Warning: This article contains massive spoilers for the first season of Bridgerton.
Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan has revealed that her character’s epic twist in the first season finale almost played out very differently.
The Irish star plays Penelope Featherington in the much-loved period drama, a character who is unveiled as the gossip columnist Lady Whistledown at the end of the Netflix show’s first run.
With the cast now gearing up for the release of Bridgerton’s second series, Nicola has admitted that producers had initially wanted to keep Penelope’s secret under wraps for a bit longer before spilling the beans to viewers.
“They had changed back and forward a few times,” she told cast members Simone Ashley, Jonathan Bailey and Charithra Chandran during Netflix’s Tudum event.
Nicola went on to say that bosses initially wanted to end the series with a “red herring”, pointing towards Cressida Cowper as Lady Whistledown’s true identity rather than Penelope, before eventually settling on the current ending.
However, it turns out that unmasking Penelope early on in Bridgerton’s run has worked out well for the character in the forthcoming series.
Nicola added: “How do I say this without being a spoiler? It’s very satisfying, what happens with Penelope, in season two.”
The second series of Bridgerton is currently in production, with Sex Education star Simone Ashley joining the cast for the new batch of episodes.
Simone will play Kate Sharma, a potential love interest for Jonathan Bailey’s character Anthony Bridgerton, who will take centre stage when season two begins filming.
One person you won’t be seeing, though, is Regé-Jean Page, who has decided not to return to Bridgerton for its second season.
Nicola is also set to appear in the hit Channel 4 sitcom Derry Girls’ upcoming third and final season, and will judge an episode of the current series of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK.
Bridgerton is available to stream now on Netflix.