Aimee Lou Wood’s accent is better the way it is, at least that’s what Mike White preferred.

Wood revealed that the series creator actually preferred her natural accent over an American one during the audition process.

“I can do an American accent. But Mike just wanted my Manchester one,” she told The Sun.

According to Wood, there’s one very specific reason people don’t mistake her for an American, no matter how spot-on her accent might be.

“It’s the teeth! No Americans have my teeth. I think that genuinely is one of the things,” she said.

She even recalled an experience performing in Chicago that confirmed her theory.

“I played an American in a play in Chicago and afterwards this guy in the bar, he was talking to me and he went: ‘I knew it. I knew it. Your accent was great but I knew you weren’t American. You just don’t look American,’” she shared.

Despite some assumptions, Wood insists she’s more than capable of pulling off an American accent. However, White felt there was no need for her to do so.

“He just didn’t see why she needed to be American and why we needed to add that extra layer of distance between me and her,” she told Elle. “So he was like, ‘Let’s just make her from Manchester.’ And I was like, ‘Great.’ And it worked.”

Still, she’s had to clear up some misconceptions.

“But it was so funny because everyone keeps being like, ‘So you couldn’t do the American accent.’ And now I’m like, ‘I need to correct this guys! I can do an American accent! I swear!’”

With or without an accent switch, Wood is set to bring her Manchester charm to the highly anticipated third season of The White Lotus.