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Netflix Star Reveals Bombshell Step Back in New Season

The fan-favorite character won’t be around as much in the show’s upcoming season.

Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan shared that her iconic character won’t appear as much in the show’s next season. Coughlan, who plays the fan-favorite Penelope Featherington, announced that she will be taking a step back from her role in the show’s fifth season, set to release next year. “It’s bittersweet. I feel like, God, I had such an epic run,” the 39-year-old actress told E! News. “I think that’s part of the beauty of that world is it keeps reinventing itself. Every season being a new story—it takes on a different guise.” Coughlan’s character was the central focus of the show’s third season, in which it was revealed that she was the secret author behind Regency London’s gossip pamphlet—Lady Whistledown. Under the pseudonym, she wrote anonymously about the town’s secret affairs and goings-on. However, her identity was revealed amid her relationship with Luke Newton’s character, Colin Bridgerton. Throughout season four, she struggled to face the consequences of her gossip, eventually deciding to retire Lady Whistledown and focus on her marriage to Colin. However, a new secret writer has taken up the mantle of Lady Whistledown, and Coughlan is none the wiser. “I genuinely have no clue, and it’s quite nice not to know,” she told E! News. “I don’t need to know.