‘My Lady Jane’ Cast, Writers on Bringing to Life the ‘Fascinating, Dramatic, Sexy’ Tudors and Turning History on Its Head

variety.com:

K.J. Yossman “My Lady Jane” may be chock full of corsets but this is not your average bodice ripper. A feminist retelling of the life of Lady Jane Grey – famous for being on the throne for a mere nine days before she got the chop (literally) – the series stars Emily Bader as a kickass Jane who dreams of running away from her overbearing mother and forced marriage to write a compendium about medicinal herbs.

The show, which drops today on Prime Video and is based on the books of the same name, also contains plenty of cursing (not the magical kind), anachronisms and a sprinkle of romantasy (a sub-plot involves persecution of people who can turn into animals at will).

So it’s not surprising that showrunners Gemma Burgess and Meredith Glynn took delight in peppering the show with both Tudor and pop culture references including, in no particular order, Mark Smeaton (executed IRL for having an affair with Anne Boleyn), “Clueless” (look out for Bader’s note-perfect “As if!”) and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” More soberingly, given Henry VIII’s penchant for killing his wives, Burgess shares: “We name check a lot of women who were killed unjustly at the time.” Despite the Tudors’ less than stellar record when it came to feminism (as Jane’s father-in-law points out, a woman was still considered her husband’s property), the combination of high-stakes court intrigue and sexual incontinence also makes it a period ripe for dramatization, including in series such as “Wolf Hall” and “The Tudors.” “It is such an exciting period of history,” acknowledges Edward Bluemel, who plays Jane’s romantic interest Lord Guildford Dudley. “It makes total sense so many stories are written about the Tudor period because it is genuinely fascinating and.