The first look images of Bridgerton season three are going viral

Bridgerton is one of Netflix's most popular shows, with the Gossip Girl inspired period drama breaking viewing records since its 2020 debut. And with the success of the Queen Charlotte prequel earlier this year, and the third instalment of the Bridgerton series set to drop in autumn, viewers are desperate for details. 

The third season is set to centre around one of the show's most popular storylines - the love story between Colin Bridgerton and Penelope Featherington (Lady Whistledown herself), or as their online shippers call them, "Polin".

This week, Netflix gave in to fans and surprised us all with the first look images of Bridgerton's third season, and unsurprisingly the images are going viral.

"Your first look at Penelope and Colin in Bridgerton Season 3 has arrived. #TUDUM," posted Netflix, alongside a series of photographs of Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton reprising their popular roles.

"It's finally here - Bridgerton Season Three first look!!", Nicola Coughlan also posted to Instagram. "Polin Season is Coming."

This of course isn't the first time the two lead actors have teased the show's third season, posting the news to social media last year when they were revealed as the show's focus.

"Looks like the cats out of the bag! Bridgerton Season 3 will follow the story of Colin & Pen! See you all soon," Luke Newton posted to Instagram, while Nicola Coughlan wrote the simple and iconic caption: "Main Character Energy".

Little is known about the show's third season, with the highly-anticipated details kept under wraps, but Nicola Coughlan did tell attendees at Tudum's Brazil event that viewers could expect a "romantic" and "quite scandalous" season.

"This year is the year Penelope thought she was having last year, if that makes sense," the 36-year-old explained via Shondaland. "Because I think she thought that she and Colin were a thing and it was happening, and then she got a really rude awakening at the end. I always say year one is ‘girl,' year two is ‘not a girl, not yet a woman,' and this year is ‘woman.' So, she's entering into a woman era this time."

Nicola also opened up about working with Luke again - the Colin to her Penelope since season one. 

"Luke and I sharing this experience together has been great," she recalled. "Because he's someone who completely gets what you're going through, and we can kind of be a united front on stuff. We can talk about scenes that we're nervous about or whatnot. Obviously, we've had scenes together since the beginning, but it's definitely different this time around."

A release date for Bridgerton season three has not yet been announced.

We will continue to update this story.