While on the New York City leg of the global press tour for Bridgerton season three, Claudia Jessie has been indulging in some decidedly American customs. “I love America—food, it’s so large,” she says after arriving in the Still Watching studio for her first-ever podcast interview. “All I’ve done is eat burgers since I’ve been here.” The English actor behind the defiant Eloise Bridgerton labels herself as “very actively not online”—and lives up to that descriptor when all-American football player Travis Kelce is brought up in a conversation about love interests: “I wish I knew what you were talking about,” Jessie says.

The story of Kelce and Taylor Swift is eons away from the romantic drama playing out on this season of Bridgerton, which centers on the friends-to-lovers relationship between Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) and Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan). At this point in the series, Eloise knows that her former best friend is secret gossip columnist Lady Whistledown. But she doesn’t know that Penelope is in love with Eloise’s older brother—let alone that the two of them may soon be engaged.

“I just don’t think Eloise has been the greatest listener,” Jessie tells VF. “For reasons that then become very upsetting to Eloise, Penelope is the listener, isn’t she? Penelope makes loads of money out of listening to people, but Eloise is definitely the talker.” Until now, Eloise has not been “incredibly observant—until she was, and then she found out an awful secret. So it’s a good opportunity for her to learn how to listen, and this season’s really going to give that to her.”

Below, Jessie chats with Still Watching about Eloise’s newfound friendship with Cressida, her original audition for the role of Penelope, and what Eloise’s reaction to the Polin romance may entail. Stay tuned for next week’s episode of Still Watching, which will feature an interview with Lady Whistledown herself, Nicola Coughlan.

Vanity Fair: One of my favorite elements of Bridgerton is the friendship between Eloise and Penelope. By the end of episode four, you two are still on the outs after the Lady Whistledown revelation. How was it to film those tense scenes, given that you and Nicola are close in real life?

Claudia Jessie: I remember at the end of season two, they have their big, fat falling out. Like, it’s really intense. But in between takes, me and Nicola would be like, “Quick cuddle? Have a quick hug?” If I’m not with the Bridgerton family, I’m with Nicola. We spend so much time together on set. So it was bizarre, then, coming onto season three and us not filming together ever, unless we’re having really intense, still quite scratchy situations with each other. But we would see each other passing in the corridor, and I’d be like, “You’re doing great. We’re all so proud of you.” As an actor, it’s fun to have an argument.

The Cressida friendship has a lot of Bridgerton fans up in arms. What was it like to dive into that surprising dynamic?

I get really excited to get the scripts come through for a new season. [Showrunner] Jess Brownell is doing a beautiful job. And the writers’ room is so talented, so we get so excited to see what they’re going to present us. When I was told, “You’re going to be friends with Cressida,” I was like, “This is hilarious. This is amazing,” because we’re playing human beings and mad things happen. So I’m always ready to roll with it. I thought it was funny because in season two, Eloise said she’d rather die, like literally pass away, then hang out with Cressida. So I loved how this was going to happen.

Working with Jess Madsen is the most amazing experience ever. She’s such a pro and funny and takes the job really seriously, but herself not seriously at all. She’s my favorite person. So we really got to connect. Then it’s really important to see the suffocating situation that Cressida is in. Eloise is super privileged. She’s really sheltered and comes from a really nurturing, warm environment, and gets to see, not everybody has your situation, Eloise.

Eloise’s whole personality is kind of rebellious, but she doesn’t realize until she gets close to Cressida that Cressida doesn’t have that luxury. She’s considered an old maid now, so that means there’s going to be consequences to her not finding a match.

Penelope tried to explain this to Eloise in season one. She’s like, “We don’t all have the same family as you. Eloise. I can’t do in the Featherington household what you can do here.” So this is why it’s important that Eloise is learning to listen as well. I mean, obviously it was very beneficial that Eloise could talk so much to Penelope, because Penelope is Lady Whistledown. But they’re only…Eloise is 19 years old. It’s wild. Imagine having to do this when you were 19?

It’s a frightening thought. Without giving too much away, you’ve said previously that your favorite scene to shoot this season is one in the back half between Eloise and Colin. What can you tease about how their sibling dynamic changes this year?

You get to see just how protective they are of each other, because Colin is still so mad about what Lady Whistledown wrote about Marina Thompson [Ruby Barker] and what she wrote about Eloise in season two. Colin is so upset by it. And obviously Eloise knows what’s going on, so she’s being really protective of Colin. But also, Colin’s always been the sweetheart. He’s such a sweet boy. Violet Bridgerton [Ruth Gemmell] says that about him, and that’s what’s good about the family, is they all have such different relationships with each other.

Obviously, Benedict [Luke Thompson] and Eloise have a really tight bond. But I think the one that Eloise and Colin have together...it feels like the most protective out of all of them. They really don’t want each other to hurt. And then, for me and Luke, it’s great. Because there are so many of us as well, we’re like, “Have I ever spoken to you before?” before a scene. “I don’t know if I have, actually.” So me and Luke Newton were really pleased we got to do that. And they don’t have their father around—the boys are father figures. Eloise is the baby sister to Colin, and he wants to look out for her. But obviously, it’s a big rock and a hard place for Eloise.

