Jodie Turner-Smith is the latest up-and-coming actress to star as Anne Boleyn—her contemporary predecessors include Natalie Dormer, who went on to star in HBO’s Game Of Thrones, and Claire Foy, who won an Emmy for her performance as young Queen Elizabeth in Netflix’s The Crown. Boleyn is famously the upstart young noble who stole the heart of King Henry VIII (Mark Stanley) away from Queen Catherine of Aragon, only to be overthrown and executed when she could not produce a male heir.
In this three-part series, the UK’s Channel 5 tells Boleyn’s side of the story as if it were a psychological thriller.
Paapa Essiedu (HBO’s I May Destroy You) stars as Boleyn’s equally ambitious brother, with whom she is accused of having relations. Amanda Burton (White House Farm), Thalissa Teixeira (Two Weeks To Live), Barry Ward (White Lines) and Jamael Westman (Hamilton) also star.
The series is written by Eve Hedderwick Turner and produced by Fable Pictures, with Faye Ward and Hannah Farrell producing. Historian Dan Jones, who has an overall deal with Sony, is an executive producer. Sony Pictures Television is co-financing the project with Channel 5 and is distributing internationally.
The limited series is coming soon, according to Channel 5, which premiered the trailer for the buzzy series on Instagram.