The Empress is Netflix’s newest German language political romance drama that tells the love story between the children of two of the most influential families in the nation. The show was released on September 29, 2022, and upon its release, the show received mostly positive reviews from critics. Although the show received some amount of criticism for portraying some of the historical characters inaccurately, that cannot stop the audience from loving the show and enjoying its drama and romance.
The Empresses’ main story revolves around Elisabeth, a beautiful young Dutchess who falls in love with Emperor Franz Joseph, Joseph, in fact, was about to marry Elisabeth’s sister Helene, but he chose Elisabeth as his wife. The later story revolves around how Elisabeth manages her new married life and, at the same time, maintains her royalty and faces all various kinds of political challenges.
The 1st season of The Empress met with a lot of positive reviews, and it created lots of buzz on the internet, making its place among other top historical TV shows like The Crown and Bridgerton. The show received so much love from the audience that on November 2022, Netflix officially announced that they would be releasing a second season for The Empress. Well, so today, well shall be breaking down all the details about the romance drama show The Empress. We will cover various details like the season 1 recap, the cast of The Empress, the season 2 release date, and plot details.
Plot Of The Empress
The Empress tells the story of Princess Elisabeth falling in love with Emperor Franz Joseph, Franz was going to marry Elisabeth’s sister, but before he could marry her, he fell in love with Elisabeth. The later part of the show tells how Elisabeth moves to Vienna to live with her in-laws. Here Elisabeth is a really interesting character because she is a free-spirited girl, who was never meant to become an empress, but fate had something else for her. She doesn’t follow any social norm and breaks all kinds of rigid social rules. When such a girl comes face to face with the royal family of Emperor Franz, it becomes a really interesting drama.
Recap For The Empress Season 1
The Empress is a beautifully written historical drama that explores its character in a very deep way. Here we get to see Elizabeth, a young, free-spirited girl who was never meant to become an Empress; even her mother thinks that she would never find a good suitor in her life. But The Emperor of Austria falls in love with her and marries her. This eventually breaks Elizabeth’s sister’s heart, who was set to marry the mighty emperor. Later on, the younger brother of the emperor, Frank sets an eye on Elizabeth and confesses his love for her. Although Elizabeth refuses him yet, he attempts to kiss her. Towards the later half of the show, the real nature of Prince Max is revealed as we learn about his hunger for power and the empire.
After marrying Emperor Franz, Elisabeth moved to her in-laws, where she came across the royal way of living. She gets her own servants, her own personal maidens who will always be there for her service. But at the same time, she comes to a realization that this new life is nothing short of the life she was familiar with. Although she got the luxury, she found out that here women like living inside a cage (metaphorically); they have lots of restrictions and are not even allowed to make contact with common people.
Later on, we know that Emperor Franz had a relationship with Countess Ava, but he had to break this relationship in order to maintain his dignity and continue his royal life. As the story progresses further, we come to know that of Countess Eva is actually a traitor and has an ulterior motive. Later it is revealed through her secret boyfriend that her motive is to assassinate the Emperor.
Throughout the season, you will come across lots of characters who have motives of their own. Franz’s mother wants his son to take part in the war actively, but Franz has a completely different perspective towards war. He believes that war is a costly thing because it leads to lots of damage and death, which their country cannot afford. Similarly, we see Franz’s brother, who is constantly scheming and looking for a way to take over the throne and become the new emperor.
But the ultimate responsibility of the royal family falls upon Elisabeth, who is expected to bear a male child who could become the next hire to the throne. But her status as royalty is challenged in every way possible, but after lots of drama and struggle, she finally gets pregnant, and this ensures her status her royalty and as the empress of Austria.
Cast Of The Empress Season 2
As for now, we know a fact that Netflix has officially announced the second season of The Empress; while not much of the cast detail is available, these are the following characters whom we will definitely see in the second season of The Empress.
Actress Devrim Lingnau, the lead actress of The Empress, shall return to essay her role as Elisabeth “The Empress”, we will also see the return of Philip Froissart to play the role of Emperor Franz. Actor Johannes Nussbaum shall return to play the cunning and ambitious Prince Maximilian, and Jordis Triebel will return as Princess Ludovika. With the release of season 2, we might also see some new actors joining the cast but for now sure that the above-mentioned actors will be returning to The Empress season 2.
The Empress Season 2 Release Date
As of now, Netflix has not given any confirmed dates regarding season 2, but we know that the show has gone under pre-production, and if everything goes well, we might see the show dropping around 2023 or toward the beginning of 2024. You Can Watch The Empress Season 1 Here.
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