Nicola Coughlan has become a household name thanks to her role in Bridgerton, but she has revealed she missed out on starring in another of Netflix’s biggest shows.
The actor, who plays Penelope Featherington in Bridgerton, has told Buzzfeed she previously auditioned for a role in Stranger Things but lost out on the role.
Nicola had read for the part of Robin Buckley, who was introduced as Steve Harrington’s co-worker at ice cream shop Scoops Ahoy during the third season.
However, the role ended up going to Maya Hawke.
“She was far better than I ever would have been,” Nicola said.
She added that it was a “a good lesson to actors” to “watch the stuff you didn’t get”.
“You’ll totally understand how it’s not personal,” she explained.
As well as starring in the second season of Bridgerton, which debuted on Netflix last month, Nicola will also be seen in the third and final season of Derry Girls when it begins on Tuesday.
However, the Clare Devlin actor recently revealed she will have less screen time than in previous series of the Channel 4 sitcom due to he role in Bridgerton.
She explained (via Digital Spy): “We were meant to film Derry Girls in January 2021. And I was totally free and they decided to push it again. And that caused me insane stress because I was on [what] in the industry is called first call. So it means you have to go and do the show that you’re on first call to, which was Bridgerton.
“And I was like ‘Guys, can we just film it?’ And they were like, ‘No, we’re gonna wait.’ And I was like, ‘oh’, so [we had to make] compromises happen in the script of Derry Girls. It was devastating to me because I wanted to be in all of this. But compromises had to be made.
“And you know, they had to cut down my role somewhat, which was hard. Really, really hard. But I think, you know, the fans of the show are going to be happy. I think it’s a really nice sign-off for the show.”
Bridgerton is streaming now on Netflix, while Derry Girls starts on Tuesday at 9.15pm on Channel 4.