Minnie Driver has done it all—Oscar-nominated actress, acclaimed singer-songwriter, podcaster, and now, the latest in a long line of actors to take on Queen Elizabeth I. But if you think her portrayal in The Serpent Queen is just another historical rehash, think again. This Queen is bold, brash, and unapologetically rock & roll.
“She has an appetite for life,” Driver tells me. “She wakes up every day ready to tackle things that would make most of us want to stay in bed. She enjoys the power she has, she enjoys the political game, and she has a rapacious appetite for everything that comes with that.”
In The Serpent Queen, now in its second season on Starz, Samantha Morton’s Catherine de’ Medici is still clinging to power, but Driver’s Elizabeth is a force of nature—untamed, unbothered, and completely in control. And if the real Elizabeth I was remembered as the “Virgin Queen,” Driver says that’s all just marketing.
“The Virgin Queen was merely branding,” she laughs. “We don’t really know. But what we do know is that she was one of the most extraordinarily powerful women in history.”
Elizabeth and Catherine are cut from the same cloth in some ways—both survivors, both master manipulators—but where Catherine operates from a place of desperation, Elizabeth plays the long game.
“She’s never unseated,” Driver says. “She’s free because she knows she holds all the cards. And Catherine’s mistake is thinking she holds any cards at all.”
A Rock & Roll Queen
If Driver’s Elizabeth feels larger than life, it’s because she was. The attitude, the bravado—it’s all there. And while Driver didn’t create a playlist for the role, she was well aware of the musical energy showrunner Justin Haythe was infusing into the series.
“Justin would write music cues into the script, and I got where he was coming from,” she says. “I loved putting Killer Queen by Queen over a picture of Elizabeth for my Instagram. It just felt right.”
But if there’s a song that truly captures her Elizabeth, it might be Bowie’s Heroes.
“I was playing around with that—‘I will be king, and you will be queen.’ There’s something about it that fits,” she says. “Elizabeth just… comes to meet you. If she’s going to let you play her, she does the work for you.”
Back to the Studio?
It’s been a decade since Driver’s last album (Ask Me to Dance), but music has never left her life. She’s released three albums over the years, and if you didn’t already know she was a singer-songwriter, you’d be forgiven—her career has been packed with so many iconic film roles that some might forget she once opened for Coldplay and R.E.M.
So, is a fourth album in the works?
“Oh yeah, definitely,” she says. “I write all the time. It’s just that making a record and promoting it takes time, and between having a child, COVID, writing books, and doing the podcast, music just takes a backseat publicly. But I play every day. My son and I jam all the time.”
She also recently had a surreal moment with Coldplay, when Chris Martin dedicated Sparks to her at a show.
“I had no idea he was going to do that,” she says. “My son grabbed my arm, my sister and nieces were all there, and for a moment, 60,000 people went silent. That show… there’s medicine in what that band puts into the world. That song is one of the most beautiful melodies ever written, and to hear it dedicated to me? It was heart-stopping.”
A Queen Worth a Spin-Off
With The Serpent Queen diving into the political chess match between two of history’s most formidable women, one can only hope that Elizabeth gets more screen time—or better yet, a spin-off.
“I need a Serpent Queen spin-off with just Elizabeth,” I tell her.
“Oh, I would love that,” she says with a grin.
Until then, Driver’s take on Elizabeth I is not to be missed. It’s fierce, funny, and full of bite—the kind of role that reminds you why she’s one of the greats.
Watch the interview above and then check out the trailer below.