Bridgerton Season 3 Promises to Serve Tea as Netflix Unveils Its Two-Part Premiere Date

An early Christmas gift from Lady Whistledown has arrived: a premiere date for Bridgerton season 3!

Netflix announced Tuesday that the hit series will premiere in two parts, with the first hitting on May 16 and the second dropping on June 13. Both parts will have four episodes each.

“Gentle reader, you thought I was silenced, but you thought wrong,” Julie Andrews, who voices Lady Whistledown, says in teaser for season 3.

The upcoming installment will focus on the budding romance between Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton).

Coughlan previously described season 3 as “so romantic” to PEOPLE.

“There were a lot of moments on set where we filmed something and we’d turn around and everyone was sort of clutching their chest being like ‘Oh my God,’ the actress, 36, said in June. “It was that kind of love.”

At the beginning of Bridgerton season 3, Penelope finds herself struggling socially after being outed as Lady Whistledown to her best friend and Colin’s younger sister Eloise (Claudia Jessie). As a result, Penelope needs to chart a new path.

“She’s like a woman on a mission,” Coughlan said of her character. “She’s ready to go, ready to launch herself out into the marriage market in a new way. She wants a whole new look, and she gets it.”

Bridgerton season 3 diverges from the book series on which the show is based, choosing to follow Penelope and Colin’s relationship rather than Benedict Bridgerton’s love story, which author Julia Quinn’s third book centers around.

"There's eight Bridgerton siblings, so we're planning on following each one of the siblings' romantic stories,” Bridgerton executive producer Shonda Rhimes previously told Entertainment Tonight. “We're not necessarily going in order but we are going to be seeing each of the siblings and their stories."

Penelope’s season 2 outfits actually hinted at her upcoming story arc. In episode 4, Penelope swapped her usual yellow gowns for a softer green-hued dress. Bridgerton costume designer Sophie Canale confirmed a fan theory to PEOPLE that the swap symbolized a merging of Penelope’s family's yellow color palette and the Bridgertons' blue color palette.

"I've known for a very long time," Canale said about season 3 following the fourth Bridgerton book, Romancing Mister Bridgerton. "I forgot actually that no one else knew until last night. That's useful as a tool to know where your characters are going as well."

She added that the combining of Penelope and Colin's family colors mirrors how the blue color palette worn by Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) in season 1 changed following her marriage to Simon Basset, the Duke of Hastings (Regé-Jean Page), who donned red.

Filming for season 3 started in July and saw three newcomers — Harry Dankworth (James Phoon), Lord Debling (Sam Phillips) and Marcus Anderson (Daniel Francis) — join the mix. Netflix has said that what Phoon's character “lacks in wit and intelligence, he more than makes up for with serious good looks." Phillips will play a "genial lord with unusual interests" who intrigues the young ladies looking for love. Francis's Marcus has "a charismatic presence" that "lights up any room he enters, attracting the notice of certain matriarchs in the ton — and the ire of others."

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Bridgerton season 3 premieres May 16 on Netflix.