Nicola Coughlan Has a Reduced Role in ‘Bridgerton’ Season 5

Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan has confirmed that her fan-favorite character, the gossip-spinning Penelope, has a significantly reduced role in Season 5: “I won’t be in it very much.”

In Bridgerton Season 5, the ton is rocked by the arrival of an all-new writer penning society papers under the pseudonym of Lady Whistledown. With Penelope Bridgerton (Nicola Coughlan) taking a step back from weaving together rumors and sharing scandals throughout high society, her job is rekindled by a mystery figure. While this doesn’t leave Coughlan’s character surplus to requirements, she does have a reduced role in the forthcoming season. But don’t take it from us — Coughlan herself has confirmed that she has a reduced role in Season 5. 

“Season five had started filming already, so I won’t be in it very much,” Coughlan said during an appearance on the Dish Podcast on April 29. 

That’s not to say Coughlan won’t be involved; she will feature in the season, but it’ll be her least prominent yet. Of course, Coughlan was recurring in Season 1 and Season 2, leading Season 3 alongside Luke Newton (Colin Bridgerton). In Season 4, she appeared regularly, with Penelope coming to terms with her persona as Lady Whistledown and working alongside Queen Charlotte to use the papers as a political tool to sway the opinions of the ton. By the end of Season 4, she ultimately walked away from the job after seeing the real impact it had on society, and a mysterious figure assumed the pseudonym. 

While Season 5 represents Coughlan’s least amount of screen time yet, she’s happy with taking on a reduced capacity and sees it as necessary for a show like Bridgerton to continue re-inventing itself. “I think in a way, it’s great because it’s a show that keeps reinventing itself. Same thing – you have to hold on tightly, let go lightly. Like I loved leading that show, it’s amazing but it’s exhausting – it was so much work. You don’t really have a life when you’re doing it, which I was sort of fine with. It’s about eight months of filming, and then it was like six months of promotion around it. It was amazing, but I’ve taken everything out of that that I could possibly want,” she explained. 

Looking ahead to the future of the series, there are still many more seasons to tell — 8 seasons in total, which would cover the entirety of Julia Quinn’s novels. And that’s not to mention further spin-offs, which are a possibility. Coughlan is totally down to reprise her role whenever she’s required. “I’m always happy to come back. I think it’s a genuinely lovely job to come back to,” she said.

Right now, she drops in and dips out of the set. “I have it so good now ’cause I come in for a few days,” she said, “and I’m like, ‘Yay! How is everyone? I’ll see you in two months. Bye! They’re working super super hard and I’m just like coming back. It’s lovely.”

Of course, with an ensemble cast like Bridgerton, stars coming and going has become expected. Look no further than Kate (Simone Ashley) and Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) , who led Season 2. They returned as a married Viscount and Viscountess in Season 3, before only making a cameo appearance as parents in Season 4. 

Who is the ‘new’ Lady Whistledown in Bridgerton Season 5?

Bridgerton Season 3 Part 2 Netflix Penelope 2

Following Penelope’s retirement as Lady Whistledown in Season 4, she decides to pursue a less controversial career as a novelist. However, the season finale ends with a society paper flooding the ton, penned by a new and mysterious Lady Whistledown. 

The identity of the new Whistledown is a secret kept under lock and key. Unlike Penelope, who fans knew was Whistledown from Julia Quinn’s novels, this secret is unique to the show. It can’t be solved from a quick Google search. “Penelope was Julia Quinn’s Whistledown, so we knew we couldn’t really play with that reveal for too long because people could just Google it,” showrunner Jessica Brownell told Netflix. “But now, we get to play with audience expectations.”

In fact, the new Lady Whistledown mystery is one that the show won’t unveil in the next season; they’re going to draw this one out again. “I’ll say it won’t be revealed in season 5,” Brownell teased to EW back in February. “I can say that we’ve already finished writing season 5, so beyond that, I can’t say for sure, but we will play with the mystery for a little while.” 

Suffice to say, crumbs will be planted for viewers keen to unravel the mystery. “We’ll definitely be planting some clues over the next few seasons for people to hopefully have their own guesses,” she said. 

Who do you think is the next Lady Whistledown? Give us all your theories in the comments down below!