Hannah Dodd admits it was surreal to join the Bridgerton family.

The 28-year-old actress — who plays Francesca Bridgerton, replacing actress Ruby Stokes — tells PEOPLE that it was “the weirdest feeling walking around those sets when you’ve watched the show” before recalling her first day on the set of the hit Netflix series.

“I think my first day, it was meant to be really scary, I was meant to have a scene with a whole family, and play piano,” she shares. “But that got very kindly moved to my second day. So, my first day ended up to be just a scene with Mama Ruth [Gemmell] when we’re sat on the sofa together. So, it felt a little bit more manageable, and I was holding onto Ruth for dear life, and she was so nice.”

She added: “And I think we went and had a cup of tea together after, like, ‘First one’s done!’ And then, I had to play piano for the whole family the second day, which I was terrified about. But it was kind of like a baptism of fire after that, and then I was in.”

Dodd remembers the cast of Bridgerton being “so lovely” and “kind” despite her being “really scared.”

“I was really nervous about joining,” she explains. “But yeah, they just welcomed me with open arms, and I was having banter with them in the green room on my first day, and now I can’t imagine not knowing any of them. It’s the weirdest idea that I wouldn’t know them.”

The Anatomy of a Scandal star admits “it was the best feeling ever” to join the cast of Bridgerton for season 3, despite her first-day jitters.

“I couldn’t really believe it. I think I was with my family at the time, which was really nice, so I was surrounded by people that I wanted to tell straight away,” she says of being cast. “But it was definitely… I think it’s the biggest one I’ve ever got. So, it was quite a special moment.”

In May 2022, Netflix announced Dodd’s casting after Stokes, 23 — who played Francesca in seasons 1 and 2, left the show to lead Lockwood & Co., another series on the streamer.

“Francesca Bridgerton is a bit of a mystery within her chatty, extroverted family,” Netflix said in a statement at the time. “Despite her reserved nature, she goes along to get along when it comes to society affairs, fortified with a dry wit and pragmatism that confound the fickle ton yet seem to draw attention when she least desires it.”

Dodd teases that Francesca’s “path to love kind of looks slightly different to maybe what we’ve seen the other siblings go through.”

“She’s got quite a practical approach, and she doesn’t like drawing too much attention to herself,” she shares. “So, she wants to get in and get out, find somebody kind. And that’s something that her and [her mother] Violet, they have a fun dynamic that we get to play, because Violet obviously wants something very specific for her.”

“I’m excited for people to see a slightly different approach to the marriage mart,” she adds.