'My Lady Jane's First Images Will Have You Swooning

There are two kinds of period pieces that are coming out of of prestige TV currently. There's the super-committed, extremely faithful type, exemplified by shows like Wolf Hall, where even the hair feels unwashed, and the lighting feels like it's utterly naturalistic. Then there's the other kind. You know what I'm talking about, the kind that either takes liberties in the name of being more honest about how things were back then (looking at you, Mary & George orgies), or the ones that throw the entire staid idea of needing to be "faithful" out and have a whole lot of fun with history and let Catherine the Great dance to "You Shook Me All Night Long." 

My Lady Jane is absolutely in the latter camp, and of the latter camp, it absolutely leans into the let's have fun with all this trope. It helps that the book the series is based on by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jody Meadows is the first in an anthology series that takes different historical Janes (and a Mary or two) from history and gives them a contemporary and not-entirely historically accurate spin. These novels are also part of an emerging genre themselves, known as "romantasy," which (as you can probably guess) is a blend of romance and fantasy, making this show a fully 21st-century concept. 

Currently, the series, which cast completely unknown actor Emily Bader in the title role, is billed as a limited series, and as the other books cover other Janes (and Marys) one assumes if that changes, this will become an anthology series, in the style of The White Queen/The White Princess. But that's not such a bad idea considering we once more start off in Tudor England...

Here's the series synopsis:

Gird your loins for the tragic tale of Lady Jane Grey, the young Tudor noblewoman who was Queen of England for nine days and then beheaded in 1553... F*ck that. We’re retelling history the way it should have happened: the damsel in distress saves herself. This is an epic tale of true love and high adventure set in an alt-universe of action, history, fantasy, comedy, romance, and rompy-pompy. Buckle up.

Inspired by the best-selling book, My Lady Jane is a radical retelling of English royal history, in which King Henry VIII’s son Edward does not die of tuberculosis, Lady Jane Grey is not beheaded, and neither is her rascal of a husband Guildford. At the center of this rollicking new series is the brilliant and headstrong Jane who is unexpectedly crowned queen overnight and finds herself the target of nefarious villains coming for the crown (and her head)... My Lady Jane is an epic tale of true love and high adventure, where the damsel in distress saves herself, her true love, and then the Kingdom.

Emily Bader leads the cast as Jane Grey, with Edward Bluemel (Killing Eve) as her love interest, Guildford Dudley. The series also stars Jordan Peters (Everything I Know About Love) as King Edward, Dominic Cooper (The Gold) as Lord Seymour, Anna Chancellor (Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris) as Lady Frances Grey, Rob Brydon (McDonald & Dodds) as Lord Dudley, and Jim Broadbent (Paddington) as the Duke of Leicester.

Additional cast includes Will Keen (His Dark Materials), Henry Ashton (A Good Girl's Guide To Murder), Isabella Brownson (Napoleon), Robyn Betteridge (Wheel of Time), Kate O’Flynn (Landscapers), Abbie Hern (Enola Holmes), Máiréad Tyers (Extraordinary), Joe Klocek (The Dry), and Michael Workeye (This is Going to Hurt).

Creator Gemma Burgess and Meredith Glynn are co-showrunners and lead writers on the series, and director Jamie Babbit (Only Murders in the Building) helmed five of the eight episodes and is producing. All three executive produce along with Sarah Bradshaw and Laurie MacDonald.

All eight episodes of My Lady Jane will stream on Prime Video on Thursday, June 27, 2024.