Just over two years after its second season, the first part of Bridgerton Season 3 will finally drop on Netflix on May 16, with the second batch of episodes arriving June 13. Starring Nicola Coughlan as Penelope Featherington, the youngest of the Featherington daughters, and Luke Newton as Colin Bridgerton, the third oldest Bridgerton son, the new season has been positioned as a friends-to-lovers plot. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The upcoming episodes untangle some thorny plotlines woven through the first two seasons, notably Penelope’s girl-next-door crush on Colin, and the ongoing fallout between Penelope and her best friend Eloise Bridgerton (Claudia Jessie), the second oldest Bridgerton daughter, Colin’s younger sister, and most contrary of the Bridgerton bunch. Here’s what you need to know before watching Season 3. Read more: Everything to Know About the Bridgerton Books Lady Whistledown’s identity At the very end of the first season, we learn that notorious gossip columnist Lady Whistledown, builder and destroyer of reputations and perpetual thorn in Queen Charlotte’s (Goldie Rosheuvel) side, is none other than Penelope Featherington herself.