Keira Knightley Reveals the Movie Fans Ask Her About the Most — and It’s Not What You Would Expect (Exclusive)

Keira Knightley has a lot of iconic roles on her résumé, but she gets approached for one more than any other.

At a special screening of The Woman in Cabin 10 in London last month, PEOPLE asked the actress, 40, about the Bend It Like Beckham sequel announced earlier this year — and she revealed that the original 2002 movie is the one fans ask her about the most.

“I think it’s so amazing that a film that was made nearly 25 years ago, it’s still the one that if someone comes up to me, it’s about that film,” she told PEOPLE at the Sept. 25 event, held at BAFTA 195 Piccadilly.

“Particularly so many girls do play [soccer] now, and they want to come up and talk about it,” Knightley adds. “So it’s amazing to be a part of something that has, kind of, legacy and that positivity around it.”

As for the sequel, which writer-director Gurinder Chadha announced to Deadline in July, the actress says news of a new chapter in the Bend It Like Beckham story is “exciting” — but kept her lips largely sealed, at least where her involvement is concerned.

“I saw that on telly,” Knightley says of the project. “So yes, I mean, how exciting.”

When asked whether she’d reprise her role as Jules in the film, the star adds, “I mean, when I saw it on the telly I thought, ‘Oh, how lovely, I wonder what that will be?’ ”

Bend It Like Beckham starred Knightley as Jules and Parminder Nagra as Jess, two women with a passion for soccer who end up on a team together and strike up a friendship. The feel-good film — an early aughts love letter to soccer — sees Jules fall for a coach while Jess sneaks around playing the game against her parents’ wishes.

While announcing the sequel to Deadline, Chadha said she is “excited to revisit the original characters and revive the enduring story and build on the legacy we helped to create for the women’s game.”

Knightley, Nagra and other original cast members are “aware that a sequel is being developed, but they obviously want to see a script before they commit,” the writer-director told the outlet, adding that she’s “pretty certain that everyone’s going to want to come back.”

“Everything hinges on the script and if the original cast likes it,” Chadha said. “I am working really hard to make sure every character I bring back has a decent arc and scenes.”

In her latest role in Netflix’s The Woman in Cabin 10 — an adaptation of Ruth Ware’s novel of the same name — Knightley stars as Laura “Lo” Blacklock, a journalist who witnesses a possible murder while on a luxury cruise.

“While on board a luxury yacht for a travel assignment, a journalist witnesses a passenger thrown overboard late at night, only to be told that it didn’t happen, as all passengers and crew are accounted for,” an official synopsis teases. “Despite no one believing her, she continues to look for answers, putting her own life in danger.”

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The Woman in Cabin 10 is now available to stream on Netflix.