From Barbie to Bridgerton, Nicola Coughlan has spent the last couple years showing off her range.
The actress, however, revealed in a Friday, March 22, interview on the Irish edition of The Late Late Show that her Bridgerton schedule almost kept her from appearing in Barbie at all.
“I was about to film Bridgerton and Bridgerton were like, ‘You can’t go and film an entire movie, by the way,’” she recalled. “I was like, ‘Yes, that does make sense.’”
Coughlan, 37, appeared on the show alongside Spice Girl Mel B, who quickly took over the interview, leading to host Patrick Kielty briefly and humorously walking off set.
In the interview, Coughlan said Barbie later offered her an opportunity to make a cameo in the film, and she appeared as Diplomat Barbie.
“I don’t know what it would have been,” she said. “But they were hoping for more time, but then they were like, ‘Do you want to come and do, like, a cameo?’ And I was like, ‘Yes I obviously do.’ I didn’t know that I’d make the cut. I didn’t know they’d put me on a poster. All that was very surprising to me.”
Coughlan previously spoke on the scheduling conflict, though she didn’t disclose at the time that it was Bridgerton that kept her from a larger role in Barbie.
“When I found out [Greta Gerwig] wanted to have me be part of @barbiethemovie, and then that I probably wouldn’t be able to make it work because of my schedule I was firstly elated and quickly heartbroken,” Coughlan explained in an Instagram post last July. “So when I was asked if I wanted to pop into Barbieland even briefly my answer was an immediate, and very emphatic yes.”
Coughlan broke out in her role as Clare Devlin on British sitcom Derry Girls, which premiered in 2018. She was then cast as Penelope Featherington on Bridgerton, a role she has played since 2020. The first half of Bridgerton season 3 is due to release on May 16, with the second half coming June 13.
Again showing her versatility, Coughlan is working on more than just Bridgerton right now. She’s also starring in the six-part comedy series Big Mood, which premieres this week in Ireland.
“I’m so insanely proud of it,” Coughlan told the Irish Mirror. “It’s the most personally invested I’ve ever been in anything that I’ve ever worked on. Because it is written by one of my best friends and it’s got so much meaning behind it. I think it’s so funny.”
