Bridgerton Season 3 certainly shakes things up for our favorite members of the Ton. Sure, wallflower Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) finally begins to bloom and Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) starts to notice he might have feelings for his friend, but the big shakeup had to be Eloise Bridgerton’s (Claudia Jessie) new friendship with Cressida Cowper (Jessica Madsen)!
**Spoilers for Bridgerton Season 3 Part 1, now streaming on Netflix**
We learn that Eloise befriend the mean girl of the Ton when the two were both with their families in the country. Since El and Pen are on the outs, Cressida was able to make her move and snatch a bestie for herself!
Cressida Cowper has long been the least likable lady in Netflix’s Bridgerton. The statuesque blonde played underhanded games against rival beauty Daphne in Bridgerton Season 1 and has always been especially cruel to Penelope. However, until Bridgerton Season 3, she’s been something of a two dimensional character. That all changes this year. Thanks to the designs of new Bridgerton showrunner Jess Brownell, Cressida emerges as a far more interesting character than we ever would have expected. She’s not only a legitimately good friend to Eloise, but shows multiple signs of positive growth. Not only that, but by revealing Cressida’s horrible home life, Bridgerton has helped explain what motivates the young lady’s ruthless barbs and competitive streak.
Decider got a chance to chop it up with Bridgerton Season 3 breakout Jessica Madsen over a Zoom call earlier this week. The actress told us about the backstory she and Nicola “Nic” Coughlan built to explain Cressida and Penelope’s enmity, what it’s like swanning about in those larger-than-life sleeves, and how she feels about the fandom’s inevitable queer-coded read of the unromantic Cressida’s attachment to Eloise…
DECIDER: I’ve loved you in all the seasons. I thought you were a perfect Cressida Cowper. And this season, I just really love the direction her character goes. So I’m just curious, at what point did you know that you’d have a larger role in Bridgerton Season 3 and did anything that we learn about Cressida this year surprise you?
JESSICA MADSEN: So I got the call from Jess [Brownell], the Christmas before we started in June or July. So I had a little run up to knowing, but not to any extent. She was just like, “We’re going to lean a little bit more into her story. We’re going to see why she is the way that she is.” And I was like, “That sounds amazing. Can’t wait.” But to get the script, I was like, “Whoa.” I could not believe it. I felt so incredibly lucky and really, really, really grateful. And to work with Claudia, as well? I mean, I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect season if I tried.
From Day 1, Cressida has sort of bullied Penelope the most of any other character we’ve seen in the series. Why do you think that is? Has she clocked Pen as a threat from the beginning or does she think Pen is just the weakest and that she can easily get away with it?
Good question. I think a mix of the two. Nic and I did speak about it because we do feel like it goes quite far back for them. Because we see their mothers, you know, they have a friendship. So we imagine that they were around each other as kids growing up and that some incident of some sort probably happened. We’ve always kind of had that like there, to make sure that we can see that there is something, there is a weight between them.
But I also think jealousy in some ways comes into play because they are very different. You know, Penelope’s character is so extraordinary in the sense that what we see is one thing, but you can see there’s an internal thing inside of her, there’s something going on behind the eyes. And I think Cressida clocks that and is a little threatened by that. And yeah, she sees her as a wallflower and she presses her down. A lot of the time that’s what you see with people who, you know, are the “mean girls” or “the bullies” in life, they’re getting something and where do they go and place that on? Someone else who they see that they can. I feel like that what’s happened. Cressida can’t give it back to her parents so she goes and finds someone else.
Eloise’s friendship with Cressida was so fascinating to watch and it really seems to mean so much to Cressida. She takes risks with her father, she disobeys her parents. What about that connection has opened up Cressida’s world? And are you prepared for fans to maybe potentially see something kind of queer-coded in Cressida’s affections?
Yeah, Eloise completely opens her up and I love what they create, which is a really safe space for each other. Because, you know, we could really expect Cressida to be very defensive if someone says what you’re doing isn’t right. You could see that she could get sharp with that. But she’s actually really open to it and is like, “Oh! Gosh. Okay.” You know, there’s a trust there and they’re curious about each other because they are so different and Eloise learns a lot through her about how different her life is. And you know, they’re opening up their perspective because their situations are so different.
And queer-coded? I absolutely love that. That would be the best! Yeah, I mean, that would be cool. I like to think it would make sense because, like, she hasn’t bagged a guy. So, like, why not a gal? But yeah, I have really no idea.
The reason I ask is I’ve only seen like the first few episodes of this season. So I don’t know if anything happens and they end it with Cressida and Lord Debling together or not. But throughout the series, Cressida has obviously gone after suitors, but not like in a romantic way. She doesn’t seem interested in romance. She seems more in it to win it. So, I’m wondering, in the world of Bridgerton, which is about true love and happily ever afters, what would Cressida’s happily ever after be in your mind?
Well, you know, she doesn’t have a Lady Bridgerton as a mum. She sees love in the way that I think a lot of women in that time did see it. It was like, not something that was really that available. It wasn’t the norm. And so she’s really going out to find someone who her parents would be happy that she would be with and that’s kind of all she’s really thinking of doing.
I don’t think she really understands what love is and that’s not the chapter we see her in this season. We’re seeing her in the opening up and having the possibility. But if she found someone, you know, where she has that connection that she has with Eloise that we see in the beginning, I think she would have a real opportunity at finding love. But she’s got a way to go yet.
I always love the costumes in Bridgerton. Cressida’s sleeves this season, though, are on another level. I’m just curious how you felt in them. How do they affect how you move in the world? How close other actors can get to you? And what does it tell you about Cressida in this season?
Yeah, they are. They have grown, those shoulders, and they just get bigger and bigger as time goes on. I feel they were amazing to wear. They really, really were. They give Cressida power in those costumes. And also I think a really great sort of contradiction to what’s going on internally for her. She’s struggling inside and we see this beautiful outfit revealing her like a little present a lot of the time. It was amazing to wear. And actually watching it. because I only ever saw it from the front, you know, watching it how it moves. Like John [Glaser] is a genius and it does give so much of the performance.
Actually we had a choice to keep the corset this season or not and I kept the corset because I felt that’s what she is, you know? Cressida is a corset. If she could be something, she’d be a corset.
But yeah, I absolutely love John. He’s a legend.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
