Fans Are Convinced Bridgerton Deleted Penelope & Colin’s Sex Scenes

Bridgerton Season 3 has been met with mixed reviews. While some are celebrating the show’s latest season (especially the introduction of Michaela Stirling), others are feeling disappointed by the central love story between Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton. After two seasons of buildup, fans expected more from Polin — and they’re convinced that Bridgerton editors deleted some of the couple’s sex scenes.

The theory has taken over the internet after a Change.org petition that claimed screeners — people who had early access to the episodes — noted that several intimate scenes between Penelope and Colin were cut in the final version. Per the petition, here’s what fans think was missing from Season 3:

• A scene after Colin found Penelope leaving the modiste, where they go home together and have an angry makeout
• A scene where they are laying in bed together and discussing publishing Colin’s travel journals
• A playful scene featuring Colin “whispering sweet nothings” to Penelope while they’re standing in front of the mirror
• A “long intimate montage in Episode 8,” during which Colin apparently goes down on Penelope

Plus, fans have noticed how little time was dedicated to showing Penelope and Colin’s growing feelings toward each other. In a viral TikTok, one fan calculated the couple’s screen time in the first four episodes of Season 3. According to her, Polin was only on screen for 16% of Season 3, Part 1.

The fan theory about these missing scenes has continued to gain momentum on X, formerly called Twitter, and TikTok. “daphne and simon fvcked all over their house and we even had a montage of it and all i get from polin is carriage, their first time, and a 3 minute penelope on top????? WHO CUT THE SEX SCENES,” one fan tweeted after hearing about this theory.

Another tweeted, “just think we've been waiting for 4 years to see Polin's season and their intimate scenes we've paid Netflix for 4 years and they cut many important scene like polin sex montage made me feel disappoint and hurt.”

An interview with Nicola Coughlan, who plays Penelope, added some fuel to this rumor. “We loved the bed scenes. In between takes, you could just sit and chill on the bed, and you’re just like, ‘This is really comfy and really nice,’” she told The Hollywood Reporter in a story published June 14. Fans pointed out, however, Polin only had a brief sex scene that involved a bed, which doesn’t match up with her quote.

Netflix and the Season 3 director, Tom Verica, brought more attention to the theory by acknowledging it in their respective comments sections. After a fan commented, “please show the deleted polin scenes😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭” on Netflix’s IG, the brand’s social team responded, “omg i would die,” seemingly confirming the fan theory.

Verica also liked a telling comment on his TikTok, which read, “Thanks for the most beautiful Colin and best season ever but please release all the deleted scenes we wanted and needed more pollen and I know y’all got them hidden away plz tell Netflix to post them.”

However, things might not be quite as straightforward as this fan theory stipulates. Verica unliked the TikTok comment after it went viral, and he went so far as to respond directly to the rumors on Instagram. A fan commented on one of Verica’s posts, “Can we please get an extended version of episode 8 with Polin sex montage?❤️” His response? “myth.”

Seems like there are no extended versions of Penelope and Colin’s sex scenes hitting Netflix anytime soon — but Verica never denied that other Polin scenes were cut from the show. Maybe a few less steamy moments are still a possibility?