‘Bridgerton’s Sam Phillips Reacts to Lord Debling & Penelope’s Short-Lived Romance

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Bridgerton Season 3 Part 1.]

Lord Debling (Sam Phillips) never stood a chance in Polin’s world. The dashing new suitor makes a play for Penelope’s (Nicola Coughlan) hand in Part 1 of Bridgerton Season 3 and seeks to marry her. However, as we all know, Penelope’s heart already belongs to Colin (Luke Newton).

In Episode 4, all the Polin puzzle pieces finally appear to Lord Debling. He’s preparing to propose to Penelope when he figures out Penelope’s true feelings. During an emotional moment at the ball, Lord Debling confronts Penelope about Colin. He won’t marry someone who is in love with someone else.

“Whatever it is you are searching for, I do hope you find it,” Lord Debling says to Penelope before walking away, leaving Penelope and Colin to finally confess their feelings for each other in that heated carriage moment.

Below, Phillips breaks down Lord Debling’s heartbreak, how he’d react to Penelope’s Lady Whistledown reveal, and more with TV Insider.

Do you think Lord Debling had any prior suspicions that Penelope had feelings for Colin?

Sam Phillips: There’s a moment in one of the scenes where I think they’re in the library and Debling sees Penelope looking over at Colin quite longingly, and he sort of gets in between her and Colin at that moment. I think there the cogs are starting to turn a bit. But it’s not really until he makes the connection when Cressida talks about the Greek lovers reference and then it just starts to click, click, click, click.

How do you feel about Lord Debling’s final words to Penelope in Episode 4? 

I wondered for a while if they needed another scene where she chases after him, but I love the ending [of Episode 4]. I love his ending in a way because he says everything he needs to say. He comes from a place where he’s very honest and authentic, so I don’t feel like he needs to say any more than that. This is the complexity, I think. He is too practical for his own good sometimes. I think that, given some time, maybe love would grow, like he says, because there are other reasons that I’ve got for the character as to why he finds it hard to put himself out there. I feel like it’s a really good final scene, and it does that relationship justice.

Do you think Lord Debling and Penelope would have been happy together under different circumstances?

He knows who he is. He knows what he wants. Like he says, it would be very practical. She’d have so much independence being with him. I think that in time, love would grow. I think he would allow that love to grow between the two of them, but it would take more time. Maybe she would wait for that. Maybe she wouldn’t.

How do you think Lord Debling would react to Penelope being Lady Whistledown?

He is someone who seeks out authenticity, and he looks for that in somebody. That’s one of his biggest values, someone who’s truly themselves. So to find out that someone is taking on another identity like Lady Whistledown, I don’t think it would sit very well with him.

What’s next for Lord Debling?

We know he’s going on a big excavation. He’s going to be sailing to the Arctic, and he is going to be going for a long time. But will he come back? I don’t know. We’ll have to see. But for now, I think the sadness is he leaves at this point slightly broken-hearted and left just with the crew to mellow over what’s just happened. He’ll have plenty of time to process it while he’s sailing on the sea.

Bridgerton, Season 3, Part 1, Streaming Now, Netflix

Bridgerton, Season 3, Part 2 Premiere, Thursday, June 13, Netflix