The fresh, young period drama "Reign," which tells the story of Mary Queen of Scots and her short-lived romance with Prince Francis will be back in the CW network on October 9 with a very important character in tow - Queen Elizabeth.
Elizabeth will be played by Rachel Skarsten, according to Enstarz, and the actress admitted to feeling pressured playing one of the most iconic characters in history.
"There has definitely been an anticipation for the character," Skarsten said. "They would keep mentioning Elizabeth and bringing her up and making reference towards her."
But what Skarsten likes about her new role is that she will be showcasing both Elizabeth's strengths and weaknesses, so the character will appear more relatable to viewers.
"I'm looking forward to sort of playing not only her strength, but also her insecurities," Skarsten said. "Elizabeth especially has arguably one of the most powerful nations in the world and viewed as somewhat illegitimate felt incredible insecurity about keeping her place."
Elizabeth is the daughter of King Henry VIII of England and his mistress-turned-wife Anne Boleyn. During the height of their love affair, Boleyn convinced Henry to annul his marriage with his first wife Queen Catherine of Aragon and marry her instead. Henry did just that, but after Boleyn gave birth to Elizabeth and failed to give him the son he desperately wanted, he grew to resent her and some historians claimed that he sought other mistresses during his marriage with Boleyn.
In the end, after Boleyn suffered from one miscarriage after another, Henry ordered that she be executed for witchcraft and heresy. Elizabeth was only two and a half years old when her mother died.
In the series, Elizabeth will be plotting with Mary's mother in law Catherine de Medici in order to take Mary down.
In real life, Mary and Elizabeth really did not see eye to eye and saw each other as a threat. Mary has claimed that the crown of England actually belongs to her and not Elizabeth, and the Queen of Scots did have a lot of supporters.
Because of this, Elizabeth had Mary confined in several different castles and manor houses in England for 18 and a half years. Elizabeth was unable to shake off her fear of Mary that she later had her second cousin executed for plotting to assassinate Elizabeth.
During her lifetime, Mary had three spouses - King Francis II of Francis, Henry Stuart, James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell.
