Edward Bluemel as Lord Guildford Dudley, Emily Bader as Lady Jane Grey, in ‘My Lady Jane’. Jonathan Prime/Prime Video
Prime Video’s decision not to renew My Lady Jane for another season has some fans devastated.
Deadline confirmed on Friday, August 16, that Prime Video chose not to order more episodes of the series. According to the outlet, My Lady Jane didn’t find a wide audience or land on Nielsen’s Top 10 weekly streaming rankings for originals despite receiving critical acclaim.
Fan took to social media to start a campaign asking for another network to renew the show — and to question why the streaming series didn’t give My Lady Jane the chance to find its audience.
“My lady Jane being canceled for not reading [sic] a ‘broad enough audience’ when it was barely promoted to begin with,” read a post via X. “Amazon needs to be serious.”
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One commentator pointed out that they “never heard about” My Lady Jane before it was canceled because the “marketing budget” didn’t compare to that of other hit shows. Another viewer noted that Prime Video made a mistake not leaning into My Lady Jane’s campy tone.
“Cancelling My Lady Jane is such a huge misstep. I can’t think of another recent show that has so quickly overcome poor marketing and inspired such loyalty and conversation among seemingly everyone who watched it,” wrote a fourth fan. “It’s truly so magical and fun. It deserves more!!”
Based on historical YA novels by Jodi Meadows, Brodi Ashton and Cynthia Hand, My Lady Jane is a radical reimagining of Lady Jane Grey’s (Emily Bader) very brief time as monarch after King Henry VIII’s son Edward (Jordan Peters) died of tuberculosis. In this version, Jane and her husband, Guildford (Edward Bluemel), aren’t beheaded and Edward isn’t killed off.
For others, it was disappointing to see My Lady Jane come to an end when it spoke to them more than other Regency-era shows — such as Netflix’s hit series Bridgerton.
Prime Video’s My Lady Jane proves that investing in romance is always the right way to go — especially with leads like Emily Bader and Edward Bluemel. Based on historical YA novels by Brodi Ashton, My Lady Jane is a radical reimagining of Lady Jane Grey’s (Bader) very brief time as monarch after King Henry […]
“Imo My Lady Jane was (significantly) better than Bridgerton s3, and I’m just so BAFFLED that people will watch the latter for the period drama romance but not the former!!! How is there an audience for one and not the other?!” asked a viewer via X while another added, “Amazon cancelling my lady jane?? they just hate fun, hate whimsy, hate historical romance w an emphasis on the drama, hate enemies to lovers where one of them is a literal horse, hate silliness!!!!”
There was also the issue of timing, with some wondering why Prime Video didn’t wait longer on a decision, writing, “My Lady Jane has been cancelled after 1 season when it’s only been released in June 2024?? @PrimeVideo when we catch you. Why can’t we have anything good. The show has everything from drama, romance, fantasy, comedy, gorgeous costumes with protagonists that has insane chemistry.”
Fans of My Lady Jane loved the show for several reasons, including Bader and Bluemel’s onscreen chemistry. There was also the fun twist that (spoiler alert!) Guildford turned into a horse, which was just chaotic enough to get new people intrigued by the show’s premise.
Even though there weren’t more books in the series to base future seasons off of, show creator Gemma Burgess was determined to keep going with the story.
“[A second season is] always a possibility. We wanted to really lean into the visual storytelling of taking a woman up to the point of being beheaded. It seemed like an opportunity too good to pass up,” the screenwriter told Entertainment Weekly in June. “I used to be an author. When you’re an author, you can do an awful lot of first person present tense thinking, but when you are on television, you have to have conflict and action and something to look at to lead to the drama.”
Bader, 27, and Bluemel, 31, appeared just as enthusiastic about returning for more seasons.
“I would like to see Guildford continue backing up Jane and helping her out on her journey. That’s what Guildford’s there for,” the actor told Collider that same month. “For lots of reasons, he’s a very different person at the end of the series than he was at the beginning, and finding his new lease on life and maybe even a glimmer of joy, here or there.”
During the joint interview, Bader weighed in on where she wanted to see Jane and Guildford go from here, adding, “They’ve been through a lot — but at the same time — by Jane choosing to do what she does at the end with saving herself, she puts her family at risk. She needs to buckle down and figure out what she’s gonna do. She feels very responsible. I think badass Jane can take it up a notch.”
Since My Lady Jane caught the eye of fans and critics alike, Bader was cast as the lead of Netflix’s adaptation of Emily Henry‘s novel People We Meet on Vacation. Bluemel, for his part, is currently filming Seven Dials Mystery for Netflix.
My Lady Jane is currently streaming on Prime Video.
