Bridgerton Reveals a New Lady Whistledown in a Shocking Season 4 Finale Twist

Spoilers below.

Penelope Bridgerton has officially retired her quill—ending her days as Mayfair’s most infamous town gossip—but the Bridgerton season 4 finale episode promises the circulation of new editions of Whistledown in her absence.

“Are you perhaps feeling a little shock?” a new Lady Whistledown, still voiced by Julie Andrews, asks the audience. “You thought I was gone for good, but far too much transpires for this author to remain silent. It is assuredly a reunion rooted in care and love. Though this time with a very different author.”

So who is this new Lady Whistledown? Here’s what we know.

Why did Penelope retire from Lady Whistledown?

Penelope retires from writing Lady Whistledown’s Society Papers in Bridgerton season 4, episode 6. She delivers the news in the way only Whistledown would—through pamphlets, handed out at Cressida’s first ball as Lady Penwood.

Penelope discusses her decision to retire her column with Queen Charlotte and explains that her public persona as Whistledown has led to a shakeup within the ton.

“Like you, I will always believe in the power of gossip,” she tells the queen. “Since I have become known publicly, there has been a change. The power I hold over the ton is too great.” Penelope is also a woman of status after marrying into the Bridgerton family, which compromises her ability to write an unbiased column. “I’m no longer a wallflower, an outsider,” she adds. “I am a Bridgerton. I’m privileged to visit the queen. Whistledown takes up a space which makes it impossible to deliver good, true, fair gossip.”

Of Penelope’s retirement, showrunner Jess Brownell told Tudum that “Penelope went through such a giant growth arc last season. She’s not the powerless girl who needs Whistledown to take back her voice anymore. While she stands by everything she believes about gossip being information, gossip being power for the voiceless, she realizes that it’s time for her to stop being in that role.”

How does Penelope find out about the new Lady Whistledown?

In the final moments of Bridgerton season 4, episode 8, Colin walks in on Penelope writing pages for a brand new project. “I thought you were done with Whistledown,” he says, to which Penelope replies, “I am. I am working on my novel.”

Colin then pulls out a copy of a newly published issue of Whistledown and asks her, “Then who in the devil wrote this?”

Penelope reacts with shock. Neither she nor Colin—nor the audience—know who the identity of the mysterious new writer.

Why did Bridgerton switch to a new Lady Whistledown?

Speaking with Radio Times, showrunner Jess Brownell explained that she wanted Penelope to explore a new career path with the newfound stability she has in her relationship with Colin. “Shonda [Rhimes], I and all my writers know who Whistledown is, and we’ve been writing to that,” she said. “But that was what was really exciting to us was to…let Penelope move onto a next chapter as a novelist, in her romance with Colin.”

According to Brownell, changing the author of Whistledown allowed the writers to add back in some of the drama that was lost when Penelope was revealed as the author in season 3.

“Once we revealed that Penelope was Whistledown at the end of season 1 and especially now that she’s come out publicly at the end of season 3, the stakes of it—we lost a bit of them in season,” Brownell said. “It was really fun telling the story of her having to face some accountability with the people she’s written about, but it’s also so fun now to have red herrings and clues and have no one know because it’s not from the books at this point…Yeah, we’re going a bit rogue.”

Who is Lady Whistledown in the Bridgerton books?

Penelope is revealed to be Lady Whistledown in the Bridgerton books, as in the show, but in the books there is no “new” Lady Whistledown.

The change to a new Whistledown author in the TV series, in part, stems from fans being able to easily look up information about the books in fan forums online. “Penelope was Julia Quinn’s Whistledown, so we knew we couldn’t really play with that reveal for too long because people could just Google it,” Brownell told Tudum. “But now, we get to play with audience expectations.”

This post will be updated.