Why Bridgerton’s Nicola Coughlan Saved TikTok Thirst Traps of Luke Newton

Nicola Coughlan accidentally sent Bridgerton fans spiraling when she saved thirst trap TikToks of costar Luke Newton.

“I’ll save them and send them to him,” Coughlan, 37, explained to The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published on Monday, May 20. “But then I didn’t know you could see that you saved them.”

To Coughlan’s surprise, eagle-eyed fans of the series did take notice of Coughlan hitting save on the clips.

“They were like, ‘Why is she saving this? What does it mean?’” Newton, 31, recalled during the interview, adding that he and Coughlan “had a giggle.”

Couglan explained that she saved the videos so she could send them to Newton “at a convenient time” — but she was unaware of her privacy settings.

“I didn’t know that,” Coughlan said of her actions being viewed in the public eye before exclaiming, “I know now!”

The first half of season 3 — which began streaming via Netflix on Thursday, May 16 — centered around Colin (Newton) and Penelope (Coughlan) as they moved from friends to lovers. Before being adapted from the novel Romancing Mr. Bridgerton, author Julia Quinn admitted it was a struggle to bring their relationship to life.

“I just think there’s a different type of emotional investment coming into it,” Quinn, 54, told the New York Post on Thursday, May 16. “It’s interesting because when I was writing the books — this book, Romancing Mr. Bridgerton, which is actually the fourth in the series, was the hardest one to plot.”

Quinn noted that Penelope and Colin were “very established characters” before it was their turn to share the spotlight.

“I usually maybe have one character you’re bringing in from before and then you can mold the other one into what you need,” she said. “So this time it was really hard to come up with a plot that actually worked for everything. I’d already made these characters with the experiences that they had.”

Each book of the series focused on a different member of the Bridgerton family as they attempted to find love in 19th century London. The first season of the Netflix show followed Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) and Simon Basset (Regé-Jean Page), while season 2 showed the romance of Daphne’s brother Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) and Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley).

The first half of Bridgerton season 3 is currently streaming on Netflix. The remaining episodes will be released on Thursday, June 13.