“Harry Potter”'s“ ”Katie Leung Reveals Her Advice for the Actress Cast as Cho Chang in the New HBO Series (Exclusive)

The 'Bridgerton' star was 16 when she made her debut in 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'

NEED TO KNOW

• Katie Leung joined the Harry Potter franchise as Cho Chang in 2005’s Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• The Bridgerton star tells PEOPLE what advice she’d give the actress who will play Cho Chang in HBO’s new Harry Potter series
• Part 2 of Bridgerton season 4 is now streaming on Netflix

As a new generation of actors get ready to step into the Wizarding World of Harry Potter for HBO's new series, many of the original cast members are reflecting on their own experiences starring in the hit franchise.

Katie Leung, who played Cho Chang (one of Harry's first crushes at Hogwarts) in the movies, was asked what advice she'd give to the actress playing Cho in the upcoming series adaptation.

"Oh goodness. I think it is hard to say," Leung, 38, tells PEOPLE while at a press junket to discuss her role in Bridgerton season 4. "Because when you're that age, you're kind of trying to figure things out and who you are."

She was 16 when she was cast in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and 23 when the final movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, came out in 2011. Looking back on that time, she says, "As a teenager, I certainly didn't know who I was."

Though she says that "maybe it's different now [because] the younger generation, they're more clued-up with the world of social media and stuff like that," Leung continues, "Generally, for anybody really, whoever stage in their life, [my advice is] just to be themselves, because that's what makes them unique."

"And to not let the kind of noise of other people get to you, because what you have already is a gift, and you should really just try and hold onto that," she adds.

Leung faced online harassment after she was cast in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and she told The Guardian in a recent interview that the attention was "overwhelming from the get-go."

"Being in the spotlight from that age, when you’re already insecure, was difficult, to say the least," she said. “At that age, you’re curious. I remember being very curious about what people were saying about me, and I was Googling myself. Nobody could have stopped me, because I was old enough to make up my own mind.”

The negative comments "just sat with me, and it affected me in ways like, ‘Oh yeah, I made that decision because people were saying this about me.’ It probably made me less outgoing," she said. "I was very self-aware of what was coming out of my mouth.”

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The response to Bridgerton, on the contrary, has "been amazing," Leung tells PEOPLE, and she's "definitely" down to reprise her role as Lady Araminta Gun — a major antagonist in the romance that blossoms between Sophie (Yerin Ha) and Benedict (Luke Thompson) — in future seasons.

"I don't know what she would do, though, if I came back. She's had her comeuppance and everything," Leung says.

"Maybe it'd be something like a new romance for Araminta, because I think that's what she needs. She needs a bit of love in her life — or a third husband. Or a grandchild!"

Bridgerton season 4 is now streaming on Netflix. HBO's Harry Potter series is slated to premiere in 2027.

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