Bridgerton’s Katie Leung Thinks Lord Penwood Is the Real Villain

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Be warned: the following contains spoilers for the first half of Bridgerton’s fourth season, which began streaming on Netflix on January 29th.

Katie Leung is aware of how fans of Bridgerton are reacting to her character, Lady Araminta Gun – Sophie Baek’s stepmother and the main villain in season four. She’s seen the comments comparing her to a Disney villain, but she doesn’t quite see it that way.

Lady Penwood has made Sophie’s life miserable ever since her father died, constantly rejecting her and forcing her to work as a servant. Meanwhile, the glamorous world of Bridgerton, despite appearing progressive, remains deeply focused on social class. Because Sophie was born outside of marriage, her very existence threatens the Penwood family’s reputation and could ruin her stepsisters, Rosamund (Michelle Mao) and Posy (Isabella Wei), chances of finding good husbands. Araminta, who always obeys society’s rules, sees Sophie as just another one to enforce, and Leung portrays her with a chillingly cold demeanor, dramatic gothic fashion, and a deliberately overbearing, motherly attitude.

Leung, known for her role as Cho Chang in the Harry Potter films and her continued work in British television and theater, explains that motherhood is what drives her. ‘As a mother myself,’ she says, ‘there’s a powerful, natural instinct to want your children to thrive and be happy, and you’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen.’

You know, when I think about Araminta, ‘happy’ isn’t the first word that comes to mind, honestly. But she has this incredible inner fire, this motivation – it’s just channeled differently. It’s that same kind of push, that same energy, even if it doesn’t look like pure joy.

You described Araminta as someone who’s adopted a way of thinking focused on lack, which has affected her choices and personality, and suggested this isn’t a positive sign. Could you explain that further? I was portraying her as a woman shaped by the experiences of her time. She hasn’t had a difficult life, but she operates from a place of believing there’s never enough. I used to think that way myself – constantly feeling like things were being taken from me and that life was unfair. It wasn’t helpful, and I only realize that now that I’ve moved past it.

Araminta experienced a lot of loss. She had two children with her first husband, but realized he wasn’t the one she wanted to spend her life with, a difficult but necessary decision. After he passed away, she was a widow and single mother to two daughters, with no son to carry on the family name. She then found love again, only to lose her second husband and unexpectedly become the guardian of another child. Experiencing so much hardship one after another could easily lead to despair, but I believe there’s still hope for Araminta. There’s a suggestion that someone new might come into her life and offer a positive change.

This world really prioritizes having a male heir, and Araminta’s story highlights how strongly patriarchal structures still exist. Many of her decisions are a direct response to that pressure – she’s constantly facing the possibility of being displaced by a male heir who could simply take her position. It’s interesting because people focus on Araminta being the problem, not the fact that the Earl of Penwood is actually the difficult one. It’s like they’re blaming her instead of him!

Imagine coming home to your new husband and finding out he has a child with another woman. People often ask why she can’t just accept it, but it’s understandable she’d be devastated – she might not have married him if she’d known the truth. Once trust is broken in a relationship, it’s incredibly difficult to rebuild what you once had.

Working with Yerin Ha, who plays Sophie, was amazing. Honestly, she just raised the bar for me – she made me want to be better! We didn’t actually share a ton of scenes, but because my character, Araminta, is so focused on Sophie, it felt like we were always interacting. A truly great actor lets you experiment, and Yerin was constantly offering something new, which naturally pushed me to respond in different ways. We had a good amount of rehearsal time for the scene where I have to fire her. We worked it out with our fantastic director, Jaffar Mahmood, and with Jess Brownell, the showrunner, right there with us. We didn’t have it perfectly polished, but we had a solid plan. On set, there was a lot of laughter and playful energy between takes. While Araminta sees Sophie as someone ‘below’ her, I never felt that with Yerin. I constantly had to adjust Araminta’s movements and how she carried herself. Simply yelling or acting superior wouldn’t feel authentic. It was a real back-and-forth, a constant dance between us, and we were both fully engaged. There were so many different layers and energies at play that the scene never felt flat or predictable.

