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“The Royals” cancelled on E! after four seasons

If you were a fan of the campy alterna-monarchy of E!’s The Royals, alas, the show has been cancelled after four seasons.

“E! will not be moving forward with another season of The Royals,” the network revealed in a statement provided to Deadline. “Over four seasons, The Royals took viewers behind the palace gates on a scandalous journey filled with twists and turns. We are grateful to the cast and our producing partners at Lionsgate and Universal Cable Productions.”

The show is being shopped to another network, so a fifth season isn’t off the table just yet. Lionsgate TV tweeted “Long live The Royals” and announced that they were trying to shop a fifth season around.

 

The Royals was E!’s first foray into scripted television programming. The channel’s only other scripted show, The Arrangement, was cancelled earlier this spring after wrapping its second season.

The Royals was mired in controversy earlier this year when its showrunner was fired following allegations of sexual harassment by female cast members of his earlier show, One Tree Hill, but it’s unknown if this factored into E!’s decision to cancel The Royals.

Though The Royals was meant to be a show about an alternative British Royal Family, its soapy storylines included the King announcing a referendum to end the monarchy then getting stabbed to death outside the palace gates, the Queen lying about the legitimacy of her children in order to protect the throne (somehow?), and the heir mysteriously dying in an off-screen accident (but then showing up a few seasons later). And who could forget ill-prepared spare who suddenly has to step up for a future as king; a jealous, brooding uncle in the vein of Scar from The Lion King, who’d been pushed aside by his brother’s children; and a party princess who was being blackmailed by her personal protection officer.

And that was just the first season. The show’s last episode – aired days before Prince Harry and Meghan were married – featured a wedding of its own and a kidnapping.

About author

Jess Ilse is the Assistant Editor at Royal Central. She specialises in the British, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish Royal Families and has been following royalty since Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee. Jess has provided commentary for media outlets in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Jess works in communications and her debut novel THE MAJESTIC SISTERS will publish in Fall 2024.