The Empress

The Empress is a 2022 German historical drama series based on the life of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, starring Devrim Lingnau in the title role, and Philip Froissant as Emperor Franz Joseph. It was released on Netflix on 29 September 2022. It was Netflix's second-most watched series worldwide for two weeks and the seventh most popular non-English series of 2022, with over 150 million hours streamed. On 8 November 2022, Netflix renewed it for a second season. Netflix also commissioned a companion novel, The Empress: A Novel, by Gigi Griffis, which published two days before the series premiered on the streaming service. Premise Sixteen-year-old Bavarian Duchess, Elisabeth "Sisi" von Wittelsbach, falls in love with her sister's, Helene’s, intended fiancé, Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria, and they marry. Arriving in Vienna, Sisi finds herself navigating the complexity of court politics and her husband's scheming family. Her mother-in-law, Archduchess Sophie, who is also her aunt, antagonizes her almost immediately.