‘My Lady Jane’ Showrunners and Star Break Down the Chaotic Ending | Video
Note: Spoilers ahead for the season finale of “My Lady Jane”
The first season of “My Lady Jane” ended in chaos and literal fire, but fortunately, not a beheading. Both Jane and Guildford survive, but it was a messy journey getting there, both on screen and in real life.
In the final minutes of “My Lady Jane,” we see Jane (Emily Bader) led to what is supposed to be her execution, while Guildford (Edward Bluemel) is tied up to a stake nearby, forced to watch his love die. But, at the last minute, a small army of Ethians fly in, help free them both, and take on Mary (Kate O’Flynn) and her soldiers.
It all takes place in the castle courtyard and, according to the series showrunners Gemma Burgess and Meredith Glynn, staging that chaos was decidedly a struggle.
“That was so much more complicated than you even know, because we began filming that, we had five nights at Dover Castle, standing in for the Tower of London,” Burgess explained to TheWrap. “Dover’s on the coast of London. If you have the chance to film there in November at night, it’s beautiful. Go. But filming is tough. So we actually had to stop filming,”
“Visit the castle during the day. It’s gorgeous and amazing,” Glynn agreed. “Maybe don’t film a big action set piece there at night.”
According to the duo, it got so windy while trying to film the big moment that their crew actually had to take down the cameras and lighting equipment, and they were forced to wrap. As a result, they ended up building a replica of the castle on a soundstage at Pinewood studios.
“So half of that scene is filmed at Dover castle, and the other half is filmed about two and a half months later at Pinewood,” Burgess recalled.
And don’t worry, Edward Bluemel wasn’t actually standing on any fire for his fictional burning at the stake. As the showrunners explain, there was quite a bit of VFX involved, but the goal was always to use a mix of elements to make it look as real as possible, similar to how the DeLorean was handled in “Back to the Future.”
Of course, “Back to the Future” wasn’t the only inspiration for the finale.
As the episode comes to an end, Guildford does manage to break free of his bonds by finally harnessing his Ethian abilities, and transforming into his horse self at night. From there, Jane leaps from the platform, white dress flowing in the wind — in slow motion, of course — and lands atop Guildford’s back and rides off.
If it reminded you of a certain moment from “The Princess Bride,” good. It was supposed to.
“It was a pretty direct reference. I think we may have even watched the movie the night before,” Emily Bader told TheWrap. “You know there’s a lot of pop culture hints in this story. I think that was — Gemma and Meredith specifically had this vision of when she jumps out the window in ‘Princess Bride’ and just in like a silly, just dream-like way, falls and perfectly lands in like a thud. And it’s just funny.”
“Yes, that’s the exact shot,” Burgess confirmed. “We looked at it over and over and over again and Jamie Babbitt, our director, did a beautiful job of reenacting it.”
The showrunners are also quick to note that this particular scene isn’t the only explicit nod to another piece of pop culture in the series. Well-versed fans will spot homages to “Young Guns II,” “Crocodile Dundee” and more.
“Just because we wanted to!” Burgess said with a laugh.
Of course, the finale of “My Lady Jane” also explicitly sets up a possible season two, as Jane tells Guildford she has to return and stop Mary from keeping the crown and being a tyrant. At this point, it’s unclear if a second season will happen, but Glynn and Burgess note that they feel “Jane’s story isn’t finished yet.”
“My Lady Jane” is now streaming on Prime Video.
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