Wave to your best-dressed neighbor and tip the footman, because the wait is over — Bridgerton Season 3 is finally here. Or, at least, the first five minutes of the Season 3 premiere have arrived early, like a particularly dependable carriage. You can fall in love with the Episode 1 footage, seen above, right now, ahead of Season 3, Part 1’s May 16 launch.

“We wanted to come back with energy,” Bridgerton showrunner and longtime series writer Jess Brownell tells Tudum. “We wanted to set the tone in a way that felt familiar.” 

As you’ll see when you press play, the premiere whisks you back to the Bridgerton you love. The people of the ton are leaving their country estates behind for the urbane delights of London. The new social season is upon Mayfair’s fashionable set, and rising debutantes await their debut. The preparations for one deb’s entrance into society may just remind you of another beloved Bridgerton character. 

“There’s actually the moment where the family is standing outside of Francesca’s door that’s a mirror image of everyone standing in front of Eloise’s door,” Brownell reveals. Yes, it’s time for Francesca Bridgerton (now played by Hannah Dodd) — the sixth Bridgerton sibling and third daughter — to glide onto the ballroom floor. Yet, as you’ll notice, Francesca isn’t like her sisters. She’s been pragmatically preparing to present herself to Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel) for years, Dodd explains to Tudum.  

“Francesca obviously has a lot of nerves going into it, but Jess and I talked about how she also has quite a logical headspace towards the whole thing,” Dodd says. “She wants to get in there and get it done. She’s not fighting it in the same way that Eloise fought it. But she’s not obsessing over it and romanticizing it in the same way that Daphne did either.” 

As Francesca readies herself to join high society, another sibling makes his way back to it: world traveler Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton), sporting a galant confidence you need to see to believe. His “Colin swagger,” as Newton calls it, makes him a quick favorite of London’s newest debs. 

“Colin really feels like he’s gone through some self-discovery and become a man. He has been heavily influenced by all the different places that he’s been to and all the different people that he’s met,” Newton tells Tudum. “What’s really interesting about this season is that, actually, he needs to come back to really find himself.” 

Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan), for her part, looks impressed in the video. The scandal sheet author takes her place as Bridgerton’s romantic hero for Season 3. Penelope enters the social season ready to find a husband who’ll allow her the independence necessary to secretly continue her thriving business. “It’s funny because she’s a character who is such a romantic,” Coughlan tells Tudum. “But she starts this season like, ‘No, I am practical.’ ”  

So, approaching her third year on the marriage mart, Penelope decides she needs a romance tutor. Naturally, she turns to past crush Colin for lessons in the art of flirtation. But could sparks begin to fly for these friends? 

While you’ll have to watch all of Bridgerton Season 3 to find out, Coughlan knows what message she hopes resonates with fans. It’s the same one Adjoa Andoh, who portrays Lady Danbury, shared with Coughlan during a cast screening of the season. 

“Watching Bridgerton together was a far more emotional experience than I expected. Adjoa turned to me at the end [of an episode] and said, ‘This is for the wallflowers,’ ” Coughlan tells Tudum. “It made me just cry, and the entire cast response made me cry. It was just beyond what I’d expected.” 

See Penelope, Colin, and all of Bridgerton Season 3 bloom when Part 1 premieres on May 16. And keep coming back to Tudum for all your Mayfair news as you prepare for Part 2’s debut on June 13.