Fans are taking to social media to express shock, disbelief, delight and confusion about the period piece drama “My Lady Jane,” now streaming on Prime Video.
Spoilers below for “My Lady Jane.”
One fan said on X, formerly Twitter, “Y’all are so good about hiding plot details bc what do you mean the main guy in My Lady Jane is a HORSE.”
Another fan proclaimed that the show feels like “if they wrote Bridgerton while on ketamine.”
Edward Bluemel as Lord Guildford Dudley, Emily Bader as Lady Jane Grey.©Amazon/Courtesy Everett Collection
Edward Bluemel and Emily Bader in “My Lady Jane.”©Amazon/Courtesy Everett Collection
Emily Bader stars as Lady Jane Grey.Kate Green/Getty Images for Prime Video
“I think the main reason I can’t stop thinking about My Lady Jane is because it is a television manifestation of a phrase I have had stuck in my head since 2007, which is, obviously, ‘His “wife”? A horse,’” another viewer shared.
“My Lady Jane,” which is based on a book series, is set in the 16th century. It follows Lady Jane Grey (Emily Bader). In real life, she was Queen Elizabeth I’s cousin. She briefly held the English throne for nine days, before she was executed. Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth both ruled after her.
Jane was Protestant, and she succeeded Edward VI. Jane was executed for “treason” after Queen Mary, who was Catholic, gained support.
But the show puts a fictional spin on Jane’s story.
Lady Jane Grey getting arrested.Getty Images
The real Lady Jane Grey (ca 1537-1554) circa 1552.Getty Images
Onscreen voice-over proclaims, “History remembers her as the ultimate damsel in distress. F–k that. What if history were different?”
In the show, Jane is coerced by her family into marrying Lord Guildford Dudley (Edward Bluemel). He was also a real historical figure, executed along with Jane.
On the show, neither of them get executed — and, much to audience’s surprise, Dudley is a shape-shifter who can turn into a horse.
Edward Bluemel.Getty Images for Prime Video
Michael Workeye as Archer, Emily Bader as Lady Jane Grey.©Amazon/Courtesy Everett Collection
After Jane’s maid turns into a bird and flies away, an on-screen voice-over explains, “Did I mention that in this world, some people can transform themselves into an animal?”
The narrator further notes that shape-shifters are called Ethians, while ordinary humans are called Verity, and they view Ethians with distrust and suspicion.
The voice-over explains how Ethians work, “One minute you’re fighting with your sister, the next, bam, you’re a badger!”
“TF IS GOING ON” asked a fan on Twitter, attaching that comment to a clip of Dudley turning into a horse.
Another fan posted a TikTok video with Taylor Swift’s song “Wildest Dreams” playing in the background, showing clips from “My Lady Jane.” On-screen text proclaims that the show has all the hallmarks of a frothy romance: witty banter, arranged marriage, “mysterious, hiding a secret” and finally, a plot twist: “A HORSE?!” the TikTok user wrote, next to footage of Dudley transforming into the animal.
“Nothing could have prepared me for the end,” one commenter wrote, while another said, “The horse transfomation was so unexpected.”
Another fan said, “Explaining the premise of My Lady Jane to my spouse and barely had the words ‘horse shifter’ left my mouth and the man is still laughing.”
Edward Bluemel as Lord Guildford Dudley and Emily Bader as Lady Jane Grey.Jonathan Prime/Prime Video
Emily Bader as Lady Jane Grey and Edward Bluemel as Guildford Dudley.Jonathan Prime/Prime Video
Similar to “Bridgerton,” the show has a racially diverse cast for a historical drama about England, and, at its heart, it’s a frothy romantic drama. Unlike “Bridgerton,” however, it’s also got a batty “Animorphs” bent.
The supporting cast is robust. Jim Broadbent (“Harry Potter”) plays the Duke of Leicester and Dominic Cooper (“Preacher”) plays Lord Seymour.
The initial ads and trailers for “My Lady Jane” made it look like a regular period drama, and failed to mention that there were animal shape-shifters in it — a baffling choice that led to the audience’s surprise.
But, it also gave the show word-of-mouth buzz, so maybe the marketing was onto something in hiding that detail.
“Fascinated by the advertising for my lady jane completely obscuring the fact that her boyfriend is a horse shifter when everyone i know who’s watched it only watched it bc they found out her boyfriend is a horse shifter,” another viewer wrote.
Similar to “Bridgerton,” the show has a racially diverse cast for a period drama set in England.©Amazon/Courtesy Everett Collection
Jim Broadbent as Duke of Leicester, Isabella Brownson as Katherine Grey.©Amazon/Courtesy Everett Collection
“My Lady Jane” is quirky and ridiculous, but it’s also fun, and it works better than it has any right to. The premise sounds like a fake show that the characters on “30 Rock” would have talked about. But “My Lady Jane” is real. And as bizarre as it is, there’s no denying that it’s entertaining. It’s an example of what can happen when TV takes a big swing and is unafraid to be weird.
Fans took to TikTok to get emotional about the show’s romance, too, commenting: “I love out of context this sounds bizarre that we’re sobbing about a horse.”
Another fan posted on TikTok that this show is for the fans who thought Spirit “had a lot of rizz for an animated horse,” referring to the apparent charisma that the title character had in the 2002 animated film “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.”
Knights scuffling in a scene from “My Lady Jane.”©Amazon/Courtesy Everett Collection
Emily Bader as Lady Jane Grey.Jonathan Prime/Prime Video
“A HORSE?!” one TikTok exclaimed.Jonathan Prime/Prime Video
One even posted a painting of Jane’s execution.
“I was initially ready for a Tudor history lesson but I think I much prefer that someone looked at this painting and thought ‘how could she have avoided this? by riding her horse shifter husband right out of there,” they commented.
