“It’s literally in my contract”

It's not uncommon for the cast of Bridgerton to strip off on screen. The Netflix series quickly gained a reputation for its love scenes after it premiered on the streamer in 2020. Ahead of the upcoming third season, actress Nicola Coughlan revealed that her negotiations with Netflix and Shondaland included producing an alternate cut of episodes without these more mature scenes – with the express goal of showing them to her parents.

Coughlan's comments came during an interview on SiriusXM Hits 1 after hosts spread a rumor that she had asked for a “PG version.” The actress says she even went so far as to include language regarding an alternate cut that would soften the TV-MA rating in her contract.

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“It's literally in my contract. People think I'm joking,” Coughlan said. “I just don't want to… We grew up as Irish Catholics. We just don't feel that way.”

Coughlan then described her mother's first impression of the series, in which a dress code for each episode was established quite quickly.

“When she first saw 'Bridgerton,' she didn't know it was going to be naughty. And then about two minutes into the very first episode, there's a butt – Jonathan Bailey's lovely butt. And she just thought, 'What is that?'” Coughlan recalls. “But now she thinks it's fantastic and really funny.”

After her appearances in the first two seasons of “Bridgerton,” Coughlan will take on a more important role in season 3: Colin Bridgerton, played by Luke Newton, will court her as Lady Penelope.

Netflix will release the third season of “Bridgerton” later this year in two parts – the first on May 16 and the second on June 13.

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