Dearest reader, it’s officially Bridgerton season! After two years, the hit Netflix series is back with Season 3, which focused on Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) as he finally realizes his feelings for Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan).

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After debuting Part 1 on May 16, the third season racked up an impressive 45.1 million views, which is around 180 million hours viewed, according to Netflix.

The friends-to-lovers story between Colin and Pen is one fans have eagerly been awaiting, and it did not disappoint. Everything culminated in the infamous carriage scene, which is taken directly from Julia Quinn’s book Romancing Mister Bridgerton.

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Colin and Penelope finally share a steamy kiss after Colin professes his feelings for his friend. The moment has gone viral across the internet, with fans continuously talking about how sexy it is.

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Out of the entire scene, there’s a particular moment that Nicola, the writers, and intimacy coordinator Lizzy Talbot put a lot of thought into, and one Nicola finds very important.

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After they kiss, Colin and Penelope’s sexy carriage ride eventually leads to Colin wanting to touch Penelope. In the scene, Penelope gives Colin consent to touch her, and he continues moving his hand up her thigh and under her dress.

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While this particular moment has gone viral as fans noticed Colin fixes Penelope’s dress only using certain fingers afterward — a moment Luke improvised — Nicola wanted to make sure Penelope’s desire came across on screen, too.

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“Because she’s also desired him for so long,” Nicola told Vanity Fair in a recent interview. “We realize later on, she doesn’t know about sex fully, but she’s aware of her body and where she wants him to touch her.”

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Nicola said she felt it was a nice change from how virginity is traditionally portrayed in TV shows, with characters often being shown as not even knowing how they want to be pleasured.

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“It’s lovely because it’s so easy to see virgins on TV portrayed in a way that they’re like terrified and have no agency, but that’s not the case,” she told Vanity Fair.

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“The consent is managed so beautifully, and that’s down to the writing and the brilliant Lizzy Talbot, the intimacy coordinator, because we want it to seem like it’s not teacher-student anymore,” Nicola continued.

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She added, “We’re in this together. It’s the first time that they completely see each other, and they’re on a level, and it’s like, Let’s go.”

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Speaking overall about the filming experience for such an important moment, Luke and Nicola said they had total trust in each other. In a joint interview with The Today Show, Nicola explained, “We had so much control, we felt really empowered. We knew what points we had to hit, but it didn’t feel stilted or choreographed.”

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She continued, saying, “We just were like, I trust you, you trust me, let’s do this. Let’s make it the best it can be.”

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