Bridgerton Star Nicola Coughlan Shut Down Luke Newton Romance Rumors

It’s been more than a year since Penelope and Colin’s Bridgerton season left flans blushing — but as Nicola Coughlan shared in a new interview, some viewers weren’t content to leave the shipping on screen.

Clearing The Air

Speaking to The Guardian in an interview published on Dec. 6, Coughlan opened up about the fervor of Bridgerton fandom. “With Derry Girls, people really enjoy the show, and say, ‘I love that,’” she explained. “With Bridgerton, it’s a different beast.”

Specifically, Coughlan referred to viewers who theorized that she was in a secret relationship with her co-star, Luke Newton, who plays Colin in the hit Regency romance. As The Guardian noted, some even believed she’d hide clues about a perceived romance in her clothing — which, Coughlan said, she’s absolutely not doing. “I definitely just put a jumper on and the color doesn’t mean anything.”

Some took the speculation to an extreme. “The maddest thing they thought was that I’d had a secret baby and was hiding it,” Coughlan said. “I would like to go on the record and say, ‘I don’t have a secret baby.’”

Indeed, both halves of the fictional #Polin are dating other people — Coughlan is dating fellow actor Jake Dunn, while Newton seemingly went Instagram-official with dancer Antonia Roumelioti earlier this year.

It’s not the first time Coughlan addressed theories about her personal life. “A lot of people really want me to marry Luke,” she told Time last year. “We have this gorgeous friendship. We have such a love for one another and this experience that I’ll never have with someone else again.”

As she reiterated, though, theirs is a platonic love: “Isn’t it gorgeous that a man and woman can have that sort of relationship with one another?”

Looking Ahead To Bridgerton Season 4

Though she made clear there’s no secret relationship — much less secret baby — in her life, Coughlan is thrilled for viewers to see Colin and Penelope’s new era in Bridgerton Season 4. “We’re quite excited at the prospect of them just like being happy idiots,” she told The Hollywood Reporter last year. “Some of my favorite stuff is the two of them, they both love a little gossip and a little bitch. So, I really just want them in the corner like, ‘Oh, my gosh!’”

Fans will see what Colin and Penelope make of the show’s next love story when Bridgerton returns in 2026 — the first half of Season 4 dropping on Jan. 29, and the second on Feb. 26.