Bridgerton season 3’s carriage scene between Colin and Penelope has been the talk of the ton social media ever since it was released – and for good reason!

The steamy moment, which now easily ranks among the steamiest moments of the entire show so far, happens right at the end of episode 4, just after Colin (Luke Newton) and Penelope (Nicola Coughlan) finally admit their feelings to each other during a carriage ride home.

The scene then sees the two act on those feelings… physically. After kissing each other, Colin pleasures Penelope for the first time with his fingers but before things can go further, the carriage stops. Colin then fixes Penelope’s dress, but purposely doesn’t use his index and middle finger.

The subtle detail sent fans into a meltdown, and now episode 4’s director Andrew Ahn has revealed that was an acting choice that Luke Newton added to the scene himself.

Luke Newton added detail where Colin fixes Penelope’s dress without using his fingers in the carriage scene. Picture: Netflix

Did Luke Newton improvise the carriage scene in Bridgerton?

While the carriage scene between Colin and Penelope was fully choreographed using intimacy coordinators, certain details appear to have been added by the actors in the moment. Colin’s fingers adjusting Penelope’s dress was one of them.

That very subtle moment was immediately clocked by viewers, several of whom hopped on to X/Twitter to ask for some Very Serious Investigative Journalism into the matter.

“I KNOW ITS SUCH AN INAPPROPRIATE QUESTION TO ASK BUT FOR THE SAKE OF JOURNALISM I NEED SOMEONE TO TAKE ONE FOR THE TEAM AND ASK WHO’S IDEA IT WAS TO HAVE COLIN FIX PENELOPE’S DRESS WITH ONLY A FEW FINGERS,” one fan wrote.

Thankfully, director Andrew Ahn responded and confirmed that it was all thanks to Luke himself who added it into the scene without any direction.

“I wish I could take credit for this incredible moment of… physical authenticity, but I did not give this piece of direction. It was all Luke Newton!,” Andrew wrote.

Alongside fans losing it over the reveal, others are also heaping praise on Luke for the attention to detail and level of commitment he brought to Colin in that very important moment of connection and trust between the two characters.

Both Luke and Nicola have spoken about how they wanted to do justice to the carriage scene because it’s such an incredibly key moment for Colin and Penelope in the book. Based on what we’ve seen and what’s been revealed so far, they’ve done exactly that and more.