Bridgerton's Calam Lynch And Nicola Coughlan Go Way Back
Here's what to know about him.
Warning: Light spoilers for Bridgerton Season 2 follow. Bridgerton has an enormous cast. When a series stars a family of eight siblings, and each has love interests and best friends, things can get a little crowded. Even so, Season 2 added a few more characters than were initially in the novel on which it’s based. Take, for example, Theo Sharpe. There’s not much known (yet) about this character, but what *is* known is that he may be a Bridgerton love interest. However, Calam Lynch, the actor who plays Theo Sharpe, actually goes way back with one of the Featheringtons.
Theo Sharpe is not a character in Julia Quin’s Bridgerton books, although he seems to have been inspired a bit by The Viscount Who Loved Me’s Mr. Bagwell. He was an assistant in the shop where Lady Whistledown got her newsletters printed, though Penelope — posing as “Lady Whistledown’s maid” — usually dealt with his boss.
The actor who plays Penelope, Nicola Coughlan, probably knows a thing or two about Theo Sharpe, since Lynch, the actor who plays him, guest-starred in Derry Girls’ beloved prom episode as the character John Paul O'Reilly. That makes him one of the few Derry Girls actors who has crossed over into Bridgerton’s world with Coughlan.
Lynch has also had roles in films like Dunkirk and the Disney+ 2020 remake of Black Beauty. He also recently starred in Benediction alongside Peter Capaldi (Doctor Who) and Kate Phillips (Peaky Blinders). But his most significant role is one recognizable to PBS viewers; he played Gordon Wilson in the Emmy-winning series Mrs. Wilson.
Although Lady Whistledown moved her business elsewhere by the end of Season 2, fans shouldn’t necessarily count Lynch out for future seasons as Theo. His importance in Season 2 may be able to carry him over into episodes somewhere down the line.
Bridgerton Season 1 and 2 are streaming on Netflix; Season 3 and 4 are already greenlit and are expected to arrive in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
