The 'Firebrand' Trailer Turns Up the Tension In Tudor England

For whatever reason, our pop culture has never been all that interested in the woman who survived King Henry VIII. Everyone knows about Anne Boleyn's beheading and most people are aware that Jane Seymour's died after giving birth to his only son. Even Katherine of Aragon has had something of a moment in recent years, thanks in large part to the Starz series The Spanish Princess that dared to imagine her as something other than the frumpy, religious zealot that history usually likes to remember her as. But Catherine Parr is all too often only seen as notable because she outlived a monster. 

Which, let's be clear, is no small feat, particularly given who her husband was and his track record with wives and marriage. But Catherine Parr was an intriguing figure in her own right, and one who deserves the public reckoning and reevaluation the arrival of the period film Firebrand is likely to bring with it. 

Twice widowed by the time she married Henry at 31, Parr was intelligent, vivacious, and an accomplished scholar. (She's credited with being the first woman to publish under her own name in the English language in England.) A deeply devout Protestant and strong supporter of the Reformation, her strident religious views often brought her into conflict with Henry's advisors (most notably Bishop Stephen Gardiner and Thomas Wriothesley). She was nearly arrested for treason, but ultimately reconciled with Henry before the Palace could carry out the order to take her to the Tower.

Based on Elizabeth Fremantle’s bestselling historical novel Queen’s Gambit, Firebrand stars Alicia Vikander (The Green Knight) as Katherine alongside Jude Law (Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore) as Henry. It aims to tell the story of the king's final marriage: how close his sixth wife truly came to meeting the same fate as several of her royal predecessors and how deftly she strategized to keep her head. And the trailer for the film reflects this sense of almost constant danger, feeling almost unbearably tense at times and highlighting threats against the queen at every turn. 

Here's the film's synopsis. 

In blood-soaked Tudor England, twice married, accomplished, and educated Katherine Parr, reluctantly agrees to become the sixth wife of the tyrannical King Henry VIII . Her consent to marry him carries great personal risk, given that her predecessors are either vanquished, beheaded, or dead. When Henry appoints her as Regent, the nation’s ruler during his absence when he departs to fight overseas, he lays a dangerous path for her. Henry’s courtiers, suspecting she’s sympathetic to radical Protestant beliefs that have taken root in the kingdom and are a threat to their power, scheme against her and cast doubts upon her fidelity to the increasingly ailing and paranoid King. Once Henry returns to England, his courtiers convince him to turn his fury on the nation’s radicals, including Katherine’s childhood friend Anne Askew, who becomes one of the scores of people convicted of treason and burned at the stake. Horrified and privately grieving, Katherine finds herself under ever-increasing scrutiny and suspicion. Knowing that even a whisper of scandal might lead to her downfall, Katherine must unleash her own scheme to fight for survival.

Alongside Vikander and Law, the film's ensemble cast includes Sam Riley (Maleficent) and Eddie Marsan (Ridley Road) as noble-born brothers Thomas and Edward Seymour, Simon Russell Beale (Vanity Fair) as Bishop Stephen Gardiner, Patsy Ferran (Jamestown) as Princess Mary Tudor, and Erin Doherty (The Crown) as Protestant martyr Anne Askew, who was burned as a heretic in 1546. Ruby Bentall (Poldark), Briony Hannah (Call the Midwife), and newcomer Maia Jemmett play Katherine's ladies in waiting.

The film's script was penned by Killing Eve's Henrietta Ashworth and Jessica Ashworth, with additional writing by Rosanne Flynn. Executive producers are Maria Logan, Anne Sheehan, Rosanne Flynn, and Nicola Hart, with Gabrielle Tana and Carolyn Marks Blackwood serving as producers. 

Firebrand will hit theaters on Friday, June 14.