Consider me withered.
If, like me, you spent this past summer obsessing over Prime Video’s “My Lady Jane,” a fantastical retelling of the rise and fall of England’s Lady Jane Grey, you may remember the zany, British narrator reminding viewers in the show’s final moments that “our story is not over yet.” You’d also know that this statement has since been reduced to complete and total rubbish.
It’s been a little over a month since Deadline reported the cancellation of “My Lady Jane” on Aug. 16, less than two months after the show’s premiere on June 27, and fans are refusing to let Prime’s decision go unnoticed. Social media users have taken to the comment sections of “My Lady Jane” social pages, demanding the period drama be renewed. “HOW DARE YOU CANCEL THIS MASTERPIECE OF A SHOW! I WAS OBSESSED,” commented one fan on the latest post from the “My Lady Jane” Instagram (@myladyjaneonprime).
Similar comments have flooded the show’s TikTok (@myladyjanepv), as well as #SaveMyLadyJane across social media. “Everyone, go sign the petition in my bio and keep streaming the show again, even in the background! Numbers are increasing, and Prime can see,” said the fan edit account @meditorialsx in a post on TikTok. The petition in question was started by “My Lady Jane” fan Lauren Mullaney on July 15 and has since amassed nearly 86,000 signatures in support of the show’s renewal.
In a Sept. 9 blog post, “Game of Thrones” author George R.R. Martin featured a link to the “My Lady Jane” fan petition, lamenting the show’s cancellation. “MY LADY JANE was so much fun,” said Martin. “Jane deserved more than nine days, or eight episodes. ” The GOT author also drew comparisons between “My Lady Jane” and Hulu’s “The Great,” another female-led show taken from fans too early. “Witty and original, it reminded me a bit of THE GREAT, a show I loved. Alas, THE GREAT is gone, and it appears MY LADY JANE is too,” said Martin.
While “My Lady Jane” has received an outpouring of fan and artist support (and a 95% score on Rotten Tomatoes to boot), the show has had a lot stacked against it. According to Variety, “My Lady Jane” failed to make Nielsen’s Top 10 Originals list (which ranks shows based on their viewership) in the week following its premiere–and never managed to make the cut thereafter. “My Lady Jane’s” lack of viewers can most likely be attributed to the mid-June release of Netflix’s “Bridgerton” Season Three, Part Two, which favored a similar audience in the historical romance genre.
The biggest barrier to “My Lady Jane’s” success, however, came down to the show’s marketing. Prime’s promotional materials for “My Lady Jane” omitted the show’s fantasy subplot, where shape-shifting humans called Ethians are persecuted in the show’s alternate-Tudor timeline. This false representation of the show’s narrative prevented “My Lady Jane” from reaching a wider fantasy audience, while also deceiving viewers who expected a straightforward period romance.
As much as I wish it wasn’t true, “My Lady Jane” isn’t the first historical drama fans have tried and failed to resurrect from an early grave. After Netflix cancelled “Anne With An E” (2017-2019) back in 2019, fans banded together in support of the show, spreading the word on socials with #SaveAnneWithanE and #RenewAnneWithanE, commissioning digital billboards in major cities worldwide, and campaigning for its renewal through a fan-led petition, which garnered over 1.7 million signatures–but to no avail.
Though season two of “My Lady Jane” may never see the light of day, a few silver linings shine through the show’s demise. Both Emily Bader and Edward Bluemel (AKA Lady Jane Grey and Lord Guildford Dudley) have been recruited for upcoming Netflix projects. Bader will step back into the role of romcom leading lady as Poppy Wright in the film adaptation of Emily Henry’s “People We Meet on Vacation,” alongside Tom Blyth of “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” fame. At the opposite end of the genre spectrum, Bluemel has joined the cast of Agatha Christie’s “The Seven Dials Mystery,” which boasts big names like Helena Bonham Carter and Martin Freeman.
If you can’t get enough of “My Lady Jane,” I suggest diving into AMC’s “A Discovery of Witches,” which features Bluemel as Marcus Whitmore, one of several vampires caught up in a mysterious, magical plot at the University of Oxford. Or, if you’re still on the “Henry Danger” meme train, you can check out Bader’s one-episode appearance in the Nickelodeon kids’ comedy. As for me, I’ll be obsessively rewatching my favorite Jane and Guildford deep-cut edits until the next just-too-niche, female-led masterpiece destroys my Instagram algorithm and my emotional well-being.
Words by Alex Armbruster
Graphics by Aubrey Lauer