In a season-altering twist worthy of Lady Whistledown, Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan has revealed that the third season of Netflix's wildly popular Regency-era romance will focus on the love story between her character Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton), the third brother in the titular family.

While appearing on Netflix's FYSEE panel alongside co-stars Simone Ashley and Charithra Chandran, as well as showrunner Chris Van Dusen, costume designer Sophie Canale and composer Kris Bowers, Coughlan was asked by host Yvette Nicole Brown what Lady Whistledown might be able to reveal about the upcoming season. Given that her character Penelope moonlights as the ton's most notorious gossip columnist, Coughlan answered the question, saying:

“Like Lady Whistledown, I have been keeping a secret for quite some time and I can confirm to you all that season 3 is Colin and Penelope’s love story. I have kept that secret since two weeks into season 2. This is the first time I am saying it here.”

While Newton was not present at the event, he did speak to Netflix about his characters romance taking center stage in the upcoming season, saying “There's so much love for that relationship. Which brings its pressures because there are people that are really excited about this story to come to the forefront."

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Image via Netflix

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Season 3 is going to be something of an uphill battle for Colin and Penelope. The end of Season 2 saw everything crashing down around Penelope as her best friend, and Colin's sister, Eloise (Claudia Jesse) discovered that Pen was behind the Lady Whistledown gossip sheet that had just printed potentially ruinous information about her. Colin's discovery of this fact plays a huge role in the Colin and Penelope-centric book Romancing Mr. Bridgerton, so it will be interesting to see how these two plot threads weave together in the upcoming season, and how Penelope will come back from the hole she has dug for herself.

As far as Colin is concerned, he has some growing to do as well. In one of his final scenes of the season, he tells some friends that he would "never court Penelope Featherington," something Penelope herself overhears. Newton doesn't believe there was anything malicious in the comment, and rather it was an offhand remark. Still, Colin will need to adjust his priorities this season, as Season 2 saw him visit his onetime flame Marina (Ruby Barker), who he is still not over despite Marina's marriage to Sir Philip Crane (Chris Fulton).

The news of the romantic focus for Season 3 likely comes as a surprise to fans of the Bridgerton novels. The third book in the series, An Offer From a Gentleman, focused on the second Bridgerton sibling, Benedict (Luke Thompson), falling in love with Sophie Beckett in something of a Cinderella-esque love story. Hopefully fans of "Benophie" will be rewarded for their patience when we see sweet, romantic artist Benedict finally find love in Season 4.

Bridgerton Season 3 is expected to go into production this summer. In the meantime, Lady Whistledown herself has issued an official statement, which you can see on the Bridgerton Twitter account below: