Kylie Rancor
Jodie Turner-Smith has been tapped to play Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII, in an upcoming mini-series that will reframe the time leading up to her execution as a psychological thriller.
The series is set to cover the last few months of Anne’s life, up until she was found guilty of adultery, incest, and treason in 1536. It was written by Eve Hedderwick Turner, will be directed by Lynsey Miller, and will be told through a feminist lens, according to Deadline.
It’s obvious from the little information we have about this three-part series that it is set to defy what we’ve come to expect from period pieces covering British royals of the past. In addition to shaking up the genre by turning the story of Anne Boleyn into a thriller, casting a Black woman in the role, and filling out the cast with a diverse group of actors — Paapa Essiedu, Amanda Burton, Thalissa Teixeira, Barry Ward, and Jamael Westman have all signed on — is certainly a fresh take on this slice of history.
“I am so excited to join these exciting filmmakers in bringing the story of one of history’s most controversial queens to the screen,” Turner-Smith said. “Delving deeper into Anne Boleyn’s immense strengths while examining her fatal weaknesses and vulnerabilities, Eve’s script immediately captured my imagination.”
She also called the story “deeply human” and said “I look forward to bringing my heart and spirit into this daring retelling of the fall of this iconic woman.”
The entertainment industry has a long and sordid history of whitewashing characters, especially ones that should have been played by Black actors, as whiteness has historically been seen as the “default” and prioritized over diversity, inclusion, and honoring source material in adaptations.
There has been increased pushback over this in the past years, and now some people are trying to turn the frustrations that have been expressed over whitewashing as justification to claim Turner-Smith’s casting as some sort of egregious “reverse racism” (which isn’t a thing) as Boleyn is assumed to have been white.
“What would happen if a white woman played Rosa Parks,” one user wrote.
However, many people pointed out in return that the Blackness of people like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. is intrinsically relevant to their stories, whereas the color of Anne Boleyn’s skin, ultimately, is not, and there are often cases where white people chosen to play other white historical figures do not actually resemble them.
Ultimately, the dissenters are irrelevant compared to fans excited that Turner-Smith would be following up her star turn in Queen & Slim by playing a literal queen.
The good news for people mad about Turner-Smith’s casting is that literally no one is forcing them to watch the series. And the good news for everyone else is that we get to enjoy it no matter how upset some folks get in the meantime.