'The Empress' Season 2 Trailer Sees Sisi Face Threats, Both Foreign & Domestic

Netflix's The Empress is one of the best period dramas that most people probably haven't watched yet. A rare historical series that has nothing to do with the Tudor family, the Regency period, or World War II, the German series tells the story of Empress Elisabeth I of Austria, the daughter of a Bavarian duke who married an emperor for love and subsequently became one of the first celebrity royals. Beloved by her people, stalked by the press and haunted by depression, the parallels between her story and that of England's Princess Diana over a century later are almost eerie at times.

The series' first season was a surprise hit for Netflix, winning an International Emmy for Best Drama series. It followed the early days of the unconventional Elisabeth's fairytale romance with Emperor Franz Joseph and depicted her struggles to conform to the rigid rules of life the Habsburg Court

The new empress frequently clashes with her mother-in-law over expected rules of decorum and her role in public life, even as troops gather on the border of her new homeland and the threat of revolution grows in the streets. But it is ultimately Sisi who offers a way forward for the royal family, seeing her subjects' humanity and acknowledging their struggles in ways the rest of her in-laws never have.