Ahead of season 2 of Netlfix’s global phenomenon “Bridgerton”, Irish star Nicola Coughlan grace the cover of ELLE UK and inside gets candid about her life-changing role.
“I didn’t think it was going to be the biggest show on Netflix, I didn’t think that level. But I had lunch with Phoebe [Dynevor] maybe about two months before it came out. And I said, ‘I think your life’s going to change.’ And she was like, ‘No, I don’t know. I’ve done things before that people thought was going to be huge and it hasn’t worked out.’ But I just had that instinct about it,” Coughlan says in the March issue of the magazine.
READ MORE: Netflix Releases First Look At ‘Bridgerton’ Season 2
Coughlan’s instincts turned out to be correct,with “Bridgerton” quickly becoming Netflix’s most-streamed series of all time, a record it would hold on to until the release of “Squid Game” in 2021.
“I was like, ‘OK, great. People are watching.’ And then it was like, ‘It’s number 1 in Turkey. It’s number 1 in Canada. Number 1 in the US,'” says Coughlan. “I started compiling a list just to try to make it real in my head. And then it was like, ‘It’s the biggest show that’s ever been on Netflix, 80 million people,’ and it’s like, ‘What?’ It just was surreal.”
READ MORE: ‘Bridgerton’ Wraps Filming On Season 2: ‘Words Are Not Enough’
The actress, who caught audiences’ attentions on the sitcom “Derry Girls”, compares being famous to being a dog on public transit.
“It’s exactly the same energy. When you get on, everyone looks at you. Some people are so smiley, while some are afraid of you and don’t want to go near. Some people touch you without asking. I can still do the things I want to do, obviously, but it is different,” she shares.
Now recognizable around the world, Coughlan says she “went to the pub with my friend a while back and it was like being an animal at the zoo.”
“People just watching and looking. And I remember one time I was taking my Invisalign out, and this person was staring me right in the eyes, which was quite weird,” she adds. “But, honestly, most people are so, so lovely.”
READ MORE: Nicola Coughlan Reveals ‘Bridgerton’ Filmed An Alternate Ending For Season One
With “Bridgerton” set to return to Netflix on March 25, Coughlan is teasing some steamy scenes between Penelope Featherington and Luke Newton’s Colin Bridgerton, spilling the tea on what fans really want to know.
“Oh God, yes, it’s going to happen! We used to joke about it, really inappropriate jokes, like, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if we did this when we do it?’ And then as time goes on it becomes more real,” she says. “Now it’s not funny anymore! Everyone’s like, ‘You’re going to have to kiss Luke! On the lips!'”
The March issue of ELLE UK with Coughlan on the cover is on sale on February 2.
