An Interview with Emily Bader & Edward Bluemel from ‘My Lady Jane’

(L-R) Emily Bader and Edward Bluemel attend Prime Video x My Lady Jane screening and Q&A at the Tribeca Film And TV Festival at SVA Theatre on June 12, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for Prime Video)

Emily Bader and Edward Bluemel are a pair of accomplished actors that we’ve seen often on our television screens over the past few years. Currently they star as Lady Jane Grey and Lord Guildford Dudley in the new Prime Video series, My Lady Jane, and we here at NTG were able to sit down with them to discuss their new dynamic new show.
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John Betancourt: I’d like to start by knowing what it means to each of you to be part of such a dynamic and unique show?

Emily Bader: Oh, it's amazing. I mean, it's so rare that something like this even really exists, and it's so accessible to so many different types of people, and I think especially to play a character like Jane, that is so layered and full is just amazing.

Edward Bluemel: Yeah, I think it's such a unique show, and I'm so excited for people to see it, and it was such like pleasure to be a part of it. It's a period drama, but a little bit different, with slightly looser boundaries than some period dramas. And I think it was just such an amazing world to live in.

John Betancourt: I’m also curious to know, what you enjoyed the most about being able to approach a role without the pressure of having to be historically accurate.

Emily Bader: So fun. When you show up on set every day and there's this atmosphere of collaboration and just, you know, you discover new things about the characters, and the scene while you're shooting it. We could improvise. We could bring ideas to our brilliant writers, and they were always so responsive. So yeah, it was great.

Edward Bluemel: Yeah. They really created an environment where it didn't feel scary to suggest something yourself, you know, be it a piece of blocking or even a line or a joke, or maybe to ask, you know, can we improvise a little bit here? And I think that as an actor that is what you're always looking for. It's like a safe space with which to have fun. And I really feel like we got that on this job.

John Betancourt: Now without firing off any spoilers, what you each more excited for audiences to experience when they settle in to watch the show?

Emily Bader: My favorite thing about this show is the element of fantasy, that is not only in the way that we are sort of bending the true history, but also the actual fantastical elements to this world, which is, sort of, without saying too much, a massive element, and I think will be kind of a really fun surprise for people.

Edward Bluemel: Yeah, I think also it's like, it's the comedy we are surrounded by, like incredibly experienced actors, comedic actors, who I think have managed to create such brilliant, interesting, at times… horrible characters that are just so fun to watch, they're so exciting to watch, you never know what they're going to do next. And again, going back, like all of them, felt like they could improvise and put their own stamp on the plot and on, on the dialogue. And I think it really comes through.

John Betancourt: Last question I have for you today, if you could describe this series in one word, what would that word be?

Emily Bader: Are you going to say “romanta-cy?”

Edward Bluemel: I’m going to say romanta-cy, which is two words, but it's portmanteau. So hey, I'm allowed.

Emily Bader: All-encompassing.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

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