Bader may look like an impressive equestrian in ‘My Lady Jane,’ but that’s the product of good training

Emily Bader (Lady Jane Grey)

Despite Emily Bader’s impressive equestrian skills in Prime Video’s My Lady Jane, the actress did not actually know how to horse ride when she auditioned for the role.

In a July 3 interview with her fellow My Lady Jane actor Rob Brydon, who plays Lord Dudley in the series, on the Brydon & podcast, Bader, 27, said she had to learn how to ride after being cast as the titular character — and thankfully “got the best training ever.”

“When I was auditioning for [the show] and we got to the end, they had made it pretty clear that an American wasn’t really in the cards,” the U.S.-born actress said, noting that Lady Jane Grey is British. “It wasn’t expected, so I was like ‘I gotta do everything right to make this work.’ “

Bader then said later in the audition process that she received an email asking if she could ride horses. It was her parents, she said, that encouraged her to say yes.

“I think I said ‘I grew up around horses,’ which isn’t a lie,” she confirmed. “My neighbor had horses growing up.”

My Lady Jane is a historical fantasy show based on the real-life Lady Jane — known as England’s “Nine Day Queen” — and the best-selling novel by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand and Jodi Meadows.

Per the show’s description, My Lady Jane is a “radical retelling of English royal history in which King Henry VIII’s son Edward (Jordan Peters) does not die of tuberculosis, Lady Jane Grey is not beheaded, and neither is her rascal of a husband Guilford [Dudley] (Edward Blueme).”

Emily Bader (Lady Jane Grey)

Instead, the My Lady Jane relies on some historical facts — like Lady Jane’s forced marriage to Guilford — and a mix of fantasy.

In the series, the kingdom is divided over the struggle between Ethians, people who can transform into animals, and Verities, typical humans. Ethians and Verities are strictly forbidden to marry in the kingdom.

Horses play a key role in the series, especially when Jane later discovers that her new husband Guilford is an Ethian that can transform into a horse.

“It doesn’t fit in a box of genre,” says Bader of the series in the podcast, calling it, “Romantasy.”

My Lady Jane is now available to stream on Prime Video.