The Big Picture

The Serpent Queen
is more than just another period drama; it features the complexity of Catherine de’ Medici.
Season 2 explores Queen Elizabeth I as a threat to Catherine, with a focus on power dynamics and family tensions.
Minnie Driver’s portrayal of Elizabeth delves into accents, facades, and the historical context of aristocratic speech and dress.

Once creator Justin Haythe’s The Serpent Queen premiered on Starz, it became beyond evident that it wasn’t just any other period drama. Set in 16th-century France, Season 1 immediately plunges us into the sphere (and occasionally inner confidence) of the complex, complicated, and eternally compelling Catherine de’ Medici, played by Samantha Morton. Season 1 offers up the story of Catherine in her own words, as she narrates the tale of marrying into the French court and her eventual rise to power. Season 2, however, jumps forward by 10 years; a now-widowed Catherine is still pulling the strings even though her now-adult son, Charles IX (Bill Milner), is technically the king of France. (And that’s not even getting into everything she has to wrangle in terms of the rest of her children!) Meanwhile, as tensions between the Catholics and Protestants continue to rise, an even bigger threat looms over in England in the form of Queen Elizabeth I (Minnie Driver).

Ahead of the Season 2 premiere, Collider had the opportunity to speak with Driver about joining The Serpent Queen for its sophomore installment. Over the course of the interview, which you can read below, Driver discusses being approached to play the role of Elizabeth, why she feels drawn to these types of roles at this stage in her career, the best note she got from Haythe during her final episode, how her costumes informed her performance, getting to face off with Morton, and more.

The Serpent Queen Series based on Leonie Frieda’s book “Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France.”Release Date September 11, 2022 Cast Samantha Morton , Amrita Acharia , Barry Atsma , Enzo Cilenti , Sennia Nanua , Kiruna Stamell Main Genre Drama Seasons 2 Creator(s) Justin Haythe Writers Justin Haythe Network Starz Showrunner Justin Haythe Expand

COLLIDER: I would love to hear the story of how you joined the show.

MINNIE DRIVER: [Creator] Justin Haythe rang me up and said, “Will you come and play Elizabeth?” When you have an actor who is as strong as Samantha in the eponymous role in the show, you better get somebody who knows what they’re doing to play opposite them. We’re kind of the same vintage, me and Sam, and it was an absolute pleasure to play opposite her and to have these two amazing women. It’s a phenomenal role. They’re both phenomenal roles, Elizabeth and Catherine de Medici. It was great. They came to me and I couldn’t have signed on quicker.

Minnie Driver Reflects on ‘Our Flag Means Death’ Season 2
Image via Max

This isn’t the first historical figure that you’ve played in the last couple of years. I can’t not mention Anne Bonny in Our Flag Means Death, which I loved so much.

DRIVER: It was heaven. That was absolute heaven. I loved it so much. It was such a great show, and that character — yeah, exactly. I love that I’ve played a pirate and a queen. Those are my historical figures.

They’re both iconic women of history, but very different. Tonally, there’s a modern throughline that both shows have, even though one is a little more comedic than the other. Is that something that you feel you’re drawn to at this point in your career, getting to take on these women and deconstruct them?

DRIVER: That’s a great question. Yeah, I do. That’s exactly right. We’re in this moment of the modern retelling of stories and of history, and while we’re doing that, how fun to jump on board and go, “Oh, I wanna do that. I want to be part of this.” It feels very fresh — like The Favourite and The Great and Our Flag Means Death. The Serpent Queen is canny, and it’s different, but these characters from history remain fascinating. It’s why we remember them, right? It’s why we’re still talking about them and making TV shows about them. It’s because they have stood the test of time, because they were fascinating characters. So, the modern spin with an already fascinating character, I mean, I’m only human — I’m gonna be attracted to that as a creative person.

Elizabeth’s Accent Is a “Facade” in ‘The Serpent Queen’ Season 2
Image via Starz

I wanted to ask about your accent for Elizabeth. We don’t necessarily know what she sounded like, and it feels like you’re doing something very specific with her. Was that in the script, or did you land on it as you were finding the character?

DRIVER: It was really just an idea. I can’t remember where I read about it, but the reason that this very posh way of speaking came about was that royal people never had to raise their voices. They never had to over-enunciate. Everybody was always leaning in to hear them. So, the way in which they spoke, they never really moved their mouths. They didn’t expend any energy whatsoever making themselves understood because people knew if they didn’t understand them, they might get their heads chopped off. So that was the initial idea. I’m going by the British Royal Family, and that was something that I’d read about the development of that particular way of speaking, but it’s true of all aristocrats in the UK. I thought that was interesting.

Then, Justin Haythe gave me arguably the greatest note I’ve ever got. In the final episode that I’m in, where I have a great big showdown with Samantha, Justin told me to lose the accent and to just speak the way that I speak. There was this extraordinary moment of seeing behind the curtain, behind the facade, behind everything that is created for people that act as armor to keep everybody away from you because your position is so untenable, and you’re so fragile as a monarch. So, the dropping of that accent became a super powerful moment when she just started talking like me. I loved it.

All of this is just an experiment, right? I don’t know what’s right. You just try stuff, and you see that sometimes people like it. You noticed it. I don’t know. It’s all you’re ever doing is an actor. There’s no great science to just pretending, just trying stuff on. “Oh, what’s that hat like? I don’t like that one. What about this one? Oh, I like that.”

I like hearing you talk about facades and armor, because that leads me to the costumes in The Serpent Queen. How much does a component like that inform your performance?

DRIVER: It was 99% of my characterization of Elizabeth. Their wigs and the makeup and the clothes did so much of the work. They were vicious corsets. It was the most uncomfortable. You think about how uncomfortable that woman would have been, because they were historically accurate. The clothes that I wore were what she would have worn, and it was an abomination. The heat and the weight and the terrible distribution of… your back is being cut into, your neck is being compressed. It would have been 10 times heavier at the time. They try to use as many modern benefits to make it lighter for me, but what you realize is it really informs how I play that character. It was the clothes and the makeup, and a little tiny bit of me, but mostly that.

Minnie Driver Enjoyed Facing off With Samantha Morton in ‘The Serpent Queen’ Season 2
Image via Starz

In the beginning, Catherine and Elizabeth are split up, with their face-to-face meeting teased throughout the season. What was it like to come together and get to play that confrontation with [Samantha]?

DRIVER: It was great. It’s very rare that you get to see women really going head-to-head. It’s something that’s happening more now, but certainly, in my career, you always acted opposite a man and very rarely acted opposite other wonderful women. I appreciated how they are both extraordinary survivors, Catherine and Elizabeth. It was very fun to be part of that cat and mouse thing, even though Elizabeth’s only playing that she’s ever a mouse. She’s always actually in control in this story, which is the only mistake Catherine makes. Well, not “only,” but she mistakenly thinks that she ever really has any power over Elizabeth.

The Serpent Queen Season 2 is available to stream on Starz, with new episodes premiering Fridays.

Watch on Starz