Bridgerton fans have dissected every detail of season 3, but there were some majorly steamy scenes that didn’t make the final cut.
The third season of the show, which is based on Julia Quinn’s book Romancing Mr. Bridgerton, largely focused on Colin (Luke Newton) and Penelope’s (Nicola Coughlan) evolution from friends to lovers. The couple got engaged during the first half of the season, later weathering ups and downs on the way to their happily ever after.
In classic Bridgerton style, the side plots included Kate (Simone Ashley) and Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) returning from their honeymoon, Francesca’s (Hannah Dodd) debut into society, the next chapter in Alice (Emma Naomi) and Will’s (Martins Imhangbe) relationship and more.
Not everything that was written on the page — or captured on camera — actually made it into the show, including a sex scene montage between Imhangbe and Naomi’s characters.
“I think that’s very empowering for both parties, because it doesn’t feel like one person is kind of just getting their own thrill, like, it feels like there’s a care,” the actor told Digital Spy in June 2024 about the intent behind the sequence. “That they’re twin flames, that there’s a sense of them doing it together as opposed to like, ‘Oh, I’m getting my fix or whatever.’”
Imhangbe said he was hoping the moments would be featured in a future season, adding, “So I love that about the show — that it’s not just one side. It’s very, very mutual.”
That same month, producer Tom Verica addressed the speculation that there were sex scenes between Penelope and Colin that didn’t make the final cut. “Not sure where this all came from but these claims are false,” he wrote via Instagram. “The supposed scenes … don’t exist.”
Keep scrolling for details on the scenes that weren’t featured on Bridgerton season 3:
Will and Alice’s Unseen Sex Scene
“There was a whole scene written where Will and Alice do it everywhere,” Imhangbe revealed to Digital Spy after season 3 was released on Netflix. “Then the kids interrupt. There was all this stuff that happened.”
Imhangbe cited the couple’s newfound freedom as the inspiration for the steamy moment.
“There’s something about coming to the house then — now that we’ve put aside all the rules, we kind of enjoy the house, you know?” he explained. “[Will and Alice have] been together for years, like, 12 plus years, and there is a myth that married couples don’t still have fiery sex like the new couples do. So I think there’s something [in showing] that you can still have that passion, that fire 15 to 20 years on.”
In response to a question about why their sex scene “didn’t make the cut,” Imhangbe suggested it could be “saved for another” season, adding, “I think that there’s something [in] the show that might be coming down the line, but it would be good to see a married couple hold that [passionate] space too.”
A Moment Between Mother-in-Laws
According to Ruth Gemmell, there was a special exchange in season 3 between Violet and Portia (Polly Walker).
“A very tiny part of the engagement party where Violet says, ‘I think Portia’s being nervous about the marriage [between Colin and Penelope].’ [Portia] was quite nervous about not getting to the wedding, and Violet’s just saying, ‘We’re family now,’” Gemmell told Vanity Fair in June 2024. “That’s very important to Violet, and it’s important to Violet that Penelope knows that it’s one family now. Violet will do anything to look after her family, whoever it is.”
Hit Songs That Nearly Made It Onto the Show
Before season 3 was released on Netflix, Shonda Rhimes‘ Shondaland website shared a behind-the-scenes video with upcoming clips from the show. Fans caught a dance sequence at a ball where Olivia Rodrigo’s “Traitor” was playing in the background. In June 2024, Dodd also shared a video of herself and Victor Alli (who plays John) practicing a dance sequence to Hozier’s “Take Me to Church.”
