To be clear, Nicola Coughlan is not the subject of the aforementioned glow-up; she has always been fancy, and always made the case outside of Bridgerton — in which she was positioned as an undesirable wallflower — that she is a CLASSIC HOT DISH. However, I want to like this Richard Quinn more than I do on her; do we think it should be several inches shorter, flashing some ankle? Does the top sit quite right? Regardless, I am excited that she gets to come to the fore on Bridgerton as the babe she rightfully is. I’m debating recapping it for Drinks With Broads.
With apologies to Luke Newton, he was the biggest casting question-mark for me in Bridgerton — but then I realized a lot of that was down to the writing. Book Colin is funny and charming; TV Colin, for sure in Season 1, lacked any swagger. He mostly pined, in a childish way, for Marina. And then in season two they tried to fix this by making him a bit more assertive, but he was missing a cool factor. Bridgerton had to slick him up a bit once it became his turn to lead — something they ALSO did for Jonathan Bailey, whose Anthony had crazy sideburns and a wavy thicket of hair during season 1 and then SMOLDERED LIKE FIRE in season two — and while I cannot speak yet to what they’ve done on-camera, at least in this press appearance you can sorta see Luke being given the Heartthrob treatment. There’s gentle scruff, some insouciant chest hair, thickly spiked hair, a little bit of fashion. He looks cute, and a little rougher around the edges, in the right way. I’ve been looking forward to this season for what it should do for Nicola, and now I’m hopeful he can keep up with her.
