It’s officially Bridgerton season, and frankly, I have thought about nothing else for weeks. This new season focused on Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) finally realizing his feelings for Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan).
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Their friends-to-lovers story has been so incredible to watch, with Part 1 of the season focusing on them finally acting on their feelings, notably in the carriage scene. And then, Part 2 centered on Colin finding out Pen’s Lady Whistledown secret and how it impacts their relationship leading up to and after their wedding.
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However, before we got to the angst, Episode 5, titled “Tick Tock,” included another sexy and highly-anticipated scene from Julia Quinn’s novel Romancing Mister Bridgerton: the mirror scene.
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The episode was directed by Bille Woodruff, who previously directed episodes of Black Lightning, Yellowjackets, and more, and written by Azia Squire, who previously worked on The First Lady and Tiny Pretty Things.
Like the carriage scene, the mirror scene is another moment between Colin and Penelope from the book, where Colin tells her, “I want to do it in front of a mirror,” but then they determine to do it “later.” Now, the series actually shows the intimate moment.
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So, here are just 15 behind-the-scenes facts about the making of this iconic Bridgerton moment:
1. First, speaking about bringing the mirror scene to life in the series, as opposed to it just being alluded to in the book, showrunner Jess Brownell said she and the writers knew fans loved the line and they “wanted to honor it.”
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In an interview with Cosmopolitan, Jess continued, saying, “It’s really just a reference in the book. There’s not an actual scene, but we knew fans have really taken to this moment and we wanted to honor it. Mirrors this season became a really handy metaphor for us.”
2. Both Luke and Nicola worked extensively with the show’s intimacy coordinator, Lizzy Talbot, leading up to their sex scenes, most notably the mirror scene. “You go, OK, what do I want to show? What don’t I want to show? What’s scripted, and what do I want to add?” Nicola told Stylist.
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Nicola added, “I specifically asked for certain lines and moments to be included.”
3. For the scene, Nicola said she asked to be “very naked on camera.” She elaborated, telling Stylist, “That was my idea, my choice. It just felt like the biggest ‘fuck you’ to all the conversation surrounding my body; it was amazingly empowering.”
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Nicola continued, “I felt beautiful in the moment, and I thought: ‘When I’m 80, I want to look back on this and remember how fucking hot I looked.'”
4. In fact, both Luke and Nicola “decided entirely” what they wanted to show on camera during the mirror scene. Nicola explained they had “a lot of say” in how the scene was filmed, and they decided they wanted to undress in front of the mirror.
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In a TikTok, Nicola continued, saying, “It was, like, an amazing moment. And also, when I’m, like, 80, I’m gonna look back and be like, ‘My boobs look great!’ You know what I mean? They are all my own, and they’re sitting up there. You know, no regrets.”
5. Prior to filming, the Bridgerton costume department sent Nicola a piece of intimacy wear, which was basically a “strapless thong that would cover the bare essentials,” to try on. Nicola told the LA Times she had a margarita and “summoned the liquid courage” to try it on for the first time.
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She continued, saying, “I went to the bathroom and looked in the full-length mirror. I was like, ‘Absolutely not.’ I hid it down the bottom of the laundry basket. I was like, ‘How am I going to do this?'”
6. Meanwhile, Luke explained he was wearing a “cup, bag-shaped thing” for his intimacy wear, and he knew Nicola would laugh the first time she saw him in it. So before filming, he asked if it was okay to show her, and they “had a little giggle” off screen.
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He told Vanity Fair, “I just said to Nic, ‘I need to show you this before we roll because you are going to lose it on camera if you don’t.’ So, we had a little giggle. It was nice to be able to be light-hearted about it.”
7. The Bridgerton team filmed the mirror scene over three days, with the first day centered on Penelope undressing in front of Colin. Luke said he was focused on “supporting Nic” during that first day to make sure she was “comfortable on set and in that environment.”
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In an interview with Vanity Fair, Luke added, “It’s closed sets, so there’s not loads of crew there, but there is a crowd of people around us while we’re going to expose ourselves. I just wanted her to feel supported and safe.”
Then, on day two, it was Luke’s “turn” to be naked, and he was “completely” supported by her in return. He said, “It’s like these different stages that we’ll go through together, and we can only understand how each other feels.”
8. Luke and Nicola were very comfortable with each other while filming their sex scenes, with Nicola telling the LA Times, “By the end of the day, we were both lying under a blanket, not clothed, just chillin’.”
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She hilariously added, “We were like, ‘This is why nudists do it.'”
9. Nicola and Luke notably broke the chaise lounge where the sex scene takes place. Luke recalled to Vanity Fair, “Our director at the time took a step back and said, ‘Right. Let’s just mix it up, this take, and let’s really sort of go for this one. Let’s up the energy basically, and up the stakes.’ Then I think we were maybe 20 seconds in, and one of the legs just completely snapped off.”
Nicola Coughlan / Instagram / Via instagram.com
Nicola told This Morning in a joint interview with Luke, “They had to repair [the antique furniture].” She also explained that the moment didn’t make it into the show’s final cut because Nicola immediately broke and started talking in her Irish accent.
However, a moment of the duo laughing together did make it in, with Nicola adding, “There’s a beautiful moment where they laugh, and we were obviously laughing in that moment.”
10. After the chaise lounge was broken, the production team had to devise a way to prop it up while they finished filming. So, they used several apple boxes and other stuff to “secure” the furniture.
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Luke told Vanity Fair, “Little moments like that make the days just so much more enjoyable.”
11. Nicola had to have two wigs while filming the steamy mirror scene in Bridgerton. She explained to Capital FM, “I had to have two wigs, that’s how sexy that scene is.”
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She continued, saying, “I couldn’t have the same wig because it would get messed up too much.”
12. Luke said the “awkward moment” when preparing for the mirror scene was when his makeup artist “came into [his] trailer to tan [his] full body.” Due to how much of Luke’s body is seen on screen, all he was wearing while getting spray-tanned was a cup.
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He continued, telling Capital FM, “That’s the moment where your relationship sort of changes with our makeup artist, and you become best friends.”
13. Nicola said her favorite line from Romancing Mister Bridgerton was always when Pen tells Colin, “Do I look a mess?” and he responds with, “But you’re my mess.” The exact quotes made it into Season 3 during the mirror scene.
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In a Cameo posted to TikTok, Nicola added, “I think that’s so beautiful because I think the way he loves her makes her love herself.”
14. Showrunner Jess Brownell explained that setting Colin and Penelope’s first big intimacy scene around the mirror helped the series lean into the theme for the season: which version of yourself you present to the world vs. who you really are on the inside.
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In an interview with Vanity Fair, Jess elaborated, saying, “[Mirrors] became a really powerful motif for us in terms of a mirror representing the self who is standing in front of the mirror, who is the person you are on the inside, and then the self you see in the mirror, who’s the person you reflect to the world. So setting the first big intimacy scene around a mirror helps us lean into that theme.”
15. And finally, given the timeline of events, showrunner Jess Brownell said the mirror scene is when Colin and Penelope conceived their baby boy, who is present in the final scene of the season.
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She told Vanity Fair, “We do live in perpetual spring in the first three seasons of Bridgerton, so what is time? But in our minds, they probably got pregnant in the mirror scene. So when you get to season four, and you see them, it won’t be so crazy that they already have their baby.”
