The Luke Newton and Nicola Coughlan Relationship Rumors Have Lost the Plot
Luke Newton and Nicola Coughlan fans, you good?
As paparazzi photos go, these were rather innocuous: a series of snaps of Bridgerton star Luke Newton leaving the London after-party for the premiere of the second half of the showâs third season. Behind him, his rumored girlfriend, dancer Antonia Roumelioti, gives photogs a slightly wary smile.
But to some Bridgerton fans, the photo was a five-alarm fire.
âI am speechless. What a refreshing SLAP to my face this morning,â wrote one person in the comments of DeuxMoiâs Instagram post on the images. âThanks for ruining the moment, I hope you are happy with this,â complained another. âJust breaking all of our hearts,â said a third.
The issue? Newton seemed to be making a public announcement that heâs dating Roumelioti. Again, innocuousâŠunless youâre one of the many who feel heâs already spoken for, hopingâor in fan parlance, shippingâa relationship with his Bridgerton costar Nicola Coughlan.
For those not in the know, the third season of Bridgerton, the second half of which premiered this week, centers on the romance between Newtonâs character, Colin Bridgerton, and Coughlanâs Penelope Featherington. Just as they do in the Julia Quinn books, Colin and Penelope, a.k.a. âPolin,â are friends before finally getting together and (spoiler alert) marrying, though not without a helping of drama and hookups first. Their story is adorable and swoonworthy, a perfect example of the much-loved friends-to-lovers trope.
However, it seems shipping the two characters isnât enough for some. Now, many Bridgerton fans have begun shipping the two actors with an unsettling amount of intensity.
Itâs a phenomenon thatâs becoming more common. Actors and studios trying to get attention for their movies and television shows in an increasingly crowded space have started blurring the line between fact and fiction, seemingly encouraging actors to play up their chemistry to imply the on-screen romances are also happening in real life. Just look at the frenzy that erupted between Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney, whose flirtation while promoting their rom-com Anyone but You became a veritable frenzy online. (Sweeney has since admitted she came up with the flirty press tour as a marketing strategy. It workedâthe film was a hit.)
For devoted and intense fandoms such as Bridgerton, this fantasy bleeding into reality has some downsides. Mainly, that people tend to start treating the actors as characters, with little to no understanding of the fact that they are, well, actors.
This has come to a head with the fervor around âPolinâ shippersâ view of Luke Newton and Nicola Coughlan. Many fans have latched onto the idea that their chemistry translated off screen for various reasons: the cute trope of friends to lovers, Coughlanâs charisma and amazing responses to those who claim sheâs an atypical leading lady, or simply, the love of a good romance. But thatâs also led to some extremes, like obsessively mining photos and videos of Coughlan and Newton on the press tour for clues that theyâre actually in love.
Itâs not that hard to see why. The duo has been playing the part, smiling and holding hands for the audience to promote the show, as is the typical strategy.
Luke Newton and Nicola Coughlan on the press tour for Bridgerton season 3.
Theo Wargo/Getty Images
Stefania D’Alessandro
But by bringing his real-life girlfriend to celebrate the series with him, Newton poured cold water on these fantasies. Fans are pissedâand unfortunately, unsurprisingly, they’re focusing their furor on Roumelioti.
âHe holds Nicolaâs hand much more intimately, thatâs all Iâm gonna say,â wrote one person on Instagram, a common claim among those dissecting the photos online, who were quick to label the romance âfakeâ and declare the chemistry between the real-life couple as nonexistent. They decried Roumelioti as desperate, accusing her of bullying Coughlan anonymously online (with no proof) and making snide comments like, âHer tag is out.â
They also turned on Newton, saying that if heâd been the man they thought he was, he would have never âchosenâ Roumelioti over Coughlan. âDeep down men arenât that body positive,â sniffed one person.
âItâs obvious him and Nic arenât a thing, but having the paparazzi catch them out the night of the premiere seems calculated,â wrote another. âLike he just couldnât wait to remind people he has a hot young girlfriend and isnât really with Nic like everyone wants/is pushing. I can understand the pressure of it all and having to playing it up can get exhausting but itâs truly cruel to do this to the fans the day we finally get part 2.â
Iâm sorry, what? I find this all a bit unsettling, to say the least, and it says a lot about the current state of fandoms and parasocial relationships. (Also, where is Coughlanâs agency in all this? Consider the possibility that she doesnât even like him like that!) Shipping is a term derived from fanfiction, in which fans declare which popular book, movie, or TV characters they believe should end up together; in that context, itâs perfectly harmless. But when actors and influencers are as accessible to us as a television show, itâs easy to start viewing them as mere characters meant to entertain us too. When we are watching people on our phone screens, we can start stripping them of their actual humanity and act as if they arenât real people.
But they are real people, and ones who are now facing actual consequences for the way people are creepily encroaching into their personal lives. Newton is free to date whomever he wants, as is Coughlan. When asked by a reporter what she thought about the rumors that she was dating Newton in real life, Coughlan made it clear that sheâs taking them in the most logical way: as a compliment to her skills as an actor.
âWe think itâs really sweet, we truly love each other,â she said.
Just, you know, not in that way.