Tudor Turmoil Continues? My Lady Jane’s Fight for a Throne Might Not Be Over
Gemma Burgess, creator and co-showrunner for Prime Video’s My Lady Jane, weighs in on the chances of the historical fantasy show landing a season 2 renewal. Based on the novel of the same name by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, and Jodi Meadows, the show debuted on Prime Video to strong reviews and currently boasts an impressive 93% Fresh rating on the review aggregator site, Rotten Tomatoes. Reinventing the real-life historical tale of Lady Jane Grey, the woman known in the history books as the “Nine Day Queen”, and instead introduces a Tudor England deeply divided by the existence of the shape-shifting Ethians.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly about the potential for My Lady Jane season 2, Burgess admitted that her approach to developing season 1 had largely revolved around taking audiences up to the point of nearly seeing Emily Bader’s Jane beheaded. While there has been no decision on whether the show will continue into season 2, the co-showrunner has revealed that, if greenlit, it will move on to examine how an escaped Jane will survive in a world with Mary (Kate O’Flynn) on the throne. Check out her comments below:
[A second season is] always a possibility. We wanted to really lean into the visual storytelling of taking a woman up to the point of being beheaded. It seemed like an opportunity too good to pass up. I used to be an author. When you’re an author, you can do an awful lot of first person present tense thinking, but when you are on television, you have to have conflict and action and something to look at to lead to the drama.
If we are fortunate enough to get a season 2, then we are going to be exploring all of them growing up and moving on and figuring out how to survive in the world where Jane is free, but the kingdom is not. Because Mary’s still on the throne. There’s a lot more work to do before things are right.
Could My Lady Jane Become Amazon’s Bridgerton Rival?
The New Historical Drama Is Already Topping The Netflix Hit’s Scores.
While season 1 has officially exhausted the source material upon which it was based, it seems clear from Burgess’ comments that the show’s creative team already has ideas about where it can continue into My Lady Jane season 2 and beyond. Even though the second book, My Plain Jane, abandons the story of Lady Jane Grey and switches its focus onto a reimagined account of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, Burgess appears willing to continue Grey’s tale following her dramatic escape from execution.
Even though no official decision has yet been made about a potential My Lady Jane season 2, the overwhelmingly positive critical responses to the show will undoubtedly increase its likelihood. Moreover, if Prime Video decides to proceed with another season, it may even provide the streaming service with a viable rival to Netflix’s hit historical romance, Bridgerton. Topping the critical and audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes for all three seasons of Bridgerton, Burgess’ is already well-placed to become the new dominant force in the genre. Check out their comparative scores below:
Title
Tomatometer Score
Audience Score
My Lady Jane season 1
93%
81%
Bridgerton season 1
87%
70%
Bridgerton season 2
77%
73%
Bridgerton season 3
87%
76%
Ratings aside, whether My Lady Jane will manage to replicate Bridgerton’s widespread popular appeal still remains to be seen, though audiences who have already made their way through season 1 seem largely impressed with Prime Video’s offering. Having only just been released on June 27, it may still be some time before the streamer has sufficient viewership numbers to make a final decision on the show’s season 2 fate, yet the series already shows considerable promise and has all the makings of a bona fide hit.
