‘Bridgerton’ star Katie Leung talks about playing Season 4 villain Lady Araminta

Spoiler alert: This story contains spoilers for Season 4, Part 2 of Bridgerton, now available on Netflix.

Tong is used to mothers making plans and scheming.

Scottish actress Katie Leung, who played Lady Araminta Gunn in Season 4 of Bridgerton, plays one of the most fascinating antagonists in the Shondaland universe to date. It is revealed that the twice-widowed mother secretly obtained her stepdaughter Sophie Baek’s (Yerin Ha) dowry to finance her daughters’ debut. That secret collapses in the finale, when Sophie finally confronts Araminta in front of the entire family. This long-awaited affair further rifts Araminta and Sophie’s relationship and undermines her position in the Bridgerton family – and even as Benedict (Luke Thompson) and Sophie live happily ever after on horseback, there is no redemptive arc awaiting Lady Araminta Gunn.

The role is a winning pivot for Leong, who is best known for her role as Cho Chang in the Harry Potter series and more recently as the voice of Caitlin in the Netflix animated series Arcane. In this Cinderella-esque fourth season of Bridgerton, based on Julia Quinn’s novel A Gentleman’s Offer, Leon commands every scene he’s in, conveying so much with a single (terrifying) glance. The internet took notice. Viewers love to hate her. But Leon thinks they’re hating the wrong person.

“No one blames the husband,” she says of the late Lord Penwood, whose secret illegitimate child sparked the entire conflict. “Everyone else is like, ‘Araminta is terrible.’ And I think that’s really unfair.”

This is a question worth pondering over. If the man’s hidden betrayal caused the crisis, why did the woman who left to deal with the aftermath become the story’s villain?

Leon spoke to Variety about embodying a woman the world is quick to demonize, how being a new mother has made her a better actor, and the very special power of being surrounded by people who look like you.

This is the real antagonist throughout the first season of “Bridgerton.” Did you feel any pressure going into that?

If anything, there was less pressure. She wasn’t worried about whether the audience would sympathize with her or not because she was always going to be hated from the beginning. I have spent most of my life and career pleasing others. And I think that has a lot to do with me as Katie. On the other hand, with Araminta and where I am now in my life, it didn’t really bother me. My main goal was to make sure that she was still human despite playing an evil stepmother. There’s a lot of trauma and darkness in her story that we explore. This actually made it very easy to step into it.

You talked about Araminta being a “horrible” person, and you described yourself as the opposite. How did you bridge that gap?

Maybe I was a little worried about maintaining her status because people are really afraid of her. I think the opposite is true. no one is afraid of me So I was like, I don’t know how to do this. But whatever I did, I think it worked. Many people mentioned the eyes. I think there are many things that can’t be written on paper just by looking at them. Perhaps it comes from seeing women in my life who have been oppressed to the point that their eyes are their only real means of communication.

The costume and hair obviously helped as well.

very. Wearing the wig, gown and all, I felt like I was just living within Araminta and her dominion. There was no need to do anything else. She is a classy woman and she certainly feels that way when she wears her clothes.

You were on set with your daughter actors Isabella Wei, Michelle Mao, and Yelin Ha. How did those relationships develop?

It was too much fun. Isabella and I kept talking about the fact that I was expecting to feel anxiety and was waiting for that moment when anxiety would show up, but it never came. I think that being a new mom was one of the reasons. When I started this job, I had a one-year-old and it took up so much energy that I didn’t really have the ability to think deeply. It was enough to work to the best of my ability, and more than that, I didn’t have the option of getting nervous like I usually do. It was really helpful.

But I think a big part of it was a sense of security. Being surrounded by people who look like me in the same scene and on the same show is unheard of for an Asian woman. Not just one person but multiple people. You don’t realize it until you look back and ask yourself why things were so different. That’s why.

Talk to Sophie about Araminta’s arc. She keeps Sophie’s dowry a secret, uses it for her daughters, and seems to genuinely believe she is right. How did you interpret that?

It’s quite complicated. I think she felt that since she was raising a child that wasn’t her own, she deserved Sophie’s share as well. And when Araminta first offered to take Sophie under her roof at the funeral, I don’t think she believed she was being manipulated. She was sincere about it. She had feelings for Sophie in her heart.

And when the truth comes out, I think the real rift is the reaction of the daughters. Up until that point, Rosamond and Posey had always been at her mercy. When we see them, especially Posey, disagree with her and respond to the situation with their own moral compass, it becomes her exposure. She felt exposed.

Does she feel shame? Does she think she was wrong?

Even if there is nothing concrete, there is definitely a transition. The final scene I played is like the beginning of hope or regret, amplified by Sophie approaching her with true calm and kindness rather than anger. She said to Araminta, “They love you, my father loved you too.” Araminta expected Sophie to match his energy and explode. And she isn’t. Sophie basically kills her with kindness. And Araminta is shocked.

Where will she go after that – with Sophie, with her daughters, with the Bridgertons?

It would be too embarrassing to stay near them. She takes a shameful walk on the way home. I don’t think she wants to face them again. But I think the relationship that needs to be repaired the most, and the one that she will eventually turn around, is the one with Posey.

You said you don’t think of Araminta as a villain. Is that still your position?

As Katie, her actions were despicable. There’s no room for excuses. But as the actress playing her, I had to find empathy, and it was really easy to find that. Given what it was like to be a single mother of two teenage daughters and a woman with no financial support from a man in those days, she had to fend for herself. And no one blames the husband. No one can blame him for what he did to her. Everyone else is like, “Araminta is terrible.” And I think that’s really unfair. Not only is Sophie a symbol of his betrayal, but if the truth had come out, their entire reputation in Tong would have fallen apart. Her daughters would have had no prospects. She spent years rebuilding. It was all about the stakes.

Now we have three huge worlds: Harry Potter, Arcane, and Bridgerton. How has your relationship changed with a job of that size?

When you gain confidence in yourself as a person, you will enjoy your work more. That comes with age and experience. My first job – “Harry Potter” – I had never acted before in my life and suddenly I was standing in front of 20 cameras and 100 people and I was completely lost, I still didn’t understand who I was. I can’t say I had the best time of my life. But with “Arcane” and “Bridgerton,” I felt like I deserved to be there. I’ve never questioned it. And when you stop questioning, you can actually focus on producing your best work.

Will we see Araminta in season 5?

never say never. I haven’t heard anything so far. But as long as she makes you feel something, love her, hate her, whatever, I’ve done my job. And honestly, I love that people hate her. That makes me very happy.

This interview has been edited and condensed.