Spoiler alert: This article contains details about season 3 of Bridgerton.
Dear Kind Reader, Season 3 of the bodice-ripping, hot-under-the-tie phenomenon Bridgerton has descended on the tons (short for ‘the bon ton’, or British upper class, for all the non-viewers), and it brings with it the official start of the ‘Polin’ season – that is, the season of Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton.
Upon its release on May 16, fans of the Regency-era romance eagerly devoured the first half of the latest season, breaking Netflix records with 45.05 million views worldwide.
Now forced to wait until June 13 for the second batch of episodes, fans are anxiously counting down the days to the end of season 3 – which promises to be particularly tough, considering star Nicola Coughlan’s request for her character Penelope to be “so to make nudity possible.” .”
Coughlan’s sizzling on-screen romance with co-star Luke Newton Because Colin not only has viewers wildly fanning out (especially during that titillating carriage ride), he also has them cheering for plus-sized representation in the romantic lead.
“Plus size actresses have been portrayed as the fat, single or funny girlfriend for too long. They deserve the treatment of the main character,” Kate Sturino, body acceptance advocate and founder of beauty brand Megababe, told Yahoo Entertainment.
“While watching the sex scene, I noted to myself how unusual it was to see a larger body getting the sex scene treatment. The lighting, the close-ups, the passion! And with a leading man, like the handsome Colin Bridgerton, and no side character,” Sturino added. “It was so exciting to see Penelope attract not just one but two suitors. It was also great to see how much sexual desire Colin had for her. It is important to show that!”
While the season is based on the novel by Julia Quinn Romance Mr. Bridgertonthe fourth in the Bridgerton series, producers cut a major plot point that the book follows: Penelope’s weight… and weight loss.
“We think Penelope is beautiful, but I don’t think it’s really part of her story,” showrunner Jess Brownell said. Variety. “I think the fact that she is a wallflower on our show has more to do with her self-confidence than her appearance. So I think that’s more what we’re playing with this season.”
One storyline from the book they did keep was Penelope’s makeover – which fans called the ‘Bridgerton glow-up,” a clothing transformation that characters undergo when playing the romantic lead.
In season 3, Penelope’s citrus dresses and tight poodle curls are gone. Now that her character is stepping out of the wallflower role and into that of the leading actress, her look is more glamorous.
But more important than what Penelope wears is what she doesn’t wear – which Coughlan says won’t be much, per her request.
“I specifically asked for certain lines and moments [from the book] to be shot… There’s one scene where I’m very naked in front of the camera, and that was my idea, my choice,” Coughlan shared Stylist.
“It just felt like the biggest ‘f*** you’ of all the conversation surrounding my body; it was incredibly empowering… I felt beautiful in that moment, and I thought, ‘When I’m 80, I want to look back at this and remember how damn hot I looked!’”
It’s that on-screen empowerment that fans in the plus-size community are cheering for.
Body positive model and content creator Remi Bader recently took to her Instagram Story to share a message she received from a follower.
“Between Nicola as the leading actress this season Bridgerton and Hunter McGrady on the cover of SI swimsuit all in one week the chubby little girl inside me is so happy to see this. I’m still a chubby adult, but I really wish we had this kind of representation when I was growing up in the early 2000s.
To this, Bader replied, “This is so true. As sad as I am about the lack of representation of curves and plus bodies in fashion lately, we need to look at what’s being done, and both are huge!
McGrady, a plus-size model, hitched a ride in her own story on Bader’s Instagram story.
“We are seeing a devastating decline in body representation [and] diversity on all boards. I know the plus community is really feeling it… We’re back to worshiping only one body type,” she said in the video.
“We need representation more than ever… We’ve made so much progress and now we’re taking such a step back. I don’t see plus size women in ads on all boards anymore… We still deserve to be appreciated.”
However, some believe that Coughlan’s role as Penelope is not enough to emphasize body representation.
“I think it’s cool to see someone bigger than a size 2 on screen. Is it revolutionary? No. It is enough? No,” Raffela Mancuso, a mental health and body image activist, told Yahoo Entertainment.
“I think many people recognize themselves in this [the role]. It helps people feel normalized in their bodies. In that sense, it is a confirmation that we live in a society that has been teaching us to hate ourselves for so long. [But] we are not done yet.”
As for Coughlan herself, the actress said she hopes her body of work will one day be more important than her actual body.
“I hope that in the future more people will talk about our work, our inspirations, our drive, instead of our appearance. There is a revolution happening and I want to play my part in it,” Coughlan wrote in an article for The Guardian in 2018.
She recently echoed the same sentiment in a 2022 interview with Tatler. “I know the world is very obsessed with body image, but I always hope that people will focus more on my acting. … Your relationship with your body is so personal. If I suddenly decide to become a bodybuilder and [apply a] getting a fake tan and being covered in muscle, I can do that – because it’s my body and no one else gets to own it or decide what to do with it. It is always my wish that I will not be known as a body positivity influencer, but only as an actor.”
The first part of Bridgerton Season 3 is now on Netflix.