In that scene, it’s clear Araminta is at her limit. While she might logically need Sophie’s help, she’s simply had enough. It seems like a power move to fire Sophie, but it was actually Araminta revealing her vulnerable side. She usually keeps her feelings in check, prioritizing practicality and ambition, and she likely regretted the decision soon after. Araminta is always stressed, and even though Sophie’s gone, that doesn’t change. In fact, Araminta becomes more anxious knowing Sophie is out of her control.

During the audition, I was asked to channel Anna Wintour, which felt a bit limiting to me. I decided to move away from that direction because I didn’t want it to hold back my performance, especially since the costumes themselves were already physically restrictive. Anna Wintour is known for always wearing sunglasses, which creates a barrier – as an actor, you need to be able to connect through the eyes. My character, Araminta, also has an unreadable quality; it’s hard to know what she’s thinking. There’s a similarity there, but unlike Anna Wintour, Araminta definitely has expressive eyes – eyes that could be quite intimidating!

The costumes Araminta designed actually weren’t as restrictive as I expected. The costume department worked hard to make sure I was comfortable. As someone who usually wears sweatpants, anything resembling a dress feels a little tight! But honestly, I felt amazing in them. I have pretty bad posture, and the dresses really helped me stand up straight, especially with the heels, fan, wig, and makeup. As soon as I was fully dressed, I felt like I was eighty percent of the way to becoming the character. I kept changing my mind about which dress was my favorite during fittings – I’d love one, then immediately decide I loved another even more! I definitely think I had the best costumes in the show.

I always wondered about those shoe clips Posy gave Sophie – the ones Araminta later claimed Sophie stole. When I played Araminta, I didn’t act like she knew they weren’t real diamonds. I haven’t read the original book, so I’m not sure if there was any hidden information about them that I was supposed to know.

I feel bad for Araminta; she likely paid too much for those shoe clips. She was definitely taken advantage of.

The first part of the story left me totally shocked – Araminta and her daughters are moving right next door to the Bridgertons! They have no idea Sophie is already working there, but Araminta is still determined to find her. I think Araminta sees this as a personal mission, and she’s not afraid to use any means necessary to track Sophie down. It’s just in her nature to be watchful and always looking for something. She’s incredibly driven and determined, but honestly, I think she’s also really frightened about what finding Sophie will mean, and she won’t let anything – not even relationships – get in her way.

Varley switched from working with the Featheringtons to join Araminta’s staff. I’d love to hear about your experience collaborating with Lorraine Ashbourne. Lorraine is truly exceptional – she’s naturally funny and brings a wonderful energy to every scene, which keeps everyone alert. We also connected off-camera, talking about being mothers. She approaches everything with genuine curiosity, and I learned so much just by watching her. It would have been easy for Lorraine to play Varley as a very troubled character, given Araminta’s difficult personality. But she manages to stay remarkably unfazed, which is what makes the role so humorous. While Araminta is constantly stressed and trying to maintain control, Varley is the complete opposite.

In the second part of the show, coming out on February 26th, Araminta and her daughters speak Cantonese. The showrunner, Jess Brownell, suggested this addition. It started as a casual conversation, and while we hadn’t planned where it would fit, I initially had ideas about what phrases would sound most authentic to my experience. Ultimately, Jess decided on the specific moment. We worked with a translation expert from Oxford or Cambridge to ensure it was accurate. I was a little worried about using modern Cantonese in a period setting, so I researched Cantonese in older dramas I remembered watching as a child. I also asked Isabella’s mother, who is from Hong Kong, for help, and she sent me some audio recordings with different phrases. We ended up using a short phrase that I hadn’t personally said before, but it worked well for the scene.

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2026-02-20 01:56