Back in 2022, Bridgerton overtook itself to remain the most-watched English language show on Netflix. Can the Shondaland series achieve the same feat with the third season? The show knows its audience and gives them what they cannot find in too many other places these days. That would be the attention to the female gaze within the show’s abundance of (consensual) butt-grabbing scenes, and presumably, that trend will continue after the second season put Anthony Bridgerton together for the long haul with his new wife, Kate.
This followed after Daphne Bridgerton initially set the streaming world on fire by marrying The Duke, who had a thing with blankets that will never stop being funny. Let’s move on to this season’s central pairing, which will follow the will-they-or-won’t-they pattern before providing a definitive answer.
Plot
As shown ^^^ above, the Bridgerton sibling whose heart goes boom this season would be Colin. In the most recent season, he ended up disappointing Penelope Featherington, his long-time friend who has obviously crushing on him. She did, however, hear Anthony telling his friends that he would never be into her. And this season, she has decided that it’s time to leave the nest and find an appropriate match. This arc follows Julia Quinn’s novel series, and you can probably guess from a mile away that Penelope still adores Colin even though she will peruse the incoming selection of suitors.
To complicate matters, Penelope is still kind-of juggling her gossip-column alias of Lady Whistledown. She also cannot say no when Colin offers to help her find the right match, and yup, that will not go as swimmingly for his own heart as planned when lords start asking Penelope for her hand in marriage.
In the meantime, we will still see Kate and Anthony getting hot and heavy.
From the synopsis:
“…Eager to win back her friendship, Colin offers to mentor Penelope in the ways of confidence to help her find a husband this season. But when his lessons start working a little too well, Colin must grapple with whether his feelings for Penelope are truly just friendly. Complicating matters for Penelope is her rift with Eloise, who has found a new friend in a very unlikely place, while Penelope’s growing presence in the [town] makes it all the more difficult to keep her Lady Whistledown alter ego a secret.”
Cast
The Bridgerton family will remain a large focus, but the Featherington family dynamic will receive plenty of scrutiny this season. Ms. Penelope Featherington/Lady Whistledown will be portrayed by Nicola Coughlan with Julie Andrews still doing the Whistledown voiceover. Her good friend/apparent eventual suitor, Colin Bridgerton, is portrayed by Luke Newton. Jonathan Bailey and Simone Ashley will be back as Anthony Bridgerton and Kate Sharma, respectively.
The rest of the vast ensemble cast includes Golda Rosheuvel (Queen Charlotte), Adjoa Andoh (Lady Danbury), Ruth Gemmell (Violet Bridgerton), Luke Thompson (Benedict Bridgerton), Will Tilston (Gregory Bridgerton), Hannah Dodd (Francesca Bridgerton), Polly Walker (Portia Featherington), Harriet Cains (Philipa Featherington), and Bessie Carter (Prudence Featherington).
New actors on the scene include Sam Phillips (Lord Debling), Daniel Francis (Marcus Anderson), and James Phoon (Harry Dankworth).
Release Date
Netflix is doing the split-season thing with this series. As a result, four episodes will arrive on the initial premiere date of May 16. The final four episodes of the season will then surface on June 13. Will there be a fourth season? Yes, that’s been greenlit in advance.
Trailer
Take a gander at Penelope’s suitors below.
Additionally, here’s Kate and Anthony still hot and bothered.