When we think about royal dramas, I think of “The Crown” or “The Gilded Age”; even the film “Mary Queen of Scots” reminds me a bit of this piece. So much of what we witness is a retelling of history. But with a show like this, we get additional layers. We get these additional themes that we’re not necessarily presented with in a history book or in a classroom: the intricacies of feminism, desire, war, etc. We’ve touched on it a little bit, but could you tell me a little about the complexity of your characters when they’re navigating life in conflict?
von Rittberg: Well, for Elizabeth, it is that. She has probably grown beyond her years. She’s very mature, but because she needed to be. She grew up without a mother and lost her father. She fell in and out of favor, basically. One day, she’s in line for the throne, and one day she’s an orphan. She is used to navigating wisely — observing, learning, not jumping to any conclusions, and holding her wants and needs back.
That’s what is so painful to see as well, because when it comes to love, she’s a young woman who wants to fall in love for the first time and experience love for the first time, to be a normal young woman for once. Seeing that taken away from her is incredibly painful. That’s where the gray, the no black and white, comes in, because you can only be strong to a certain extent. At some point, you will break.
There was such a pivotal line I pulled out: “The hunter is not the lion but the lioness.” That was so poignant in that kind of character development, which we don’t see often.
von Rittberg: Yes. I think it is … “The hunter is not the lion.” Who said that? Tom, did you say that?
No, I don’t think it was Tom.
Cullen: No, Thomas isn’t smart enough to say something so poetic and well-observed as that.
von Rittberg: In order to survive, you have to play by the rules. But it’s difficult to follow who is the person who’s making the rules at the moment.
“Becoming Elizabeth” will debut on Sunday, June 12 at 9:00 pm ET/PT on STARZ.
This interview was edited for clarity.
