While the fourth season of Bridgerton was very much concerned with the love story of Benedict (Luke Thompson) and Sophie (Yerin Ha), there was plenty else going on within the Ton.
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Now that the fifth season lead's love story has also been confirmed, fans can continue to ideate about how they think things will unfold – but season 4 also delivered quite the surprise ending.
The fourth season of the hit Netflix drama saw Penelope (Nicola Coughlan) retire from being Whistledown after realising that a life in the spotlight wasn't one she wanted.
But in season 4's final moments, Penelope is writing away at her desk once again. However, she's not writing Whistledown but a novel of her own, as she tells husband Colin (Luke Newton). Colin is left confused though, handing Penelope a copy of Whistledown before asking her who has written that. What a cliffhanger!
Luke Newton as Colin Bridgerton, Nicola Coughlan as Penelope Bridgerton in Bridgerton. Liam Daniel/Netflix
Asking Coughlan what she made of the Whistledown twist while promoting the second season of Channel 4's Big Mood, the actress told Radio Times: "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."
She continued: "Yeah, you don't really have a life when you're doing it, which I was sort of fine with. It's about eight months filming and then it was like six months promotion around it. It was amazing but I've taken everything out of that that I could possibly want.
"So then it's just lovely to pass it on to someone else. We're about to start filming season 5 and I think it's time to like... you know, it never focuses too long on any particular set of characters so it's lovely to see Florence [Hunt] and Will [Tilston] coming up and Hannah [Dodd]. I think it's great."
She added: "I'll always pop in if they want me to! I'll be hanging around in the background sometimes for sure, if they need me."
As for who has taken over the Whistledown reigns, it'll likely play out much like the show's first episodes where viewers and characters were left wondering just who was penning the exposing pamphlet.
When asked about whether the team behind the show already know who the new Whistledown is, showrunner Jess Brownell previously told Radio Times: "Shonda and I and all my writers know who Whistledown is and we’ve been writing to that. But that was what was really exciting to us was to A: let Penelope move onto a next chapter as a novelist, in her romance with Colin et cetera.
"But I think once we revealed that Penelope was Whistledown at the end of season 1 and especially now that she’s come out publicly at the end of season 3, the stakes of it – we lost a bit of them in season 4."
She continued: "It was really fun telling the story of her having to face some accountability with the people she’s written about, but it’s also so fun now to have red herrings and clues and have no one know because it’s not from the books at this point… Yeah we’re going a bit rogue."
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Abby Robinson is the Drama Editor for Radio Times, covering TV drama and comedy titles. She previously worked at Digital Spy as a TV writer, and as a content writer at Mumsnet. She possesses a postgraduate diploma and a degree in English Studies.
Morgan Cormack is a Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering everything drama-related on TV and streaming. She previously worked at Stylist as an Entertainment Writer. Alongside her past work in content marketing and as a freelancer, she possesses a BA in English Literature.
