'Bridgerton' star Nicola Coughlan pushes back on critics who slammed the show's diverse cast
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Claudia Willen
Jan 7, 2021, 22:17 IST
Penelope Featherington on "Bridgerton."LIAM DANIEL/NETFLIX
Nicola Coughlan, who plays Penelope Featherington on season one of Netflix's "Bridgerton," recently responded to criticism of the show's diverse cast.
On "Bridgerton," Queen Charlotte is portrayed by a Black actress, Golda Rosheuvel. The Regency London dramedy also features interracial couples.
Netflix announced Monday that "Bridgerton" is the platform's fifth biggest original series to date and is projected to reach 63 million households in the four weeks following the premiere.
"You know the way some people were like 'Diversity in period drama doesn't work,'" Coughlan tweeted Tuesday, continuing, "63 million households thought it did tho so."
She added: "Remember people were trying to downvote the show on IMDB cos it was so diverse? You can't downvote us being Netflix['s] fifth biggest original release ever."
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Nicola Coughlan, the Irish actress who plays Penelope Featherington on "Bridgerton," shut down criticism of the show's diverse cast by pointing to the series' sweeping success.
On Monday, Netflix announced that the Shonda Rhimes-produced show, which is set in early 19th century England, is the streaming giant's fifth biggest original series to date.
Season one is projected to reach 63 million households in the four weeks following its December 25 release, the streaming service claimed on Twitter.
Coughlan, aware that "Bridgerton" creator Chris Van Dusen's decision to cast people of color as powerful aristocrats sparked some controversy, tweeted Netflix's latest statistics to prove that his vision was triumphant.
"You know the way some people were like 'Diversity in period drama doesn't work'....63 million households thought it did tho so," the actress, who also plays Clare Devlin on "Derry Girls," wrote on Tuesday.
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Coughlan added, "Remember people were trying to downvote the show on IMDB cos it was so diverse? You can't downvote us being Netflix fifth biggest original release ever."
On season one of "Bridgerton," which is adapted from Julia Quinn's book "The Duke and I," many of the main characters are played by Black actors.
Because after Queen Charlotte, portrayed by Golda Rosheuvel, marries into the British royal family, her husband, King George III, essentially eliminates the racial hierarchy, opening the door for people of color to become dukes, duchesses, lords, and ladies.
Rosheuvel told Insider that the opportunity to be a Black actress playing the famous queen was "empowering," noting that more diversity in the period piece genre is "overdue."
"For a long time, people of privilege have been in charge of the storylines and storytelling. I don't know whether they have intentionally written out Black people, because we know that there were Black people and people of color," she said.
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However, the actress remarked that "Bridgerton" wouldn't have been possible without other historical dramas, which featured more homogeneous, all-white casts.
"Those period dramas have paved the way," she told Insider. "I wouldn't knock them because they have allowed us to be in a position where we can bang down the door, and [they've] given us a platform to go, 'No more,' in the best possible way - with love."
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