[Source: CNN News]

Many women have portrayed the first Queen Elizabeth, who reigned for almost 45 years during the 16th and 17th centuries, and now Minnie Driver is wearing her crown.

It is not lost on Driver that she’s come to the role at a time when there is a lot of conversation about women in leadership.

She stars opposite Samantha Morton as Catherine de’ Medici, the queen of France, who was known as “The Serpent Queen” for her cunning and power that many thought she garnered and maintained by being ruthless. While history doesn’t confirm the female rulers ever met in person, they did correspond, and the second season of the series imagines what their relationship might have been.

Driver said she’s perfectly fine with taking a creative license in the show.

Instead, the actress known for performances in varied roles from “Goodwill Hunting” to “Will & Grace,” leaned into the “fabulation” of what may have been between the two royals as they led at a time when women had very few rights.

Driver wanted to nail it down to every detail, including Queen Elizabeth’s elaborate style.

Meeting the world in a spotlight is a dynamic Driver has long experienced.

She laughed and counted it as a compliment when the writer of this article compared her to the singer Adele in her ability to seemingly maintain a private life for periods in between projects.

She said she’s able to do that because of social media.

That direct contact with her audience also has resulted in less attention from the paparazzi, she said.

The second season of “The Serpent Queen” streams on Starz with new episodes released on its linear channel Fridays at 8 p.m. ET.