If you’re a fan of historical dramas featuring quick wits and absolute… bad people, Prime Video‘s My Lady Jane looks like it should be at the top of your watch list. Inspired by the best-selling book of the same name, the new series is set in an alternative version of the Tudor world where Lady Jane Grey didn’t lose her head after just nine days on the throne.
It turns out that not being beheaded is a pretty good career move, but after Lady Jane finds herself crowned Queen of England, a move that is not universally popular, it doesn’t take long before ne’er-do-wells, ruffians and other scoundrels come for her crown and her head.
According to Prime Video, the series is an epic tale of true love and high adventure, where the damsel in distress saves herself, her true love and then the Kingdom. The streamer has said that the show will be released in late June, which sets up a tasty royal clash with Netflix’s own period drama Bridgerton. The second part of the hit show’s season three is set to launch on June 13.
Heads you (don’t) lose
Unusually for a prestige drama, the lead actor here is a newcomer: Emily Bader, who plays the titular Lady Jane. Her rascally husband Guildford is played by Edward Bluemel of Killing Eve and Jordan Peters from Pirates plays the scheming King Edward. The cast also includes the always watchable Dominic Cooper from Preacher as Lord Seymour, Anna Chancellor (Pennyworth) as Jane’s mother, and Rob Brydon (The Trip) as Guildford’s father.
With a behind the camera team including showrunner and creator Gemma Burgess (Brooklyn Girls), co-showrunner Meredith Glynn (The Boys) and producing director Jamie Babbitt (Only Murders In The Building), this looks likely to be a particularly irreverent take on the genre. In this telling, the damsel in distress saves herself.
My Lady Jane will be streaming from Thursday, June 27.