Nicola Coughlan is taking a step back from the next season of Bridgerton.
“Season five had started filming already, so I won’t be in it very much,” Coughlan, 39, said on the Wednesday, April 29, episode of Waitrose’s “The Dish” podcast. “I’m always happy to come back. I think it’s a genuinely lovely job to come back to.”
She continued, “I have it so good now ‘cause I come in for a few days. I’m, like, ‘Yay! How is everyone? I’ll see you in two months. Bye.’”
Coughlan has starred as Penelope Bridgerton (née Featherington) on the Netflix hit since 2020’s season 1. Bridgerton, based on Julia Quinn’s bestselling regency romance novels of the same name, follows a different Bridgerton sibling’s journey to find love. Penelope took center stage in season 3 during the friends-to-lovers arc between her character and Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton).
Coughlan and Newton, 33, returned to season 4, which aired earlier this year, as Benedict (Luke Thompson) and Sophie (Yerin Ha) took over the leading roles. Penelope and Colin helped the new couple find one another, while balancing newlywed life as first-time parents. Penelope also shuttered her “Lady Whistledown” gossip column after outing herself as the beloved author.
“Penelope went through such a giant growth arc last season. She’s not the powerless girl who needs Whistledown to take back her voice anymore,” showrunner Jess Brownell told Tudum in February 2026. “While she stands by everything she believes about gossip being information, gossip being power for the voiceless, she realizes that it’s time for her to stop being in that role.”
By the season 4 finale, a yet-to-revealed author has taken over the Whistledown moniker that will likely carry over to season 5. The next iteration will follow Francesca’s (Hannah Dodd) gender-swapped love story with Michaela (Masali Baduza), a decision that has sparked backlash among fans. No matter the critics, the cast and crew have all been proponents of the onscreen queer romance.
“I expected some disappointment, [but] I didn’t expect people, like, calling me names and saying like, ‘Oh, go deposit your big fat check,’ and, ‘You sold out. You’re a terrible person,’” author Quinn, 56, exclusively told Us Weekly in May 2025. “It’s just, like, if you can’t handle it, there’s always the book. I’m not going to rewrite the book, and you can have one of each. … I think it’s gonna be a heart-wrenching, emotional season, which is what [Francesca’s book] When He Was Wicked was.”
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