Season 5 of Bridgerton is going to look quite different — with one former lead revealing they have a much more reduced role on the show.
Nicola Coughlan was asked about filming the upcoming season by PureWow on Thursday, October 1, to which she replied, “I’ve had a really amazing year. I’ve been very, very lucky. I’m still filming on Bridgerton in more of a cameo role this time, but it’s just been a joy to come back and see everybody.”
Coughlan’s response comes as a surprise after her character played double duty on the show as both Penelope and the author of the Lady Whistledown column — a story line that drove the series for several seasons.
Bridgerton, which is based on the book series written by Julia Quinn, centers on members of the wealthy Bridgerton family and their search for love in 19th century London. Season 1 followed Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) and Simon Basset’s (Regé-Jean Page) romance, who were the central couple in the first book, The Duke and I.
Season 2, meanwhile, took inspiration from The Viscount Who Loved Me, which followed Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) finding love with Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley). Despite Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) being the subject of the third novel — An Offer From a Gentleman — his love story with newcomer Sophie (Yerin Ha) was pushed to season 4.
Instead, the third season focused on Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) and Penelope Featherington (Coughlan) as seen in Quinn’s book Romancing Mister Bridgerton.
Showrunner Jess Brownell confirmed in January that Eloise (Claudia Jessie) and Phillip Crane (Chris Fulton) or Francesca (Hannah Dodd) and Michaela (Masali Baduza) are next in line. Ultimately, Francesca is taking the lead first as former cast members step away from the show.
Page, 38, became the most memorable exit when he chose to wrap up one season in. While Bridgerton didn’t recast Simon, Page has stood by his decision not to return. Dynevor, 31, later confirmed her own exit from the series, which didn’t appear to be her choice.
More recently, Brownell addressed concerns that Simon could return — with a different actor in the role.
“We are not interested in recasting the characters,” Brownell told Variety in February. “I think it would feel like a disservice to everything Regé and Phoebe set up in season 1, and all the beautiful work they put into those characters.”
Brownell didn’t rule out an onscreen return for them.
“We would love to potentially have them back at some point, but I think, logistically, we want to make sure we bring them back when we have something really meaty for them,” she continued. “And to have them come back to say a line at a funeral [in season 4] and just prove that they were there, it wouldn’t feel right for many reasons.”
She concluded: “So I think in my mind, the camera doesn’t capture everything. They’re hypothetically there [this season] — it’s television. But we would love to find a time to bring everyone back at some point in the future.”
Brownell later revealed whether she’s spoken to Page about coming back, telling People in March, “I haven’t spoken to Regé about [returning]. The conversations haven’t happened, but the ideas are there.”
The screenwriter expressed interest in finding a way to “one day have all of the leads come back” to Bridgerton, adding, “I think it would be really meaningful, especially when I think forward to Hyacinth and Gregory’s story.”
She continued: “So I would be very interested in trying to get some of those previous leads back for the later run of the show.”
Bridgerton is streaming on Netflix.
