Bridgerton Season 3 Will Focus on Penelope and Colin's Romance

Bridgerton Season 3 is straying from Julia Quinn's book series by focusing on the winding romance between Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) and Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan). Coughlan revealed news of the shakeup at a FYSEE panel on Sunday, Variety reports.

For the past two seasons, Bridgerton has hewed closely to Quinn's novels, each of which centers on a different Bridgerton sibling. Season 1 focused on Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) and Duke Simon Hastings' (Regé-Jean Page) love story, while the second season followed Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) as he came to terms with his feelings for Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley). The third Bridgerton book shifts its focus to the second-oldest Bridgerton, Benedict (Luke Thompson), whose storyline was expanded in Season 2, but now, viewers will have to wait at least one additional season to see Benedict find his match.

Shifting Colin and Penelope's story up isn't the only change Bridgerton will be making in Season 3. Series creator Chris Van Dusen stepped down as showrunner after Season 2 debuted in March, with another Shondaland veteran Jess Brownell (Scandal, Grey's Anatomy) set to replace him.

The Netflix drama has also recast the role of Francesca Bridgerton, the third-youngest Bridgerton sibling, originally played by Ruby Stokes. Stokes, who is leaving to headline Netflix's Lockwood & Co., will be replaced by Hannah Dodd (Anatomy of a Scandal).

Bridgerton Season 3 is expected to go into production this summer. The first two seasons are available to stream on Netflix.

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Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.