Penelope Bridgerton has put down her quill! But Lady Whistledown? Shows no signs of slowing down. Part two of Bridgerton season 4 revealed Penelope’s retirement as the town gossip (heavy is the head, etc.), but she’s given a shock when a new Lady Whistledown edition starts circulating in Mayfair that she fully...did not write.
“Are you perhaps feeling a little shock?” the new Lady Whistledown asks (she’s still voiced by Julie Andrews, don’t worry!). “You thought I was gone for good, but far too much transpires for this author to remain silent. It is assuredly a reunion rooted in care and love. Though this time with a very different author.”
So who is the new Lady Whistledown? Bridgerton hasn’t revealed her identity just yet, but showrunner Jess Brownell tells Tudum that “Penelope was Julia Quinn’s Whistledown, so we knew we couldn’t really play with that reveal for too long because people could just google it. But now, we get to play with audience expectations.”
She adds, “Starting with Genevieve, the modiste in season 1, to Penelope as Lady Whistledown, and now looking at Sophie as a maid, it’s really key for us to explore the lives of these women who do work, because it’s a time period in which women had so few options and so little agency. Showing that there were women who didn’t just settle for what was handed to them but tried their very best to make more of their station, it broadens the female experience in the show.”
My personal theory? Hyacinth. Just saying!
