Nicola Coughlan says Penelope Bridgerton will not be in Bridgerton season five very much, even as filming is already underway on the next chapter of the Netflix drama. The actor said on the April 29 episode of the Dish podcast that she expects to return only for a few days at a time before heading back out and coming in again two months later.
"Season five had started filming already, so I won't be in it very much," Coughlan said, adding that she is "always happy to come back" because it is "a genuinely lovely job to come back to." She said, "I have it so good now 'cause I come in for a few days," and then returns to the set later, saying with a laugh that she tells the cast, "Yay! How is everyone? I'll see you in two months. Bye! They're working super super hard and I'm just like coming back. It's lovely."
The update matters because Penelope was one of the central figures of the show's recent run. Season three centered on her friends-to-lovers romance with Colin Bridgerton, and season four shifted her story again as she stepped away from her Lady Whistledown pamphlet. That change lined up with comments from showrunner Jess Brownell, who said in February that a new writer would be the perfect chance to explore a more diverse group of women across the series.
Brownell said the show wants to keep widening that lens, pointing back to Genevieve, the modiste in Season 1, then Penelope as Lady Whistledown, and now Sophie as a maid. She said it is "really key for us to explore the lives of these women who do work, because it's a time period in which women had so few options and so little agency," and that showing women who "didn't just settle for what was handed to them" helps broaden the female experience in the show. On Penelope specifically, Brownell said she "went through such a giant growth arc last season," is "not the powerless girl who needs Whistledown to take back her voice anymore," and has realized "it's time for her to stop being in that role."
For season five, the center of gravity has already moved on to Francesca Bridgerton and Michaela Stirling. Penelope's reduced presence fits that shift, but Coughlan's remarks make one thing plain: she is not leaving the show, only stepping back as the story moves to its next lead.