King Henry VIII was "un-woke", but should still be portrayed on television, Damian Lewis has insisted.
The British actor, 53, stars as the former monarch - known for beheading two of his six wives and separating the Church of England from the Catholic Church so that he could divorce another - in the latest BBC adaptation of the Wolf Hall trilogy.
Speaking to Radio Times, Lewis said: "I think that someone as historically significant as Henry VIII will always remain significant.
"Unless your question is suggesting such an un-woke character as Henry VIII, shot through a sort of contemporary prism, should no longer be seen on TV?"
"I'd obviously have to reject that idea," he added.
Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light is a six-part adaptation of the final novel in the late Hilary Mantel's trilogy about the historical figure Thomas Cromwell. It comes almost ten years after the BBC dramatised the first two novels.
The upcoming sequel follows the final years of the politician, played by Academy Award-winner Sir Mark Rylance, at the court of King Henry VIII.
Asked if it was "freeing" to play such a "badly behaved" character, Lewis said: "Acting is therapeutic, for sure, but I don't think you'd want to be playing these kinds of people too often because they do wear you down over time.
"So, yes, there is a freedom, there is something therapeutic to be able to behave in whatever way you want, because any good drama most of the time explores us in extremis - our excesses, our greatest conflicts and our greatest triumphs - and life isn't always like that."
The Billions star added: "So to be in dramas in which you are playing characters who excel or exceed or surpass, who destroy or are in some way living life at a zenith, that is fun and therapeutic to do."
Dame Hilary's final novel, The Mirror and the Light, covers the last four years of Cromwell's life, until he was executed at Henry's command.
Peter Kosminsky, who directed the first series as well as the upcoming one, told Radio Times: "What's interesting is that it's [almost] 10 years since the last television series and the two series cover a 10-year period in Thomas Cromwell's life from when he comes to the attention of Henry VIII to the point where Henry VIII executes him."
Cromwell served as adviser to Henry VIII and helped pave the way for the king's marriages to both Anne Bolyen and Jane Seymour.
The series focuses far more on the black population of Tudor England and employs a diverse cast to portray courtiers in 16th-century England, including historical figures who were white.
Dame Hilary, who died in 2022 at the age of 70 after suffering a stroke, acted as a "resource" for the director before her death, he said.
"It was a horrible shock, so completely out of the blue. She was a close friend and we were all devastated," Kosminsky explained.
He added: "And this was her last completed novel - and probably the acme of her working life - so you feel the weight of responsibility to bring that last novel to the screen in a way that she would have been pleased with. And that's what I have been living and breathing for the last ten years."