Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton took their Bridgerton characters’ on-screen friendship off-screen during a recent meet-up in London. Nicola, 36, revealed she visited Luke, 30, in London’s West End, where Luke has been starring opposite Peaky Blinders‘ Amber Anderson in The Shape of Things revival since May 30. She shared a photo from their get-together on Monday, June 26 and praised her pal’s acting. “Smashing it up on the London stage and I’m so proud, you’re the best,” she captioned the snapshot.
The photo showed the pair cozied up at an eatery. Luke had his arm around Nicola, and she leaned into him while giving the camera a playful wink. In the caption, Nicola revealed their Bridgerton co-star, Charithra Chandran, took the photo. Luke also shared the pic on his Instagram Story and simply captioned it, “reunited.”
Bridgerton director Tom Verrica teased fans by posting the photo to his Instagram Story and writing, “Wait til you see these two play.” The third season of the beloved historical drama began production in July 2022 and reportedly wrapped in March 2023. Since then, fans have been begging for a glimpse of the new season, although Netflix did release a few behind-the-scenes photos in June. See the pics HERE.
Fans were quick to express how they were being driven “crazy” by Nicola and Luke’s adorable picture in the comment section, with one even playfully accusing Nicole of purposefully toying with their feelings. “Oh y’all KNOW what you’re doing to us. I KNOW y’all KNOW what this has done to the fandom,” the excited fan wrote.
Nicola and Luke’s respective Bridgerton characters of Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton are best friends, but it’s no secret that Penelope has a massive crush on Colin. Fans expect to see a romance sprout between the pair in Season 3.
Nicola confirmed that there is loads of romance in Bridgerton Season 3. “I always look at the three seasons like this. I think season 1 was about passion, season 2 was about longing and season 3, I think it’s romance all the way,” she explained to PEOPLE on June 20. “It’s just so romantic.”
“There were a lot of moments on set where we filmed something and we’d turn around and everyone was sort of clutching their chest being like ‘Oh my God,'” she further teased. “It was that kind of love.”
Netflix has yet to announce the release date for Bridgerton‘s third season, but it’s likely it will drop before the end of 2023. The first two seasons are currently available to stream on Netflix.