“My Lady Jane” star Emily Bader reveals series recreates a shot from “The Princess Bride”

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Warning: This story contains spoilers about My Lady Jane.

My Lady Jane is here to put the fun back into fantasy.

The historical fantasy series, which hit Prime Video on Thursday, follows Lady Jane Grey (Emily Bader), known to history as a tragic pawn who was executed after only nine days as the Queen of England. The series, based on a novel of the same name, turns history on its head, recasting Jane as a swashbuckling heroine who fights for herself, her family, and the man she loves.

If that sounds a bit like fantasy heroines of yore, that's entirely by design. So much so that one key scene in the episode 8 season finale recreates a scene from The Princess Bride.

After narrowly escaping her beheading with the help of the Ethians (folks who can change into animals), Jane rushes to save her husband, Guildford Dudley (Edward Bluemel), from his own death by burning at the stake. He breaks free and transforms into a horse, and she then makes a leap from the pyre onto his back in an epic slo-mo shot.

"It was basically a direct grab from The Princess Bride," reveals Bader. "There's a scene where Buttercup jumps from the tower and lands very un-delicately. Episode 8 is the climax [of the show], and it's really dark and dramatic. So, having that little bit of a reminder of what the tone is, [is fantastic]. It's actually the exact same amount of frames [as The Princess Bride]."

Bader explains how they pulled off the moment, which finds her suspended in midair, with her arms and legs outstretched against the night sky. "I was on wires for that," she says. "We went into this studio space, and they hooked me up to this harness, and I just got to jump and flail and try to make it look graceful. That was a really fun day. Everyone was just laughing the entire time."

The reference is just one of many winking nods throughout the series. "[Showrunners] Gemma [Burgess] and Meredith [Glynn] have a lot of pop culture references in this, so there's a lot of little Easter eggs," Bader notes. "We do Clueless quite a bit. When Jane and Guildford first meet, she does a good 'As if!' and then he gives it back to her later. There's a Crocodile Dundee moment. There's probably a lot more. Our writers are an encyclopedia of knowledge, so I bet there's more in there than I could have even imagined."

In addition to pop culture references, Bader also broke down the arc of the season, her newfound love for Jane Grey, and mused about what might be to come if they get a second season.

Amazon Emily Bader as Lady Jane Grey on 'My Lady Jane'

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How familiar were you either with the historical figure, Jane Grey, or the novel when this project came your way?

EMILY BADER: I'll be honest, I don't have a formal education on the Tudor period, being from California. I watched a lot of movies, so I knew about Henry VIII, and then a little bit later, Queen Elizabeth I. But that was sort of a gray area. No pun intended. So, it was fun to get to have my initial instincts, and then from there be able to go and learn some really interesting things about her. She was so fiercely intelligent on a level that is not talked about enough. Even the fact that we call her Lady Jane Grey; we should call her Queen Jane Grey. I mean, she was the queen of England for nine days. She was thought of as being one of the most intelligent people of that time. She knew many different languages, and she was really impressive. It was fun to find that as I was also finding this character.

She's this heroine that we don't see a lot of anymore, which is that she is both really kick-ass and smart, but also soft and kind. From an actor's point of view, how did you strike that balance?

What's so great about this script is that they wrote a really human character. We're not taking ourselves too seriously to try to prove a point here because the story speaks for itself. A lot of times when female heroines are written — which is still not as often as they should be — there's a hesitance to show the femininity as if it's a weakness. Something I found with Jane is that the independent, fierce, stubborn intelligence of her — those characteristics that you might more see with male leads — is where we start with her. Those are the things that she's very clear on, and it's the vulnerability and her womanhood and softness that she has to discover and comes to terms with. She realizes how important it is to have all of those things. You can't just be a lone wolf out there.

You have a lot of great action sequences in this. Was there one that was harder than the others?

There's one big one in episode 3 [with] Jane and Guildford. That was the longest. I've never done anything like that before. I had to bring home the plastic sword and learn some sword twirling, which was the most fun thing to have to do after work, if you could even call it work. That was particularly difficult because we were shooting in the woods in what felt like the middle of nowhere and it was winter. It was 4:00 a.m. nights and 5:00 a.m. nights in the cold. But it adds to the exhilaration of the moment, that you really feel like you're in the elements and rolling around in the mud and getting leaves stuck in your hair. It was awesome.

Was it hard to keep a straight face while filming the scene where Jane is ogling a naked Guildford in the barn?

It's so funny because we shot that scene first.

Of everything?

Not of everything. Almost. My first scene was the beginning of episode 1, where Jane is with her family in the house. But the first scene that I ever shot with Edward is that scene. So, it's hilarious because it seems like, 'Oh, there's probably music playing and it's this slo-mo.' But no, it was just the room being silent, me looking across at him, awkwardly smiling while I had to slowly walk over. Gemma, our showrunner, was telling me what I was feeling and what Jane was thinking in those moments. It's really silly, but it was really fun to get to do.  Jane has so many of those long look into the camera while the narrator goes on a monologue moments. It's really helpful to have someone reading that because otherwise it's like, "What am I supposed to be thinking about for 45 seconds?"

Amazon Emily Bader as Lady Jane Grey and Edward Bluemel as Guildford Dudley in 'My Lady Jane'

You and Edward have such fantastic chemistry. How involved were you in the process of staging the intimate scenes?

Everything about this show was really collaborative. They wanted to make sure that we were comfortable in every way, shape, or form. We had a great intimacy coordinator, which is really important. It's so great that we have that now. I'm a big fan, so it's like, "What would I want to see in this moment?" We wanted it to be silly and kind of messy and relatable. So they choreograph it basically like a dance, and you just decide, "Oh, this could be fun. Is this funny? Is this goofy? Is this fumbly?" We liked all those bits.

Jane has this really difficult conversation with her mother there in the Tower at the end. If the show is to continue, do you think there's a chance they could reconcile, or did that feel like a final break for you?

I don't know. It's hard because that's the moment where a line is definitely crossed. And the sting will be there forever. But at the end of our story, Jane has saved herself temporarily, but her family is still in jeopardy. And I don't think in any way she is willing to abandon them, regardless of how she left things with her mom.

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Amazon Emily Bader as Lady Jane Grey, Robyn Betteridge as Margaret Grey, Isabella Brownson as Katherine Grey and Anna Chancellor as Frances Grey in 'My Lady Jane'

In the novel, Jane discovers that she's Ethian and transforms into a ferret. Were you sad that was cut? Would you want that to occur in a future season?

It would've been a really difficult. I would've never gotten to act with Edward because the whole thing is that he is a certain way at night and she would be a certain way during the day. They never get to have moments together. So, I'm happy that we got to explore that relationship. Do I think that someone, at some point, should be a ferret? Absolutely. I would literally die if we had a ferret on set. That would be so good.

Jane and Guildford get their happy ending, but where do they go from here? There's obviously still a lot for them to deal with.

I know! You want them to get on a boat and go to Versailles and honeymoon. You want them to have a moment of joy, especially because Guildford has a new lease on life. But unfortunately, there's a lot that needs to be done. The kingdom is still in a very precarious place. Jane has tasted what it means to have the power to change things, and I'm not sure if she can just sit back and collect herbs in the woods anymore. Now that she's seen the state of things, she can't ignore it. She's going to have to rally an army or something.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.