Nicola Coughlan shuts down Bridgerton season 4 fan theory

(Image credit: Courtesy of Netflix)

published 5 June 2024

Nicola Coughlan has shut a Bridgerton season 4 fan theory down in the space of one Instagram comment.

The actress — who plays Penelope Featherington, AKA Lady Whistledown, on the series — recently posted a slideshow of pictures from the set of season 3 on Instagram, in anticipation of part 2 being released later this month.

While there was a lot to see in the entire slideshow, it's the last picture that made fans lose their minds this time. It's a photo Nicola took of her costar Luke Newton (Colin Bridgerton) reading a script in a makeup trailer. Behind him is a mirror with a post-it marked "Sophie" on it.

Readers of the Bridgerton book series by Julia Quinn immediately picked up on this, because they've all been hoping for a while that a character named Sophie Beckett — who becomes Benedict Bridgerton's love interest in the books — will be introduced in the TV version ASAP, either towards the end of season 3, or in season 4.

But sadly, the very reasonable Nicola didn't want to get fans' hopes up, so when one person commented: "SOPHIE?!?" she quickly answered: "lolll no that’s @sophie.burton.33’s makeup station!!"

Obviously, we're giving massive props to Nic for not giving us false hopes, but still, we hope this doesn't mean Sophie is out of the picture entirely. Fingers crossed!

A post shared by Nicola Coughlan
A photo posted by nicolacoughlan on

Season 3 revolves around Penelope and Colin's romance, and it's been absolutely lovely seeing Nicola and Luke's bond develop on and off-screen. Before you ask, no, they're not dating IRL, but they seem to be really close friends.

For example, Luke delighted fans this week when he shared a video of himself pranking Nic, by jumping up from under a chair in her makeup trailer as she walked in.

The actor called it "payback," as Nicola had previously pranked him by getting the show's crew to play music from Luke's former boy band while filming a scene instead of the song they were meant to dance to, as both of them recounted in an interview with People. That's classic.

A post shared by Luke Newton
A photo posted by lukenewtonuk on

TOPICS

Iris Goldsztajn is a celebrity and royal news writer for Marie Claire. As a London-based freelance journalist, she writes about wellness, relationships, pop culture, beauty and more for the likes of InStyle, Women's Health, Bustle, Stylist and Red. Aside from her quasi-personal investment in celebs' comings and goings, Iris is especially interested in debunking diet culture and destigmatising mental health struggles. Previously, she was the associate editor for Her Campus, where she oversaw the style and beauty news sections, as well as producing gift guides, personal essays and celebrity interviews. There, she worked remotely from Los Angeles, after returning from a three-month stint as an editorial intern for Cosmopolitan.com in New York. As an undergraduate at the University of California, Los Angeles, she interned at goop and C California Style and served as Her Campus' national style and LGBTQ+ editor. Iris was born and raised in France by a French father and an English mother. Her Spotify Wrapped is riddled with country music and One Direction, and she can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.

Marie Claire Newsletter