Anne Boleyn's story has been told many times and in many forms.
Natalie Portman portrayed the second wife of King Henry VIII in The Other Boleyn Girl, as did Natalie Dormer in The Tudors. So, it's not unreasonable to ask how Jodie Turner-Smith's portrayal on the AMC+ series is any different, or if it's even worth watching for that matter.
But, if you asked Jodie, she would tell you the three-part series is as relevant as ever, making it all the more important to watch during these interesting times.
Episode one sees the Tudor queen as she reels from the loss of her son, who was stillborn. It's her third pregnancy loss and though she's married to King Henry, maintaining his interest is of the utmost importance to her survival.
So, in an emotional final scene, Anne gets dressed and walks across the courtyard to remind her husband of where his loyalties lie. As she determinedly walks to the king, she leaves a trail of blood in her wake.
In an interview with E! News, Jodie discussed that scene, saying, "There's so much pressure on women to just go back out there [after delivering], so I wanted to kind of speak to that."
It's a pressure that Jodie knows firsthand, as she and husband Joshua Jackson welcomed a daughter last year, a few months before starring in the show.
"After I had my baby—I birthed at home, and it took me a very long time to give birth to my daughter, and I didn't do it with any medication," the 35-year-old actress explained. "So, in a sense it was like this cosmic psychedelic journey because your body is such a miraculous thing and it will do whatever it has to do to be able to process and understand whatever pain it is going through."
But the human body can only take so much, with the actress noting that her doula and midwife told her she "wasn't allowed to go downstairs for two weeks in order to let myself heal."
"I hadn't even thought about that as a concept," she said, adding that it amazed her to think of what it was like to give birth even 100 years ago. "My ancestors were f--king birthing in f--king fields, and then going right back to work."
Eventually, months passed and it was time to step into Anne's shoes, and Jodie knew that she wanted to portray the direness of the situation, saying, "She was like, I can't even afford to grieve. I can't afford to live here on my back for even another second because the world is moving without me. And I'm losing grip on everything that matters."
As most know, Anne's desperate attempts to remain in King Henry's favor were fruitless, yet she couldn't help but try. After all, her death proves there was a legitimate threat should she fail to please the king.
But for Jodie, this scene went beyond Anne Boleyn, explaining, "I really wanted to make sure that I was doing my best to honor that trauma... I really believe that it an honor asked to enact something that is so personal for many people and that is so important."
She added, "For any performer, there's always an honor when somebody asks you to portray something that is so personal and scary and frightening."
Episode two of Anne Boleyn airs on AMC Thursday, Dec. 16.