Nicola Coughlan Shared The Surprising Inspo Behind Her New Hair Colour

With Halloween right around the corner, Bridgerton’s Nicola Coughlan has unveiled a brand new hair-do right in time for “spooky season.” Since her breakthrough role in Lisa McGee’s Northern Irish sitcom Derry Girls, the actor — who played rule-abiding Our Lady Immaculate student Clare Devlin — has sported light blonde locks. Though her role as Bridgerton’s Penelope Featherington has led to some interesting on-screen hair experiments see: this Season 1 look, branded the “hair willy” by Coughlan – she’s mostly kept it classic away from the set. Until now, at least.

Showcasing her new strawberry blonde locks on Instagram, the actor revealed her new hairdo reminds her of a character from Mirage Comic’s cult superhero comic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. “It’s making me feel like April O’Neil,” she wrote in a now-expired Instagram story, “I’m so happy.”

A student with a talent for computer hacking, O’Neil is a beloved character from the long-running comic series, which has since been adapted into a number of films, video games, and animated TV series. O’Neil has featured in the franchise since it began in 1984, and over the course of the stories, she becomes friends with Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael — a gang of martial arts-trained turtles — as they fight evil villains and thwart wrongdoing in New York City. Though various adaptations occasionally switch things up, O’Neil is usually depicted as strawberry blonde — clearly Coughlan knows her live-action series from her ‘80s cartoons.

So far, the actor’s famous pals have been loving the transformation. Queer Eye’s resident hairstylist Jonathan Van Ness chimed in with a smattering of heart-eye emojis, while Academy Award-winning actor Ariana DeBose called Coughlan a “siren.” TBH, we’re in complete agreement.