Dearest Gentle Reader,
If Lady Whistledown's identity came as a surprise to you during Bridgerton's season one finale, you might actually have been alone. After all, Whistledown's own actress Nicola Coughlan—aka Penelope Featherington—knew her secret identity before she even stepped foot onto set.
But if you think she learned from reading the original book series, think again.
"I found out in a super professional way," she told Seth Meyers during a May 14 appearance on Late Night. "I found out on a Reddit fan forum. Because I Googled it. And then I arrived day one and I was like, 'This is amazing—am I her? Like is that me?' And they were like, 'Yeah, it's you.'"
She continued, "And then I proceeded to tell everyone, so it was a surprise for nobody on the cast because I couldn't stop talking about it."
An irony, Seth was sure to point out. "So it turns out you were terribly cast as someone who is good at keeping a secret," he joked, to which Nicola, 37, concurred, "Absolutely rubbish, yeah."
But while Nicola has been nursing this side plot over the Netflix show's first two seasons, this third installment is finally the one in which the seasoned wallflower is thrust into the spotlight as the love story between Penelope and Luke Newton's Colin Bridgerton takes center stage.
And with the spotlight comes, as now expected by fans of the sultry series, a number of sex scenes—an artistic challenge Nicola not only was ready for, but one she embraced.
"I specifically asked for certain lines and moments to be included," the Derry Girls alum told Stylist in a recent interview, per People. "There's one scene where I'm very naked on camera, and that was my idea, my choice."
As she explained, "It just felt like the biggest 'f--k you' to all the conversation surrounding my body. It was amazingly empowering. I felt beautiful in the moment, and I thought, 'When I'm 80, I want to look back on this and remember how f--king hot I looked!'"
Plus, she had her perfect partner in Luke. As she told E! News' Francesca Amiker earlier this month, having worked together for almost four plus years, "We had a certain physical comfort level with each other which helps immensely."
And Luke, 31, agrees completely.
"It was natural," he explained. "We didn't have to do anything to ignite that. It was kind of like these characters had got there over a long period of time—they talk of Colin and Pen as the slow burn romance—but really when we got there..."
As Nicola finished for him, "We just went for it."
"We had to kind of hold back on the chemistry for the first two seasons," she continued. "And then it was like when we were ready to unleash it, we were like, 'Here you go!'"
And to see all that chemistry in action, tune into the first half of season three available now on Netflix—and don't miss part two June 13.