Both Colin and Penelope get the so-called Bridgerton glow-up this season. What was your reaction to seeing Nicola with her hair down, wearing green, not wearing those citrus-colored gowns anymore?

I’m going to preface this by saying I thought both of them were stunning the day they were cast. But the reveal of Nicola with the green and the cape and everything coming down—

She’s got, like, Jessica Rabbit waves.

My first ever crush! She just looked so beautiful. They both worked really hard leading up to season three, so we’re all really proud of them. It is a big part of this story, this wallflower blooming. And I think it’s more about Penelope becoming independent and being like, “I’m going to try something different. I’m going to do something I want to do actually, rather than being in these Featherington shackles.” She just wants to do something for herself, and it works out well because she looks so confident and comfortable in her skin.

Didn’t you originally audition for Penelope? I know Luke Newton auditioned for Simon. Do you ever think about the different combinations—the Sliding Doors version of what could’ve been?

I still can’t get out the reality that if it was that, I’d be kissing Luke Newton and like…he is my brother. He’s literally my brother. So I can’t…that’s unusual. Cole Edwards, the casting director was like, “Claudia could read for these two parts. She can come away and pick which one she wants to read for.” So I was like, “Cool—Penelope, I’ll just go for it.” Then they offered me Eloise.

I couldn’t see anybody playing Penelope other than Nicola Coughlan, really. She’s so, so good at it. And I love Eloise like she’s a real human being. I’ll be a broken woman when I have to stop playing her. It does feel weird though, because so many people did read for the Duke and it’s like when you find out what other actors auditioned for Friends and you’re like, “Sorry, no. Vince Vaughn shouldn’t have been in Friends.”

In the first four episodes, Eloise is so consumed with Cressida and Penelope that we’re not focused on who she might be romantically interested in. What does Eloise’s future potential love story look like?

I’ve read the books, however, I don’t know what the plans are with Eloise. What’s great about the show is we’ve got this beautiful foundation of these books by Julia Quinn. Thank you, Julia. Then fresh things are thrown in for our contemporary screen audience. What’s interesting about Eloise is she sort of scoffs at the idea of marriage, and what she calls this “bizarre ritual” of these dances and meeting people. Sometimes there’s an idea or a school of thought that means she’s anti-love or anti-romance. And I don’t think that’s what it is. I just don’t think it’s on her radar because right now she just wants choice.

What was good about season two is that it showed us that there is a possibility of her meeting someone and it happening in her way. She was just like, “Mate, I found a book and I think about you. Do you think about me? That’d be cool.” She didn’t turn into Daphne [Phoebe Dynevor] when that happened. She didn’t turn into Anthony [Jonathan Bailey]. She’s doing it in her way. With Eloise, there is room to play because she could become political or [explore] activism, but I don’t think romance would ever be ignored because it’s in the foundation [of the show]. I like the idea that we could experiment and play a bit with Eloise around romance.

What qualities would the right partner for Eloise have?

Like a cheerleader, I reckon. I think someone that could really just be like, “Yeah, you are amazing. Go and do it.”

She needs to find her Travis Kelce.

I wish I knew what you were talking about.

That’s Taylor Swift’s boyfriend—he’s an American football player. All he talks about is how great she is.

Great! Then, come on down. [laughs] I do know who Taylor Swift is.

But yeah, my boyfriend has only ever wanted me to be happy and successful. And he really, really believes in me. He’s really like, “Babe, that’s so funny,” and I think she needs someone who’s not going to be like, “Can you keep your voice down, please?” She needs a cheerleader, really. And someone who’s very comfortable in themselves, someone that she could leave in a room and not be like, “Oh God, I better make sure they’re okay around my family.” She needs someone who can handle the room. Like Kate Sharma [Simone Ashley], she’s really good at handling the room, isn’t she? Someone like that.

Without saying too much, what does the rest of the season look like for Eloise? I’m nervous for her.

I’m nervous for everybody watching. If the Whistledown thing hadn’t happened, I know there’s a world in which Eloise would be like, I’m so happy Penelope’s [potentially] gonna be my sister. Just as happy as she was that Kate Sharma was gonna be her sister. But because of the Whistledown thing, I feel like she’s gonna be like, “Oh, and this? So you’re Lady Whistledown and you want to sleep with my brother?” She’s quite embarrassed about what’s happened. You know, like in films where a partner’s having an affair and then the other partner comes home, and the partner that’s having the affair is like, “You don’t bring home milk!”

They make it about the other thing.

So like, I think it’s milk. It’s just going to be leverage, like ammo. She’s just so hurt that she can’t even see through it. I just can’t see that she’s going to react well.

This interview has been edited and condensed.