“I saw a woman devouring the book on the subway, I read it and thought it had to be a series”

This June 27th it premieres on Prime Video’My Lady Jane‘, a new period series based on the bestseller of the same name starring Lady Jane Gray (Emily Bader), cousin of Edward VI, son of King Henry XVIII of England. In the real story, Jane she became queen after his cousin died of tuberculosis. However, his reign was short-lived: after nine days, was beheaded.

‘My Lady Jane’ completely changes the course of events and proposes a different story which has absolutely everything: drama, adventure, love, fantastical overtones, a lot of humor and sarcasm. But, above all, it is a fiction that gives a new opportunity to a protagonist with a tragic life.

“‘My Lady Jane’ It was a chance to correct a past mistake. (…). We wanted to offer Jane Grey a story of action and romantic adventure and cape and sword that she never got to have in real life, and with a bit of fantasy,” he explains to Mundo Deportivo. Meredith Glynnone of the executive producers of the series.

She and Gemma Burgessalso executive producer and creator of the fiction, have spoken with this newspaper about their joint project – on which the production companies have also worked Sarah Bradshaw, Jamie Babbitt and Lauren MacDonald– and the reasons why they wanted to bring this story to the small screen.

Ask. Why ‘My Lady Jane’? Why did you decide to choose this book to create a series?

gem. I was on the subway in New York City, about six years ago, and I saw a young woman reading a book with her face pressed against the pages. And I thought that if someone read like that, they must be good. So I bought the book immediately and I read it just because I wanted to know what it was about and I fell in love with him as a fan. Then I thought it had to be a television series and I wanted to be the one to do it. Then Meredith and I met.

Meredith. Gemma was looking for someone to direct the series with her and I read her extraordinary pilot. I thought it was so brilliant… I read the book. And it’s incredibly funny and sharp.

Q. Did you know the story of the real Jane Grey?

g. When we were teenagers, we were both obsessed with the story of the real Lady Jane Grey, which is something that happens to many young women. There was already a movie in the eighties with Helena Bonham Carter called ‘Lady Jane’. And then there is a painting of Paul Delaroche of Jane Gray being beheaded.

We were both very obsessed with the tragic story of Jane Grey. And we also have a predilection for historical action and adventure films from the eighties and nineties like ‘Robin Hood‘, ‘The prince of thieves‘, ‘The engaged princess‘ either ‘Ladyhawke‘.

M. And, a little later, ‘The Knight’s Tale’. And we also love the humor of ‘Blackadder’ and wanted to bring all of these elements to the series.

Q. In the book and in the series, Jane’s story changes completely.

M. Yes. For us, ‘My Lady Jane’ was also an opportunity to correct a mistake from the past. Lady Jane Grey, even though we were obsessed with her as teenagers, as a tragic figure, when you look back on it, you think this woman was mistreated in her life. She was incredibly well educated, but her family still used her as a laborer. And then when she became queen, she was only queen for nine days and then she was tragically beheaded.

That’s why we wanted to offer you a romantic, swashbuckling action-adventure story that you never got to have in real life, with a little bit of fantasy.

“Jane was queen for nine days and they beheaded her, we wanted to offer her a story that she never lived”

Meredith Glynn, executive producer of ‘My Lady Jane’

Q. What has been the biggest challenge in bringing the book to the screen?

g. The main challenge was filming in England, because of the weather. We had several adventures filming outdoors in the rain, at night and with brutal wind.

MWe were lucky enough to be able to film at Dover Castle, which is on the coast and is an extraordinarily beautiful place. It is very, very amazing and everyone should visit it, although it is difficult to film there in November at night when there are storms. We had to stay indoors. In fact, in the end we couldn’t film there because it wasn’t safe.

But fortunately, fortunately for us, we had an incredible production designer, Will Hughes-Jones, and he laid out every inch of that castle and then we painstakingly rebuilt it on a set at Pinewood Studios. About three months later, we finished filming.

Q. In the series, there is an external narrator who comments on everything and makes his own contributions with sarcasm and humor. Was it your decision or is there also a voice like that in the book?

g. The book has an incredibly charming and strong tone of voice. The heart of the series is the tone of the book. And it is the same tone, although in the book the story is told in the present tense and in the first person of each of the three main characters: Jane, Guilford and King Edward. What we wanted to do in the series was bring this voice from the book with an additional character whom we call ‘author’ and he is the narrator.

Q. What is different about ‘My Lady Jane’ compared to other similar series in terms of style and context?

M. We think we have a unique tone. The series is a mix of so many things…

g. ‘My Lady Jane’ is history but also fantasy, romance, drama, action, adventure.

M. A lot of things happen, a lot of things are happening, but at its core, it’s a story about a young woman assuming her power and dealing with itAnd that’s the heart and soul of the series. Other than that, there’s some fun, interesting, and hopefully surprising stuff.

Q. What would you say to people who get upset with period series that distance themselves from history or that are not rigorous in that sense?

G. There are many shows that do all of that perfectly, you know?

M. We announced ourselves from the beginning as an alternative to historical series. There was never really the intention to recreate the story. The story is there. If people want to see it faithfully adapted, there are many options.

g. Our series will appeal to people who loved ‘The Princess Bride’, ‘Ladyhawke’ or ‘Shakespeare in Love’.

Q. Why should people watch ‘My Lady Jane’?

g. I would tell people, ‘Give us one episode to love you and we promise you’ll fall in love afterwards.’