Originally Published: 17 MAY 22 09:07 ET

Updated: 17 MAY 22 09:32 ET

By Lisa Respers France, CNN

(CNN) -- The "Bridgerton" TV series is going out of order.

Netflix's hit series will diverge from the series of romance novels by Julia Quinn on which it is based. It will tell the love story of Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) in the third season.

In the book series, the third novel focuses on Benedict Bridgerton and the surprising love he finds.

Coughlan shared the news on her verified Instagram account Monday.

"Like Lady Whistledown I've been keeping quite a big secret for quite a long time... but I can finally tell you that @bridgertonnetflix Season Three is Colin and Penelope's Story," the caption on a photo of her and Newton read.

"I really feel like it's Colin and Penelope's time," new showrunner Jess Brownell told Variety.

"I feel like, especially in the last season, there are these moments of tension between them where it's like, Colin walks up to the line of almost realizing that Penelope has feelings for him but doesn't quite get there," Brownell said. "Instead of treading water on that dynamic, we wanted to push it into their season. It really felt like the perfect moment to tee it up."

Both characters have been around since Season 1, which followed the romance between Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) and Simon Basset (Regé-Jean Page).

Season 2 focused on Anthony Bridgerton's (Jonathon Bailey) love story with Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley).