'Bridgerton' Season 4 Ending Explained: I Broke Down That Lady Whistledown Reveal With The Showrunner

Let me take you all the way back to season three. Shonda and I had a conversation about, you know, we knew Penelope was going to come forward as Whistledown. I think her stepping into, you know, her power is in the book, and it only felt right for her to do that in her season. But once she became a public whistledown, there was only there's only so much story that, you know, can be had from that because the stakes are a lot lower. There's no secret being kept. I love the story we did get to tell this season about accountability and Penelope wrestling with, you know, how to deal with people knowing they're writing about her. But ultimately, we didn't want to squander the voice of Julie Andrews. And I think Whistledown is such a useful device narratively, thematically and in terms of the conflict in the show. So now we have a genuine mystery about who Whistledown is because it's not from the books. The Bridgertons are good gossip, and any Whistledown worth their salt is going to know that they're going to have to go after the Bridgertons. And I would say we wouldn't, you know, create a new Whistledown if she wasn't worth her salt.