Jodie Turner-Smith Addresses The Backlash of Her Playing Anne Boleyn As Trailer Debuts

Jodie Turner-Smith stuns in a gold dress and matching “B” necklace in the first full trailer for Channel 5′s upcoming limited series, Anne Boleyn.

The three-part drama series will focus on Anne in the final months of her life, just before her marriage to Henry was annulled and before she was executed for treason and other charges by beheading.

The show will also focus on Anne’s struggle with Tudor England’s patriarchal society, her desire to secure a future for her daughter, and the brutal reality of her failure to provide Henry with a male heir.

Click inside to watch the full trailer and see what Jodie Turner-Smith said about the backlash…

Jodie also spoke with ET Canada about facing the backlash for portraying the Tudor Queen.

“Even if I wanted to be doing something in a sci-fi fantasy world as a Black woman, I’d still get so much ‘attack’ from people being like, ‘Ahhhhhhh’,” Jodie shared. “And you know for people it’s certainly polarizing, this idea of playing a queen, a historical figure.”

She added that she took the role because, first and foremost, “it was more about telling a story about a woman…no matter what your race or socio-economic background, we’re talking about common things that we all experience in terms of our own ambitions for ourselves and our children, the things we come up against, what people say our limitations and fighting through that.

“I feel as a Black woman, those are things I can really understand. I just wanted to give my take on this story,” Jodie added.

Anne Boleyn is set to premiere this month on Channel 5.