In fairness, Luke Newton was given some warning about the level of impending fame as he stepped into the romantic lead role for “Bridgerton” Season Three. But the show’s current megahit status makes it hard for anyone to wrap their head around, even those who have lived it.
“I met up with India [Amarteifio] who was the lead in ‘Queen Charlotte,’ and she sort of gave me a play-by-play of how the press all works,” Newton says, adding that because Seasons One and Two debuted during the pandemic, the spinoff series “Queen Charlotte” was the first time anyone from the “Bridgerton” universe did any in-person promotion of the show.
“We had a coffee and she was like, ‘you’ll probably be away for six weeks, it’ll be a long time. You won’t see your family,’” Newton says. “And then six months later, I’m still on the road.”
The 31-year-old has been promoting the show since January, traveling to Australia, Italy, Brazil and the U.S. with costar Nicola Coughlan to drum up hype for the third season — not that it needed much help. Despite launching during the pandemic, “Bridgerton” is a global behemoth, something Newton has encountered firsthand over his several stops.
“I was finding it really overwhelming, and then I had a moment in Australia where I was like, ‘oh no, I’m getting in a good place with this and starting to really enjoy it and not feeling too overwhelmed by it all.’ And then it was the premiere and I was like, ‘oh no, I’m not at all.’”
The first half of Season Three dropped last week — with the rest of the episodes out June 13 — and it had the biggest debut weekend in the franchise’s three-season history, with 45.1 million views.
Newton went from doing “just a couple Zooms with my brother Luke Thompson (who plays Benedict Bridgerton)” for Season One, to traveling the world with Coughlan where adoring fans greet them at every turn.
Season Three is unique so far in that its romantic leads, Colin and Penelope (“Polin,” if you’re of the perpetually online variety), have been part of the show since the beginning. Their friends-to-lovers plotline is made all the more believable by the chemistry between Newton and Coughlan, who have become close friends over the five years they’ve worked together.
“Knowing someone and having just an incredible relationship at work, that just means the days just flow and knowing that she’s going through it and finding it as difficult as I am, finding it as joyful as I am, all of it,” Newton says of his relationship with Coughlan.
He also credits her with showing him the ropes of navigating the public eye.
“Nicola has already had an incredible career, so there’s a shift in when we are together and we’re seen out especially on the tour, but I’ve kind of been enjoying that when I’m on my own I can go to my coffee shop and people know of the show and they know what I do, but it’s kind of like there’s a level of distance there,” he says. “And then when I’m with Nic, it’s [crazy]. But it’s really cool and she’s so sort of gracious with it and just handles it so well. She’s a great example of how to cope with the sudden fame.”
Newton arrived in the “Bridgerton” world from theater. Growing up between Brighton and London, his interest in the stage was ignited by his “aunties” — both musical theater performers, he says. The first show of theirs he got to see was “Les Misérables,” which his future “Bridgerton” brother Jonathan Bailey (Anthony Bridgerton) was also in, as Gavroche.
He grew up with lots of singing in the house, as well as a front row seat to the realities of the performing arts career path.
“I watched them go from job to job and saw how the highs are high and the difficult bits are really difficult and the lack of stability was a struggle, but it was just something in me that was like, ‘there’s nothing else I want to do,’” he says. “Particularly growing up and being in the arts, it was like, ‘right, what’s the backup plan? What are you going to do when you’re not working?’ But for me it was like ‘there literally is none.’ I’ll do any job possible in the meantime to make ends meet, until I get my ‘Bridgerton.’”
Newton was doing a theater production in Brighton at 18 when an agent came up to him and asked if he was interested in a TV audition in London the following day. He and his mother promptly got on the train up to London, he went in for the audition “and I booked the job straight away,” he recalls. The show, season three of a BBC Switch program called “The Cut,” made him realize that he was in fact very well suited to being on film.
“I love the subtleties of being on screen. I love how nuanced the character can be,” he says. “I always really struggled in theater with putting myself out there and kind of overplaying something. Directors were always drawing more out of me on stage. So [with TV] I was like, ‘this is a comfortable place for me.’ I love that a look can tell way more than a gesture.”
From there he dabbled in a mix of theater and television, until “Bridgerton” came knocking nearly five years ago and his whole life changed.
“Now looking back, even though there were times when I was feeling slightly lost, where I was like, ‘where is this going to take me,’ it almost feels like everything was handpicked. The process just made everything work out,” he says. “When the actual thing comes along…it’s given me faith in just sticking with it.”
Newton has been doing a lot of reflection these days, as he introduces his season of “Bridgerton” to the world. Watching the season’s final episode was a surreal experience, given it’s not just been one season of a show but a five-year journey in the making.
“We’ve been playing this storyline since Colin and Pen’s first scene together, we’re playing that connection, but kind of staying away from it and pushing against it,” he says. While the other two “Bridgerton” couples were marked by “instant passion or longing for each other from afar,” Colin and Pen are “real slow burn,” he says. It makes them easy to root for, Newton says.
“I’ve never really experienced the friends-to-lovers trope myself, but the more people that I speak to, whether it’s fans or whether it’s just my loved ones and people that I’m close to, they’re like, ‘yeah, I had a relationship that was like that,’” he says. “That’s what’s really special this season is that a lot of people not only see themselves in that trope, but also in Colin and Pen. They’re not your typical leading romance couple. They’re kind of awkward and flawed, and they’re the two that sort of hide behind those characters that we normally see at the forefront. So I think a lot of people are watching, and feel like they see themselves. It’s like that saying, ‘you are the main character of your story.’”
