Friends and lovers: Penelope, Colin cosy up for Season 3 of ‘Bridgerton’
Dearest gentle readers, it is with a happy heart and hopeful intentions that we make the following proclamation. After two drawn-out years of wistful longing, “Bridgerton” fans — not unlike their divisive Lady Whistledown — have a date. Don your best outfit and make haste, for your carriage awaits: Season 3 of the highly anticipated Shondaland series releases its first of two parts Thursday, May 16, on Netflix. The series follows the Bridgerton family’s eight siblings, many of whom are now of marriageable age, as they each seek their perfect life partner. Set in Regency-era (18111820) England, the siblings and their friends attend various balls, garden parties and other society events with the hopes of getting their names into the best, most desirable circles and securing a spouse by the end of courting season. The first season of the show, based on author Julia Quinn’s first book “The Duke & I,” followed Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor, “Younger”), the family’s eldest daughter, as she found love with her sworn nemesis, the pedantic-but-charming Simon Bassett (Regé-Jean Page, “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” 2023), Duke of Hastings. The second season, meanwhile, took source material notes from Quinn’s “The Viscount Who Loved Me,” heading backward through the siblings to the eldest Bridgerton, Anthony (Jonathan Bailey, “Broadchurch”), as he, too, overcame prejudice and wed strong-willed summer visitor and debutante Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley, “Sex Education”). The third season requires a slight shift with respect to the established reading order. Season 3 is based not on Quinn’s third book, but on her fourth, “Romancing Mr. Bridgerton.” According to the novel’s official description on JuliaQuinn.com, “Romancing Mr. Bridgerton” follows Colin (Luke Newton, “The Lodge”), who has grown “tired of being thought nothing but an empty-headed charmer, tired of the never-ending sameness of his life, and, most of all, tired of everyone’s preoccupation with the notorious gossip columnist Lady Whistledown, who can’t seem to publish an edition without mentioning him in the first paragraph. “But when Colin returns to London from a trip abroad,” the synopsis continues, “he discovers nothing in his life is quite the same — especially Penelope Featherington [Nicola Coughlan, ‘Derry Girls’]! The girl who was always simply … there is suddenly the girl haunting his dreams. But when he discovers that Penelope has secrets of her own, this elusive bachelor must decide ... is she his biggest threat or his promise of a happy ending?” Penelope, meanwhile, has all but given up on Colin after overhearing last season’s cutting claims that he would “never court” her. Penelope “has, however, decided it’s time to take a husband, preferably one who will provide her with enough independence to continue her double life as Lady Whistledown, far away from her mother and sisters,” writes the Netflix synopsis. “But lacking in confidence, Penelope’s attempts on the marriage mart fail spectacularly ... [so] Colin offers to mentor Penelope in the ways of confidence to help her find a husband this season.” While discussing why the Shonda Rhimes (“Grey’s Anatomy”) production chose to rejig the order of Quinn’s books to favour the Polin storyline, showrunner Jess Brownell, who succeeds fellow “Scandal” writer Chris Van Dusen in the role this season, told Variety: “It really felt like the perfect moment to tee it up.” “I really feel like it’s Colin and Penelope’s time,” Brownell elaborated. “Because we’ve been watching both of these actors on our screens since Season 1, we’ve already invested in them a little bit . ... I feel like, especially in the last season, there are these moments of tension between them where ... Colin walks up to the line of almost realizing that Penelope has feelings for him but doesn’t quite get there. Instead of treading water on that dynamic, we wanted to push it into their season.”