Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Bridgerton season 2 and Julia Quinn's Bridgerton book series.
Netflix's in Bridgerton season 2, seeing the Sharma and Bridgerton clans clashing as Lady Whistledown continues to stoke the gossip mill of Regency-era London and several character arcs ending on tantalizing cliffhangers ahead of Bridgerton season 3.
One such narrative thread is the burgeoning romance between Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) and Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan), with the third Bridgerton son beginning to see his long-time friend in a different light. The first shoots of this romantic feeling are more than reciprocated, with Penelope harboring a long and deep-seated attraction to Colin across the two Bridgerton seasons to date. Yet despite the pair's apparent romantic progress, Bridgerton season 2 ends on a sour note for the couple, with Penelope overhearing Colin saying he would "never court" her to his assembled friends. This assertion has deeply disappointed fans (alongside breaking Penelope's heart), with Bridgerton audiences desperate to see the pair become an item in future seasons of the Netflix series.
Bridgerton fans, however, will be delighted to know that Colin and Penelope do eventually get together, with their future in the Bridgerton books a complex and emotional tale. Julia Quinn's fourth Bridgerton novel, Romancing Mister Bridgerton, sees Colin discover Penelope's secret identity as Lady Whistledown as the pair begin to court one another. Despite this revelation proving a rocky period for the new couple, Penelope and Colin do marry at the end of the fourth Bridgerton book, capping one of the Bridgerton canon's most eagerly anticipated love stories.
Romancing Mister makes Colin and Penelope's romance the focus of its narrative, following the tradition of each novel covering a separate Bridgerton sibling finding love in Regency-era London. The fourth Julia Quinn Bridgerton novel marks Colin's turn, with the third Bridgerton son finally seeing Penelope in a romantic light as her confidence blossoms at Ton. With Colin reciprocating Penelope's feelings, the pair quickly begin courting before Colin discovers Penlope's Lady Whistledown secret. Colin, however, is able to learn to trust Penelope again, with the book ending as the pair marry similarly to other Bridgerton weddings.
While Bridgerton is confirmed to be renewed for a third and fourth season as far back as April 2021 (via Chris Van Dusen's Bridgerton may well decide to make more wholesale narrative changes to keep its audiences guessing. For the moment, however, Bridgerton fans can rest assured that Colin and Penelope do end up together in the books, but whether that plays out across Bridgerton season 4 remains to be seen for now.