philosophy] is that they are not afraid to write complicated women who are unpleasant and sometimes make bad decisions. We don’t have to present this level of perfection. I was thinking about [“Breaking Bad” character] Walter White and if we would ever see a woman written like that, where they are so uncompromisingly terrible and yet people cheer for them.
I know people are very angry with Penelope, but she is 17 years old. And she is someone so ignored in her life. Whistledown is her way of having some power in the world, but she didn’t realize in the first season how much power she really has. That’s why I hope we have the second season, because I would love to see what that would do to her. I would have to give her some confidence because, in a way, she is the most powerful woman in London, even though she is the least important person. This dynamic when playing it has always been so interesting to me.
What is the latest news from Season 2?
We all really hope [it will be renewed]. It is a real joy to do and the answer has been beyond our dreams. But until the gods of Netflix come down and bless us, we don’t know. If it goes the way the books go, obviously season 2 would be more about Anthony Bridgerton’s story and I’d love it because it would make the series so new and a totally different perspective. Anthony is such a different character than Daphne.
“Bridgerton” creator and showrunner Chris Van Dusen gave you a sense of how big a role you can play if there is a second season?
The only things are things that I imagined myself. Certainly she would be very rich, because Whistledown’s first newsletter was free, but then she started charging, so it fascinates me to think that she is the only independently wealthy woman in high society at the time. She is earning her own money. But it’s like, what is she doing with that? Where are you going? I also don’t know who is taking over Featherington’s property. Colin leaving? How long has he been gone? Eloise coming out in society, what does that mean?
Personally, I would love to see a program about Penelope’s friendship with Eloise Bridgerton about the constant drama between Daphne and Simon.
Claudia Jessie [who plays Eloise] it is just the light of the world. She is a wonderful person. We met at the closing party for a show called “Porters” a year before we entered “Bridgerton”. She is a ray of sunshine. Penelope spends a lot of time with the family, but when she is with Eloise, you see most of her true personality. I think she finds Eloise so amusing and says all the things that Penelope is afraid to say. I’m ready for more Peneloise.
I heard that you are the main person that everyone looks for when they want to understand what the fans are saying, because you are on all the forums.
Fans are like MI5 detectives. [The show] it was super secret. We couldn’t share anything until it was released, in terms of photos or stories or anything. But a team member took a picture of a tile, which you would think was quite innocuous, but the fans found out exactly where we were filming with that tile. Don’t ask me how, but they did. At one point, I tweeted: “Can we all agree that Christmas is happening right after Halloween this year?” and the fans read this and said [the show] would be released on Christmas Day, with the trailer coming out on November 1st. And they were right, but it wasn’t what I was saying, so I had to tell my publicist to tell Netflix that I didn’t leak.
This is crazy.
They were finding official photos before we even got them from Netflix.
Simon and Daphne’s relationship is very strained due to the fact that he does not initially want to marry and have children, despite his ambitions to form a family. The way it plays out is difficult for some people to accept. What do you think of their dynamics and how was it displayed on the screen?
It is difficult because with all these characters, when you read a script, you arrive first with your perspective and the time you live in and how these things would apply. But these women, at the time, were like property. They had no agency of their own. Daphne is her family’s best prospect for making money, in a way. You have to think about all the restrictions of society at the time and how much patriarchy was screwing everyone. It’s pretty obvious what it did to women, but even characters like Anthony Bridgerton, he doesn’t live up to the male and patriarchal ideal of being the head of the family.
In Daphne and Simon’s relationship, she is a complete innocent getting into this, with the awakening of her sexual desire, and with him being more mundane than she is, there is an imbalance of power. But I think that with all these things, the show is better because you’re not introducing these Disney princes and princesses. They are very imperfect humans. You have to welcome every speech about it because it’s all relevant. People will feel what they will feel. But do I feel that Simon needs therapy? Yes.
How do you think the British public is used to more traditional period dramas from places like the BBC, are watching the show?
It is a shock for traditionalists. But “Pride and Prejudice” was done. It has been perfected. We will not do that. I saw someone complain that wisteria [in the show] it was blooming for a long time and I thought, “This is a fantasy show. They all have straight teeth and there is no poop on the streets. ”It’s a Regency London fantasy. It was “read the rules book, but throw it out the window”. Our costume designer said, “There are no hats in this world.” She just didn’t want hats!
This is Shondaland’s first major show for Netflix, and it is filmed in the UK. It also comes at a time when Netflix is investing heavily in the country. What do you think of their plans?
I think it is phenomenal. I graduated from drama school in 2011 and it seemed that there were so few roles at that time. You think about the hierarchy: it’s white men who get most of the roles, and then it’s white women, and then it’s women of color and it just goes down and down. But I think we’re slowly approaching that balance and the fact that Netflix is in the UK is a big part of that.
In the UK, the industry goes back to the whole system of who went to RADA and who did it, but then you look at the cast in “Bridgerton”, some people went to drama school and others didn’t. They come from different backgrounds. I think this is something that Netflix does very well. You don’t have to be part of that hierarchy. Because I have no experience in acting; I came from western Ireland, I didn’t know a single actor. I just worked to get in. A few years ago, there was pressure on the actors to go to LA and do the pilot season and all that, but in a way, the pilot season got here. There are so many talents here.
So did you meet the show’s narrator, Julie Andrews? Go Do you know her?
I hope so, but it is also frighteningly intimidating. When I found out that she had been climbed, I started to cry because that was the first indication of the scale of the project. I thought, “Oh, Julie Andrews is doing this. This is not an am-dram production. ”We thought she could come to the set, but she did all of her recordings in the United States, remotely.
What’s up with the third season of “Derry Girls”?
It is written and ready to use. It’s been a long time. We were made to shoot in May 2020, which didn’t happen. We had two more meetings in which we tried, but things [in the U.K. and Ireland] they were getting better and worse, better and worse. It’s been a waiting game, but it will definitely happen [in 2021] at some point, hell or high tide.
Do you think you can shoot in the spring?
We’re not sure yet, because we do most of our filming in Belfast, Northern Ireland, so it’s about seeing how things are going there. Everything is set up and ready to go.