The Empress Season 3 Review: ★★★★☆ (4/5)
The Empress Season 3 is a heartfelt, beautiful goodbye with strong performances and stunning costumes. A rushed new romance and loose history keep it from being perfect.
Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Genre: Historical Drama
Language: German
Cast: Devrim Lingnau Islamoğlu, Philip Froissant, Melika Foroutan, Marlene Burow, Dejan Bućin, Johannes Nussbaum
Season: 3 (Final)
Most costume dramas keep going back to the same English palaces. The Empress always felt different, and that is why it earned a loyal fan base.
The German-language series takes us to the 19th-century Habsburg court and tells the story of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, who married Emperor Franz Joseph for love and then spent years fighting the walls of Vienna. Season 3 is the last one, and it is now on Netflix.
The story picks up a few months after Season 2. Franz has gone to lead his army in a war against Sardinia. Elisabeth has finally given the dynasty the male heir it wanted, but that does not make life at court easier.
Archduchess Sophie, played with cold precision by Melika Foroutan, is still very much around. Meanwhile, the empire starts to crack, as crown lands push for independence and the question of what Austria should be becomes hard to ignore.
The most interesting turn belongs to Philip Froissant. Franz returns from the front alive but hollow, carrying what he saw and what he ordered. He grows cold toward the people who try to reach him. Froissant plays this with a stiffness that looks like armor rusting from the inside, and it is his best work in the series.
The writing is smart enough to show a man who started a war without any tools to deal with the aftermath. His way out of that darkness is an affair with a quiet woman named Terese, played by Marlene Burow. The show does not treat her as a simple villain, and it shows that she gives Franz his first taste of calm. That does not make it less painful, and the fallout hits his marriage hard.
When Elisabeth learns of the betrayal, and a health scare adds to her pain, she leaves Vienna for the first time since her wedding. She travels to Madeira, away from her husband and mother-in-law. The real Elisabeth loved to travel, so this feels true to her.
Devrim Lingnau Islamoğlu is radiant here, playing a young woman who tastes freedom while growing into the weight of her role. It is the fullest version of the character we have seen.
On her way back, she meets Count Andrássy, a charming Hungarian revolutionary played by Dejan Bućin. This is where the season stumbles. Their bond forms so fast that it feels like the writers pressed a fast travel button.
Andrássy matters a lot, since he pulls Elisabeth into Hungary’s fight for self-rule and sets her against Franz and Sophie. Because so much of the ending depends on him, the lack of build-up is a real weakness.
The wider story is busier than ever, with independence movements, royal rivalries and Franz’s brother Maximilian accepting the throne of Mexico. Johannes Nussbaum plays him from starry-eyed dreamer to broken man, and it is a nice surprise.
Foroutan also gets to play both Sophie and her twin sister, whose short visit wrecks an important meeting. It is not as cutthroat as Game of Thrones, but it works as slow and elegant palace chess. What keeps it from feeling like a history lesson is the chemistry between Lingnau Islamoğlu and Froissant. Even when Franz and Elisabeth are hurt or angry, you feel neither can truly let go.
The costumes and sets are as good as ever. Gabriela Reumer’s gowns are lavish without feeling like cosplay, and the uniforms quietly follow power and mood. Madeira adds light and open space after seasons of gilded rooms.
History fans should know that the finale is more fairytale than biography. It skips the saddest parts of Elisabeth’s later life, and her death appears only as text on screen. It is not true to what really happened, but as an ending to this story, it feels bittersweet and earned.
If you want more to watch, our Murder in Galicia review covers a slow Spanish true crime series. For a story about an underdog, try our I Play Rocky review, and for a light romance, read our Parivarik Manuranjan review.
The Empress Season 3 is a confident, lovely farewell. If you have followed the show this far, it is well worth finishing.
The Empress Season 3 is now streaming on Netflix.