ET was behind the scenes of season 3 with the newest leading man.
Luke Newton is all for taking words of wisdom from his Bridgerton co-stars. When ET's Cassie DiLaura visited the set of the hit Netflix series, she chatted with the actor behind Colin Bridgerton, whose relationship with Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) will take center stage in season 3.
The show's first two seasons followed the love stories of Colin's siblings, Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) and Anthony (Jonathan Bailey), as they fell for Simon (Regé-Jean Page) and Kate (Simone Ashley), respectively. In the wake of the successful seasons, the actors behind the main characters were shot into superstardom, something Newton admitted is hard "to even think about."
"I think, at the moment, I'm so tunnel vision within the show. I couldn't see anything outside of it," Newton told ET, before sharing that he sought advice from the previous leading men.
"I checked in with Regé recently and I speak to Johnny all the time. It's kind of like passing down the knowledge of what it's like to kind of front the show," he said. "It's just amazing to see what everyone on this show has gone on to do straight after and the success of it. It's kind of mind-blowing and almost something I don't even want to think about."
Season 3's story will follow a dramatic end to the previous installment, when Penelope overheard Colin saying he'd never dream of courting her.
"That was a hard scene to shoot... It was really weird being so connected to that character, and particularly the relationship and friendship over the last two years and then to suddenly see that curveball moment," Newton said. "I had to really try and justify that and the way that he felt. That's what I was so excited about going into season 3, like, how we were going to address that... There's a lot of conflict that we've got to resolve before we even move on."
Going into season 3, Newton said that "one of the really fun parts to play "is the balance between how Penelope feels about Colin and also and how he feels about her."
"They've got this amazing friendship," he noted. "... I think we really dive in and we do explore his role in helping her find her match."
That journey may not take the viewers down the road they expect, Newton teased.
"We all speculate for a whole year what it's gonna be like next year... but no one could guess how this season was gonna go... We're really excited by it," he said, before teasing whether or not Colin and Penelope are endgame.
"There are moments when I think fans will question that, and maybe there will be a bit of a curveball and they might not want what they wanted previously," he said. "... It's just so exciting."
From his perspective, though, Newton said he'd "have to back" Colin and Penelope as a perfect match.
"I have to. I can't want their stories to go any other way than how they're intended," he said. "I'm such a fan of the show and a fan of that friendship and relationship."
The ups and downs of the season, Newton said, will allow viewers to see a new side of both Colin and Penelope.
"It's all about growth and progression within their relationship themselves, but also self-development, how they've grown up a little bit in the summer that we haven't seen," he said. "It was really exciting to come back and feel like there was a new side to Colin I got to play. It wasn't just same old Colin that I got to do for two years. It was great to come back and have a bit more rugged and mysterious side to him, which is fun."
The first four episodes of season 3 will premiere on Netflix on May 16. The final three episodes of the season will begin streaming on June 13.
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