Goodbye, Dan Humphrey.
When we sat down to watch Bridgerton, we were fully prepared to wait many seasons to find out the identity of its Julie Andrews-voiced gossip girl, but the new Netflix hit simply decided to give us what we wanted in the season one finale—instead of making us wait until the series finale, a la the actual Gossip Girl. Spoilers ahead, obviously.
Lady Whistledown was, of course, none other than Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan), the younger Featherington sister who was naturally dismissed by her family and her crush, Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) and who was often forced to listen to her BFF Eloise's (Claudia Jessie) endless theories about who Lady Whistledown could be.
We started to suspect it was Penelope when LW suddenly knew about Marina's (Ruby Barker) pregnancy, but the reveal at the end, with Penelope sitting in a carriage with a whole new vibe, was still absolutely thrilling. For Penelope's best friend and unofficial chief Lady Whistledown investigator Eloise, it might be a little less thrilling.
As Jessie shouted in a joint interview with Coughlan, "She's gonna be pissed!"
"It's stressing me out so badly," Coughlan added. "She's lying to her best friend and she let her go on this [investigation]. I'm so stressed out by it."
For Eloise, Lady Whistledown is more than just a fun mystery to solve.
"She loves her best mate so much, and also she's properly in awe of Lady Whistledown," she explained. "She's like in love with Lady Whistledown. She wants to find her. I feel like the reason her quest seems so strong is because she's always looking for a way out and Lady Whistledown is an example of that autonomy, earning her own money, being a badass, outing people. That's Eloise's cup of tea. And then she's gonna find out it's her best mate...carnage."
Season two hasn't been confirmed just yet, but at this point it feels inevitable. There are eight total books in the Bridgerton series, and there's much more to both Penelope and Eloise's stories, especially as the protagonist changes to a different Bridgerton with each book.
"Season two, should it happen, would be Anthony Bridgerton's [Jonathan Bailey] story and I would love to see how that changes the show," Coughlan said. "We've just scratched the surface of Bridgerton. I feel like there's way more bubbling underneath."
Season one of Bridgerton is currently streaming on Netflix.