The Reign of Netflix's 'The Empress' Will Continue in Season 2

The reign of The Empress will continue on Netflix next year. The streamer has confirmed that its German period drama has been renewed for a second season, which will continue the story of the infamous Empress Elisabeth ("Sisi") I of Austria, the daughter of a Bavarian duke who married an emperor for love and subsequently became one of the first celebrity royals, who was almost maniacally beloved by her people. Her story is as often tragic as it is magical, and if seemingly fairytale life carried the seeds of its own doom within it, well — that doesn't make it any less fun to watch.

The series' first season explores the love story between Elisabeth (Devrim Lingnau) and Emperor Franz Joseph (Philip Froissant), a seemingly fairytale romance that saw him choose to wed her for love rather than her sister for politics. Their unconventional match brought Elisabeth to the Viennese court, a place she was ill-suited for and ill-prepared to navigate. Her arrival sent shocks through the Habsburg dynasty's power structure.

As the young empress struggled to assert herself against the stringent rules and expectations of her mother-in-law, Archduchess Sophie (Melika Foroutan), she must also navigate a relationship with her husband's unpredictable brother Maximillian (Johannes Nussbaum), and figure out which of her ladies-in-waiting she can trust, all as enemy troops gather at the borders of her new empire and the threat of revolution builds in the streets.