The New Anne Boleyn
When it comes to rethinking casting, ‘Bridgerton’ was only the beginning
Reactions to “color-blind” casting tend to run the gamut. Remember when Hamilton first caused a stir? And now, well — who actually pictures Thomas Jefferson as not Daveed Diggs anymore? More recently, Netflix’s regency drama Bridgerton struck some viewers as being fun and empowering… and struck others as still centering and idealizing Whiteness.
Now, a new miniseries for British television promises to reimagine the story of Henry VIII’s second wife Anne Boleyn. Deadline describes the project thus: “Penned by newcomer Eve Hedderwick Turner, the drama shines a feminist light on the final months of Boleyn’s life, re-imagining her struggle with Tudor England’s patriarchal society, her desire to secure a future for her daughter, Elizabeth, and the brutal reality of her failure to provide Henry with a male heir.”
Significantly, the Black actor and model Jodie Turner-Smith is playing the doomed queen. (Seriously you have to look at these stunning images of her in costume for the role.) Of course, there has already been some outcry — “This is a really mind boggling decision and it is liberalism out of control,” reads one representative Twitter reply. But as Turner-Smith told Vogue, “There’s so much about her story that feels modern. It’s one I can relate to as a Black woman, and it shows how little has changed in terms of our desire to tear down powerful women, to not let them live in their truth.” You love to see it.
