The finale of the third season of Bridgerton aired on Netflix a few weeks ago and finally let the cat out of the bag: After numerous episodes of hide-and-seek and puzzle solving, Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) has revealed herself to Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel) and the rest of the London court as Lady Whistledown made clear.
The mystery surrounding the gossipy scribbler has been running through the series since the very first episode of the opening season and gave the Pride and Prejudice-like story its unmistakable Gossip Girl character. But how can it without this essential tension element continue in future seasons?
Bridgerton needs Lady Whistledown to avoid becoming a simple soap opera
Admittedly, the most important topic in Bridgerton has probably never been the mystery surrounding Lady Whistledown, but the Love relationships of the characters. Who has to or wants to marry whom, is allowed, can or should, has always taken up the most space in the series and is what has interested viewers the most over 3 seasons. But if the series had no further storylines to offer, the soapy and simple who-with-whom would have become boring after just one season.
Bridgerton needs an underlying element of tension that stands above the friendships and relationships and also connects across all seasonsLady Whistledown’s gossip column and the secret of her identity have served as just that so far, and Season 3, Part 2 has impressively shown that it can also exist as a superficial area of tension that temporarily pushes romance into the background.
Netflix
Nicola Coughlan in Bridgerton
With Penelope’s revelation to Colin (Luke Newton), Charlotte and the entire court, this element of suspense is now completely gone. After all, the last document we see in the series from Lady Whistledown was even signed with Penelope’s real name, while the reading voice-over, which was previously spoken by Julie Andrews in the English original, has changed to Nicola Coughlan’s voice. This makes it clear that Penelope no longer has to and will not act from the shadows.
Bridgerton must reinvent itself in season 4, otherwise the series is lost
What Bridgerton needs in future seasons is a new element of suspense that unites the many individual stories into a larger whole. In the prequel series Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, Lady Whistledown’s secret played a subordinate role. Here, on the one hand, the focus was on fewer main characters, and on the other hand, the series waited with a secret of its own on.
King George’s (Corey Mylchreest) illness initially puzzled viewers in the first episodes of the series, and later we worried with George and Charlotte about its revelation. Here, a similar secret construct came into play in fast-forward as was the case in the main series with Lady Whistledown over 3 seasons.
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Corey Mylchreest in Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story
In season 4, Bridgerton must find a similar focus that keeps us hooked. Otherwise, the series risks to break into its many individual parts ‒ and on top of that degenerate into a boring soap that is hardly different from other series.
This is how it will continue in season 4
The season 3 finale has already given us massive hints that season 4 will focus on Benedict Bridgerton’s (Luke Thompson) love story. At the same time, Penelope will continue her role as Lady Whistledown, contrary to Julia Quinn’s novel, which, according to showrunner Jess Brownell, will give her a source of friction in the series in the future (via The Wrap ).
How exactly this unfolds, we will probably find out 2026when Bridgerton season 4 arrives on Netflix.