‘My Lady Jane’ star Edward Bluemel jokes about ‘mischievous’ horse plot twist: ‘I had a lot of questions’
He took it by the reins.
Edward Bluemel, 31, stars in the Prime Video show “My Lady Jane,” which is now streaming and has become a sensation on TikTok.
“I am not really surprised,” Bluemel told The Post about the show’s success.
“I always had a quiet confidence that it would do well,” the British actor added. “I really loved the show from the start. It’s so unique and special. I’m happy I’ve been vindicated thinking it would do well!”
The quirky historical drama is set in the 16th century and follows Lady Jane Grey (Emily Bader). In real life, she briefly held the English throne for nine days, before she was executed. Queen Elizabeth ruled after her.
In the show, her story gets a more fictional spin. Her family pushes her into marrying Lord Guildford Dudley (Bluemel) — who happens to be a shape-shifter that can turn into a horse.
Even though Dudley was a real historical figure, Bluemel said, “I was less inspired by the real Guilford Dudley — who there’s just a painting of. He was a teenager, and he didn’t turn into a horse or wear head to toe leather.”
He said that he drew inspiration from “a combination of the hero and the villain” from the 2001 medieval comedy “A Knight’s Tale” starring Heath Ledger and Rufus Sewell.
“I sort of wanted Guildford to be somewhere in the middle of those two. He has that darkness of Rufus, but he has the earnest romance of Heath Ledger,” said Bluemel.
The Prime Video marketing team didn’t reveal the horse twist before the show premiered.
“I definitely was surprised, but I thought it was clever,” Bluemel said about that strategy.
“I thought it was really interesting to keep that back. It’s such a unique aspect of the show, and it was also satisfying to me that you could market the show and get people to watch even without that … It’s such a mischievous move to spring this extra aspect on the viewer.”
Bluemel added, “I thought it was a slightly naughty thing to do, that seems to have worked. And it caused a shock. I was getting tagged in things online, like people couldn’t believe it. Some people were angry that there were animals out of nowhere. Some people were delighted by how much of a silly surprise it was.”
Bluemel, who’s also known for “Killing Eve” and “A Discovery of Witches,” said he didn’t hold back that information from his family and friends.
“When people were like, ‘What are you filming?’ it was really hard to not go, ‘I turn into a horse!’ Because it sort of feels like the headline, in a way. I did my mini version of what the Amazon marketing team did. I would describe the show, and leave a tiny pause and be like, ‘Oh, and I turn into a horse.’”
He quipped: “Because I said it’s a romantic show, some very inappropriate horse questions came shortly afterward.”
When he first learned of the horse plot twist, Bluemel said, “I had a lot of questions. I’m like, ‘Does the horse talk? Is it going to be a CGI horse? Is it me in a motion capture suit, pretending to be a horse?’ It’s not me in a suit … it’s very much a real horse, who is much better at pretending to be a horse than I would be.”
He joked, “They didn’t have us both on set together much. Maybe it would be confusing for some people — or tension between me and the horse because we both thought we were the No. 1 Guildford.”
About the possibility for a Season 2, Bluemel isn’t quite sure.
“We don’t know yet, but I’m hoping we’ll find out soon. I think what’s really fun is that Guilford … has a specific arc in Season 1 that feels like it resolves itself quite well,” he explained to The Post. “So, there’s an opportunity to have fun with where he goes next. He’s a great character for Jane to have by her side.”
He added, “I would like to see him continue being her sidekick.”
