Bridgerton Author Julia Quinn Had the Best Reaction to the Show's Plot Twist
Who is Lady Whistledown? In the bestselling "Bridgerton" series by Julia Quinn, the answer to that question isn't revealed until novel #4, Romancing Mister Bridgerton.
Until you got to that point, the identity of the caustically witty and seemingly omnipotent society writer was a true mystery.
When the series was adapted for Netflix, the original plan was to follow the blueprint of the books and keep the writer's identity a secret. The cast – and Quinn herself! – were given scripts that kept Lady Whistledown anonymous at the end of season one, aside from a red herring suggesting that the snobbish Cressida Cowper was the one running the scandal sheet.
It wasn't until Julia Quinn actually watched the series on Netflix that she saw the plot had changed. When the figure in the carriage lets down her hood and reveals Penelope Featherington as Lady Whistledown, Quinn was as shocked as the rest of the audience. She told Insider that when the big reveal happened, she exclaimed "WHAT?" before immediately messaging the producers of Bridgerton . Quinn told the magazine,
"I immediately got on email and was emailing Shondaland being like, 'What just happened?!'"
Obviously, Quinn wasn't shocked that Penelope was Lady Whistledown – but she was very surprised that the Netflix show decided to reveal Whistledown's identity at the end of season one, rather than drawing out the suspense.
The reason for the script change was later divulged to Quinn. Knowing that their audience could easily google "Lady Whistledown's true identity", the writers of Bridgerton decided not to bother trying to keep the secret between seasons. Instead, they give us the big reveal in the very last seconds of season one. During season two, Penelope's onscreen time became dedicated to the trials and tribulations of keeping her secret activities from coming out.
Julia Quinn may be the architect of pseudo-Regency Bridgerton, but Lady Whistledown is less fictional than you may think. In real life, one of the OG gossip columnists was "Mrs. Crackenthorpe", also known as "The Female Tatler".
Her scandal sheet was satirical and scathing, focusing on the misbehaviors of the upper class (though to avoid charges of libel, her subjects were given thinly veiled pseudonyms). Like Lady Whistledown, Mrs. Crackenthorpe hid her true name from the world. However, unlike her Bridgerton counterpart, the identity behind the real gossip columnist was never revealed, and remains a mystery to this day.