“It’s quite steamy,” says Luke Newton, hours before the London premiere of the second half of —words sure to be met with relief (and no small amount of lust) from #Polin fans across the nation. “I knew people would find it frustrating,” Newton adds of Netflix’s decision to release the latest installment of Shonda Rhimes’s phenomenally popular Regency romp in two parts. It meant that, after at last witnessing Colin Bridgerton almost-but-not-quite deflowering his childhood friend, next-door neighbor, and number-one fan, Penelope Featherington, in her horse-drawn carriage, fans have had to wait weeks to find out what happens next.
The delayed gratification will be worth it, insists the actor and newly minted internet boyfriend, who—along with his co-star Nicola Coughlan—has stepped into the full glare of the spotlight this season as their characters finally went from friends to lovers. “It means viewers can digest the show a bit better,” he says. “Moments like the carriage scene have really resonated—I don’t know if that would be the case if it had all come out at once.
” Newton knows, it seems, just how much rewatching has been taking place in the intervening weeks. “I’ve never experienced anything like the fandom, it’s been incredible,” says the 31-year-old, who has criss-crossed the globe with his co-stars to promote the show in recent months. “We feel very lucky to have visited all these places.
” The London screening feels like some.
