Luke Newton and Nicola Coughlan fans, you good?
As paparazzi photos go, these were rather innocuous: a series of snaps of Bridgerton star Luke Newton leaving the London after-party for the premiere of the second half of the show’s third season. Behind him, his rumored girlfriend, dancer Antonia Roumelioti, gives photogs a slightly wary smile.
But to some Bridgerton fans, the photo was a five-alarm fire.
“I am speechless. What a refreshing SLAP to my face this morning,” wrote one person in the comments of DeuxMoi’s Instagram post on the images. “Thanks for ruining the moment, I hope you are happy with this,” complained another. “Just breaking all of our hearts,” said a third.
The issue? Newton seemed to be making a public announcement that he’s dating Roumelioti. Again, innocuous…unless you’re one of the many who feel he’s already spoken for, hoping—or in fan parlance, shipping—a relationship with his Bridgerton costar Nicola Coughlan.
For those not in the know, the third season of Bridgerton, the second half of which premiered this week, centers on the romance between Newton’s character, Colin Bridgerton, and Coughlan’s Penelope Featherington. Just as they do in the Julia Quinn books, Colin and Penelope, a.k.a. “Polin,” are friends before finally getting together and (spoiler alert) marrying, though not without a helping of drama and hookups first. Their story is adorable and swoonworthy, a perfect example of the much-loved friends-to-lovers trope.
However, it seems shipping the two characters isn’t enough for some. Now, many Bridgerton fans have begun shipping the two actors with an unsettling amount of intensity.
It’s a phenomenon that’s becoming more common. Actors and studios trying to get attention for their movies and television shows in an increasingly crowded space have started blurring the line between fact and fiction, seemingly encouraging actors to play up their chemistry to imply the on-screen romances are also happening in real life. Just look at the frenzy that erupted between Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney, whose flirtation while promoting their rom-com Anyone but You became a veritable frenzy online. (Sweeney has since admitted she came up with the flirty press tour as a marketing strategy. It worked—the film was a hit.)
For devoted and intense fandoms such as Bridgerton, this fantasy bleeding into reality has some downsides. Mainly, that people tend to start treating the actors as characters, with little to no understanding of the fact that they are, well, actors.
This has come to a head with the fervor around “Polin” shippers’ view of Luke Newton and Nicola Coughlan. Many fans have latched onto the idea that their chemistry translated off screen for various reasons: the cute trope of friends to lovers, Coughlan’s charisma and amazing responses to those who claim she’s an atypical leading lady, or simply, the love of a good romance. But that’s also led to some extremes, like obsessively mining photos and videos of Coughlan and Newton on the press tour for clues that they’re actually in love.
It’s not that hard to see why. The duo has been playing the part, smiling and holding hands for the audience to promote the show, as is the typical strategy.
Luke Newton and Nicola Coughlan on the press tour for Bridgerton season 3.
Theo Wargo/Getty Images
Stefania D’Alessandro
But by bringing his real-life girlfriend to celebrate the series with him, Newton poured cold water on these fantasies. Fans are pissed—and unfortunately, unsurprisingly, they’re focusing their furor on Roumelioti.
“He holds Nicola’s hand much more intimately, that’s all I’m gonna say,” wrote one person on Instagram, a common claim among those dissecting the photos online, who were quick to label the romance “fake” and declare the chemistry between the real-life couple as nonexistent. They decried Roumelioti as desperate, accusing her of bullying Coughlan anonymously online (with no proof) and making snide comments like, “Her tag is out.”
They also turned on Newton, saying that if he’d been the man they thought he was, he would have never “chosen” Roumelioti over Coughlan. “Deep down men aren’t that body positive,” sniffed one person.
“It’s obvious him and Nic aren’t a thing, but having the paparazzi catch them out the night of the premiere seems calculated,” wrote another. “Like he just couldn’t wait to remind people he has a hot young girlfriend and isn’t really with Nic like everyone wants/is pushing. I can understand the pressure of it all and having to playing it up can get exhausting but it’s truly cruel to do this to the fans the day we finally get part 2.”
I’m sorry, what? I find this all a bit unsettling, to say the least, and it says a lot about the current state of fandoms and parasocial relationships. (Also, where is Coughlan’s agency in all this? Consider the possibility that she doesn’t even like him like that!) Shipping is a term derived from fanfiction, in which fans declare which popular book, movie, or TV characters they believe should end up together; in that context, it’s perfectly harmless. But when actors and influencers are as accessible to us as a television show, it’s easy to start viewing them as mere characters meant to entertain us too. When we are watching people on our phone screens, we can start stripping them of their actual humanity and act as if they aren’t real people.
But they are real people, and ones who are now facing actual consequences for the way people are creepily encroaching into their personal lives. Newton is free to date whomever he wants, as is Coughlan. When asked by a reporter what she thought about the rumors that she was dating Newton in real life, Coughlan made it clear that she’s taking them in the most logical way: as a compliment to her skills as an actor.
“We think it’s really sweet, we truly love each other,” she said.
Just, you know, not in that way.
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