In season four of Bridgerton, we were blessed with a new family in the ton who showed up strong and played their parts even stronger.
Lady Penwood, aka Araminta Gun, played by Katie Leung, is a twice-widowed woman who enters the marriage mart with a collection of shiny black dresses and her eyes set on having one of her daughters marry Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson). It doesn’t really matter which one since, in Araminta’s eyes, status is everything, and individualism is nothing.
Araminta is season four’s one we love to hate. The villainous stepmother tries to ruin stepdaughter Sophie Baek’s (Yerin Ha) life and pursuit of love. Her elder daughter, Rosamund, isn’t much better. Michelle Mao took on the role with gusto and a strong urge to lean into the mean, portraying a chip off the old block with perfect pitch.
But when it comes to Posy, the younger sister of Rosamund and a breath of fresh air, she brings some much-needed levity to an otherwise stifling home. Isabella Wei knew from the very first audition that she wanted to play her character funny. And we’re so glad she did — that forehead to the windowpane will live rent-free in our minds, and if you didn’t giggle your way through Posy’s hand-foot dream she describes to a bewildered and patient Benedict, then you’re due for a rewatch.
Here, we talk with Leung, Mao, and Wei about what it was like to come into the already established Bridgerverse, how they created backstories for their family unit, and who broke character the most.
VALENTINA VALENTINI: What surprised you most about stepping into the world of Bridgerton?
KATIE LEUNG: In my head, I thought it was going to be this big, overwhelming experience because of how big the show is. But actually, stepping onto the set and meeting the cast members and the crew, it felt very intimate. I felt safe, and that was unexpected, definitely.
ISABELLA WEI: I was surprised that everything was a built set! It looked so beautiful and real, like even the roads, the lampposts, the shops. It was all manufactured on the back lot, and I was just in awe stepping onto that set.
MICHELLE MAO: I didn’t get to watch a lot of British period dramas growing up between America and China, so I was surprised with how easy it was for me to adjust to playing in a period piece. I was in my head about having the bandwidth to be crafting a character while trying to adjust my accent and my body language. The dialect coach and the costumes were really helpful to give me the posture and physical sensation that helped me immediately step into that world.
VV: Tonally, this family is very different from the more established families of the ton. What was that like, coming in to play this family unit?
IW: I think for us it didn’t feel like it was different because we were just stepping in. We came in with our own energy and our family dynamics of what we had worked on in rehearsals and what we had worked on individually. We played up that feeling of minimalism and coolness to keep it all very present, especially when we went into our house. Our decor was different from what I’d seen in other Bridgerton seasons — very cold and very chic; I think it was a good representation of our family.
KL: Yeah, and that mirrored how we were as a family — this lack of expression. Between us and the Bridgertons, there is such contrast. There, the energy is just really positive and free-flowing, and there’s noise and all that. Whereas for us, it’s just silent — though there’s a lot going on internally.
MM: We talked a lot about what their place is in the ton. We created a bit of backstory of how they ended up being there, what their journey might have been. I found it helpful to connect to my character and really flesh out our family unit so it didn’t feel like we just appeared out of thin air. We talked to [showrunner] Jess [Brownell] about it too, and the three of us, and with Yerin too, came up with theories.
VV: Like what?
MM: Well, I wanted to take advantage of my time in the U.K., so I ended up traveling a lot. I went to Edinburgh with Yerin when our schedules would allow, and one time I ended up going to Liverpool on my own. While there, I stumbled across this museum exhibit that said that some of the earliest U.K. immigrants from China lived in Liverpool. And nothing is canon; it was mostly just for me to be able to place our family in this hybrid real-but-fictional historical timeline and give them a sense of purpose for why they were there. It was a lot of fun to do that.
VV: So, there wasn’t one backstory you three picked? It was sort of fluid?
MM: Yes. And also, it was so exciting to get to speak Cantonese in one episode. With each generation of an immigrant, their relationship to the language and their relationship to the culture is different. This involved a lot of emails back and forth with Jess and conversation on set about Araminta’s relationship to her roots versus Rosamund and Posy’s, and how that would be different. We landed on having a few private conversations in Cantonese, and then if we were gossiping in public in an English-speaking space. It was great to highlight the fact that they are Cantonese, but they’ve also been in England for a long time, and how the culture percolates through that instead of it being this outsider thing. I just thought it was handled so well, and it was fun being a part of that conversation. And it seems like people really loved that moment — it’s brought me a lot of joy seeing how people get super-excited over hearing Cantonese in the show.
VV: Speaking of bringing your own lives into the show: Katie, in our conversation last month, we talked about how you are a mother. Did you bring anything from your experience in real life into being a mother for this role?
KL: All of it. Absolutely. Because for me, finding the humanity in Araminta, the main thing was seeing her as a mother who’s just very overprotective and wants the best for her children. I know what that feels like. It’s just that, as Araminta, I have issues. In real life, I have so many more positive experiences with my son. Also, I’m not the only one looking after him — I have a village, as they say, to help me, whereas Araminta did not. I can only imagine what I would be like if I was left on my own to fend for myself with a child — and in this case, with two teenage daughters. I can completely understand what that would do to somebody.
