‘Bridgerton’ season 4 sort of a ‘Cinderella’ story: Nicola Coughlan

New Delhi, Feb 12 (PTI) Irish star Nicola Coughlan, best known for playing Penelope Featherington in “Bridgerton”, says the upcoming fourth season of the show is similar to the classic fairytale of “Cinderella”.

The actor said her co-stars Luke Thompson and Yerin Ha, the new leads of the popular Netflix Regency-era romance series, are working “super hard” on the next chapter.

Coughlan, whose latest project is Audible Original audiobook “Misdirected”, said “Bridgerton” is the “loveliest show” to work on.

“It’s always a joy to come back to. This season feels totally new and fresh. We have brilliant new leads Luke and Yerin. They’re working super, super hard,” the actor said about the show, which focuses on a marriage each season in the Bridgerton family.

“It’s more a story of an ‘Upstairs, Downstairs’ (1970s British show exploring themes of classism and aristocracy) this time, and a sort of ‘Cinderella’ story. It’s going to be really exciting and feel totally new and fresh. I’m excited for people to see it,” she told PTI.

“Bridgerton” season four will revolve around Thompson’s Benedict, the second Bridgerton sibling, as he meets and falls in love with a mysterious masked woman Sophie Baek (Ha) at his mother’s masquerade ball.

The fact that “Misdirected” and “Bridgerton” have thematic similarities as romance and bodice-ripping dramas helped Coughlan navigate her role as the audiobook’s narrator alongside Gwilym Lee, she said.

“‘Bridgerton’ takes eight months to film. We did ‘Misdirected’ in a week. It’s really satisfying to do something so quickly and have it be a complete project. Also, the lovely Gwilym did half the work done as well, so that was really nice.

“But knowing what it’s like to be on a set and all of that stuff, it really helped inform it (‘Misdirected’). It was just written in such a fun way. I feel it’s hopefully going to be like a really easy, fun listen for people. I look forward to the feedback on what people think of it,” she added.

Did she take any tips from “Bridgerton” narrator Julie Andrews while preparing for “Misdirected”?

Coughlan said: “She’s the best of the best. I would be very lucky to do anything near (what she does).”

The last season of “Bridgerton” focused on Penelope (Coughlan) and Colin (Luke Newton)’s friends-to-lovers romance while she tries to deal with her secret identity of Lady Whistledown, a popular and admired anonymous writer of a social pamphlet detailing the gossip of the ton.

“Misdirected” is written by New Zealand-based author Lucy Parker. The audiobook, billed as a steamy new enemies-to-lovers story, was released exclusively on Audible on February 4.