Bridgerton fans think Penelope has revealed herself as Lady Whistledown to Colin already in season 3

I'm sure we've all raced through the first part of Bridgerton's latest season in the blink of an eye ever since it dropped last week (16 May).

And, arguably, one of the biggest topics of discussion since the Regency-era drama first came out on Netflix in 2020 is all about the elusive Lady Whistledown.

Now, Bridgerton fans think Penelope Featherington, played by Nicola Coughlan, has revealed herself as Lady Whistledown to Colin already in season three.

One fan took to Reddit to share the theory, titling the post: "Penelope reveals herself as LW to Colin in Episode 2?"

The Reddit user continued: "In the scene before Penelope asks Colin to kiss her, she tells him that LW has to write about her because it will otherwise be suspicious.

"Colin looks confused at her. Doesn’t she in fact reveal herself as LW here?"

Fans of the TV show rushed to the comments to share their thoughts on the theory, with one Reddit user writing: "I think she misspoke because of the conversation with Eloise where she says the same thing.

Could Penelope Bridgerton be Lady Whistledown? (Netflix)

"We’re meant to pick up on it, but Colin didn’t really. But it’ll be a hindsight moment probably, like when it all comes out he’ll have an aha moment and perhaps refer back to that moment."

"Absolutely," agreed a second, "the conversation will pop up in his mind at some point."

A third quipped: "People on this show usually are - truly that blind - so he probably didn’t noticed."

"I think she meant to," piped up a fourth, "or she assumed that Eloise had already told him.

"But he is a bloody fool and he didn't pick up on it. When he eventually figures it out, I think he's going to angrily confront her and it will be met with a '...but... I thought you knew...'."

Another die-hard penned: "I think I’m the odd one out here, but I don’t think she’s totally revealing herself in this scene.

Fans have rushed to Reddit to share their latest theory about the Lady Whistledown mystery. (Netflix)

"It’s established that a majority of the ton knows LW is the gossip column, so when a 'scandal' like Colin helping Pen is the talk of the ball, it’s expected that it’ll be reported on in the next LW.

"Even as Pen runs out of that ball, someone says, 'I can’t wait to read what LW writes about this!” The big, recent drama is that Pen is getting Colin’s help, and if LW didn’t write about it, people would probably wonder why she didn’t. I think we as the audience clocked her comment because we already know she’s LW. Aside from Eloise and Madame Delacroix, no one in the Bridgerton universe knows LW’s true identity."

Continuing their theory, they added: "With that being said though, I like what some of the other commenters said about this being a moment where Pen slips up and it’s probably going to be a flashback from Colin’s perspective as he figures out she’s LW."

And a final Reddit user offered: "I think in that moment she was just so done with everything and feeling so helpless that she didn’t bother trying hard to cover up the fact she’s Whistledown.

"It slipped out, but in such a way that she barely noticed she’d revealed herself, or just thought 'what the hell'. Also, I think Colin would have been too distracted afterwards by their kiss to think about it too much."

Well, I guess we'll have to just wait and see.

Bridgerton season three, part one, is currently available to stream on Netflix.