VV: Was there anything you brought to your characters that wasn’t originally on the page?
IW: Oh, I feel like most of it. And it happened gradually as production went on. Originally, Posy’s casting description was a very plain, simple, and kind sister. For the audition, I remember reading the sides, thinking that she had a lot of potential and she’s very funny. And that’s the direction that I ran with. I ended up getting so much freedom to have her become this really funny, awkward, silly character, which might not have been the direction that was intended, but everyone seemed to like it. And it felt most natural for me and for the character as well.
MM: Yeah, for the first few episodes, I talked to directors Tom [Verica] and Jaffar [Mahmood] a lot about Rosamund’s tone. Was she icy? Just downright cruel? Or is she catty? Is she bratty? Spoiled? I wanted to find the kind of antagonist she was. And I think as the series progressed, the writing also informed that. But I think I did bring a little bit more of a campy A Cinderella Story Jennifer Coolidge tone to Rosamund over time as I familiarized with her voice.
IW: I remember in the audition, I wanted to make the casting director laugh. Again, maybe that wasn’t the intention for Posy to make people laugh, but same as Michelle, as the series developed, Posy developed as well.
VV: Well, the scene where you hit your head on the window is hilarious. I genuinely laughed out loud at that. And it really doesn’t feel planned. How do you feel about becoming a meme?
IW: I am so happy about that! That was a crazy day too. I remember I was so nervous about it because I didn’t want it to look like it was planned, and our director Jaffar was like, “Okay, you needed to hit it harder.” So one take, I hit the window with my forehead so hard that it fell in slow motion as the three of us just stood there watching, not wanting to break character.
VV: That is too funny. At least the window didn’t shatter!
IW: I thought it was going to! But it was that fake kind of plastic glass.
VV: But that bit was written into the script, yes?
IW: I can’t take credit for that one, no. It was written in.
VV: Michelle, what was it like getting to play such a nasty character?
MM: I was extremely excited to take a bite out of that! I made playlists and things like that to get into the bratty mindset. I am actually on a personal journey to care less what people think, and playing Rosamund was like jumping off the deep end of stopping people-pleasing. Like, say no to things, be aggressive, speak up for yourself — these are all really nice ways of describing Rosamund’s personality. But in a sense, that’s what I got out of it. Playing her was freeing in a way; it was a fun 10 months.
VV: The steeliness all three of you so often have as your characters, I’m wondering if any of you ever broke?
IW: We never broke. I think we were all too into it. Maybe if this was our second season or something, maybe we would’ve broken a bit more. But we just wanted it to be good.
MM: Yeah, it’s like when you’re the freshman at college versus a senior — you’re going to show up to every class, be on time, take notes. But it was really fun seeing other people break!
KL: I can’t do it. The minute I break, that’s me — done. Gone. Broken for the rest of the day. It’s so scary when that happens, so I’m like, “No, don’t go there.”
VV: So, while we don’t know exactly what happens with Araminta and Rosamund, they definitely don’t seem very welcome in the ton. Do you think there’s a universe where they claw their way back in?
KL: Never say never! I feel like it would be fun to see Araminta again. And I think it’d be even more fun if we saw that she hadn’t changed one bit, hadn’t learned at all, no redemption.
IW: You don’t need a redemption arc. Everybody has a redemption arc nowadays.
KL: Yeah. As long as she looks fabulous.
MM: I think Araminta would definitely figure out a way to make a big comeback. Also, just the fact that they’re immigrants. At the end of the day, it’s like, “You don’t want me in this space? I will figure out a way to stay and figure out a way to thrive.” And whether that’s in a healthy way for Rosamund and Araminta, I don’t know. Because they’ve experienced how their current behavior and mindset isn’t welcomed in the ton, perhaps they find a better way to do that in the future.
VV: Well, Posy gets to stay! Is she getting married, do you think?
IW: I’d love to see her happy and thriving and no longer under the restraint of her mother and sister. I’d love to see her breaking out of her chains. That would be nice.
MM: Look, maybe they go away and begin to understand what their core wound is. Maybe they shed their ego and all the symptoms around that. I do think Posy and Sophie are kind enough that they would give them a second chance and would welcome them with open arms if they see real change and real growth. Even if it’s not 100 percent, because we know that growth is not linear and it’s a work in progress always, but I do think if Posy and Sophie see an effort, I believe that they have enough radical love that they would welcome us back. But they’d definitely protect their boundaries! They’d be like, “You stay in a little apartment far away from us for now.”
VV: What has the reception been like from fans? If you pay attention to that stuff.
KL: It’s been great.
IW: People hate you.
KL: People hate me.
IW: People hate Araminta and love Katie, and that is what people are meant to do.
MM: I’m having so much fun seeing all the memes. For someone who is Gen Z, there’s nothing cooler than becoming a meme.