Bridgerton season 3 on Netflix: More lurid scandals and love affairs as stars divulge storyline secrets ahead of series' return

As gossip goes, there’s little more juicy than what’s divulged in the missives of Bridgerton’s elusive Lady Whistledown. Her rumour mill has kept the ton talking through lurid love affairs and societal scandals aplenty, but as Bridgerton returns to Netflix for a third season, our writer might just be finding herself the talk of the town.

For those who might need a reminder, season two of Bridgerton saw Penelope Featherington’s identity as Lady Whistledown revealed to her best friend, Eloise Bridgerton, resulting in a fiery falling-out. But Penelope doesn’t put down her pen, and season three sees her resume her writing about all the goings-on in high society – though with her identity known to even one member of the ton, the burden seems to be weighing heavy on her shoulders.

To make matters worse for Penelope, her long-time crush Colin Bridgerton has just returned from his trip around Europe, where he’s worked his way around the countries – and women – of the continent and re-enters society with a new worldliness. Thus, Penelope becomes the protagonist of season three – a season which makes her and Colin the subject of attention – heartbroken and friendless, while Colin’s had something of a glow up.

“He comes back with this newfound confidence, and he thinks he’s the king of charm,” says Luke Newton, 31, who plays Colin. “It’s a fun place to start the season. And then also, he kind of needs someone to put him in his place and get reset.”

Before he left, Penelope overheard Colin telling other gentlemen that he would never court her, which broke her heart – and with seemingly a newfound ego packed into his travelling bags, sparking a romance seems even less likely. With one last shot at finding a husband, and many already condemning her a spinster, Penelope has something of a Cinderella moment, stepping into the year’s marriage market with a transformed look that’s sure to turn some heads.

“It’s really fun,” smiles Nicola Coughlan, 37, who plays Penelope, of her new look. “I hoped that we’d get to our season and that she was going to have this transformation, but I really loved the way they wrote it, in that she has this physical transformation, but then you realise that she’s done no inner work, so she has no confidence. She’s got no chat. It’s just an absolute disaster.”

“I also love playing that side of her, how awkward she is with men…” adds the Derry Girls star. “Because she’s only had two people that she’s ever really loved and wanted to be around in her life, Colin and Eloise. She’s lost both of them. So she’s a bit like: ‘What do I do now?’”

Fans of the Regency romance series, which is based on the book series by Julia Quinn, have been getting hot under the collar about the fact that the new season will focus on the will-they-won’t-they relationship between Colin and Penelope, a pairing they dub ‘Polin’. Setting this season apart from the two that have come before is the fact that fans already know and love the two people involved in the main romantic plot, which the cast say really ramps up the excitement this time around.

“It kind of hits you like a train, the first episode,” teases Newton, who starred in teen dramas before Bridgerton. “I think after how patient fans have been leading up to this point – I think it’s what they’ve wanted all this time – it’s really nice that we get to see there’s a history between these two characters. We don’t have to set that up, we can just kind of sit in it and live that experience…

“It feels appropriate to their love story that we’ve seen their history, and we know about their friendship from the start.”

“I think the thirst is bigger, isn’t it?,” adds Claudia Jessie, 34, who plays Eloise Bridgerton and previously had roles in Line Of Duty and Porters.

“I think we look forward to meeting new people, and we have, obviously, from seasons one and two, and that’s been really enjoyable.

“But there’s something quite comforting, I think, for the fans to be thirsty for something and then be satisfied by something.”

That said, it’s not all about Polin this season. Francesca Bridgerton, previously played by Ruby Stokes with Hannah Dodd taking on the role for season three, is making her debut in society and beginning the search for a husband.

Dodd, 28, who also appeared in Netflix’s Anatomy Of A Scandal, says that fans are “going to learn a lot about Francesca – and equally, she’s learning a lot about herself as well”. “It’s her first time on the season, so it’s a new environment for her, and she kind of has to step out from the shadows of her siblings and work out what it is that she wants, and whether that looks slightly different to how they’ve gone about it.”

Meanwhile, there’s a third member of the Bridgerton clan dealing with complicated emotions about love – though we’re not talking in a romantic sense. Following the explosive finale of season two, Eloise and Penelope’s friendship is in tatters, and Eloise holds the secret of the true identity of Lady Whistledown like a loaded gun. “I feel like she’s been quite courteous, considering she knows a huge secret that could be dropped at any minute,” says Claudia Jessie. “So I think that there’s a lot of love that Eloise and Penelope have for each other, irrespective of their circumstances, still there, but the pain is equal to the level of betrayal. For Eloise, I personally think it’s a great thing for her to be able to find her independence and find out who she is outside of this column that she’s leant on so heavily for years in Penelope, because I think Penelope has been quite patient with Eloise a lot of the time…”

“I think there’s a big thing on TV and in movies (that) we really celebrate romantic love, and platonic love is not held in the same reverential light,” Coughlan reflects. “And it should be, really, because I think Penelope does have two loves of her life… But I love the way it’s written, and it’s such an important part of the story. And I know it’s one of Julia Quinn’s – she said one of her favourite love stories within all of Bridgerton, is Pen and El.”

Season three of Bridgerton comes to Netflix on Thursday May 16.