Good News, Royal Subjects! ‘The Empress’ Will Return.

We’ve got some good news for fans of historical dramas featuring lavish costumes, palatial sets, and lots of juicy secrets and romantic entanglements! The Empress, a sexy royal period piece about the life of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, will return for a second season.

Netflix first announced that they were producing The Empress in December 2020. It was shot in German, in Austria and Bavaria, and the streamer later dubbed the series into 14 languages. The six-episode English-language version premiered on Netflix in September 2022, and it quickly became a popular binge-watch with a devoted fan base. Viewers logged 150 million streaming hours, and it became Netflix’s second-most watched series worldwide.

What’s The Empress about?

In season 1, we meet 16-year-old Elisabeth “Sisi” von Wittelsbach, Princess of Bavaria (Devrim Lingnau), as she travels to Vienna and meets the man her sister Helene (Elisa Schlott) is set to marry: Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria (Philip Froissant). Sparks fly for Sisi and Franz and they eventually marry, forcing the defiant young empress into a backbiting royal court, where she’s seriously outnumbered by her sneaky new in-laws. Her aunt/mother-in-law, Archduchess Sophie (Melika Foroutan) never misses a chance to take a swipe at Sisi, and Franz’s brother, Archduke Maximilian (Johannes Nussbaum), is just dying to usurp his older brother.

It’s a complicated game of romance and politics, and season 1 ended on a “cut to black”-style cliffhanger that left audiences wanting more. In the end, Sisi agreed to Sophie’s request that she return to Bavaria and annul her marriage to Franz, even though she deeply loves him. She leaves the palace, but when confronted by an angry mob of villagers, she kneels down and reveals that she’s pregnant. What will happen next? We’ll have to wait for season 2 to find out!

When can we expect season 2?

Netflix renewed The Empress in November 2022, and they filmed the second season in the Czech Republic in September 2023. Now in the post-production phase, we should see fresh episodes hitting Netflix early in 2024, although there is no official drop date yet.

Showrunner Katharina Eyssen told Netflix, “I’m incredibly grateful that we were able to touch so many different people in Germany and all over the world with our series. The story of Elisabeth’s life is a story of the power of love, but also of the courage to be different and of hope for a better future. And that’s what we need at this time. And that’s why we’re very happy to be able to continue telling this exciting story.”

We’re ready to kiss the ring. Are you? If you can’t wait for The Empress season 2, here’s a few more fun historical dramas to watch in the meantime.

(featured image: Netflix)