Entertainment
Why 'The Royals' Fans Will Love Season 4, According To William Moseley & Alexandra Park
The world has recently become enthralled with the actions of Prince Harry's fiancée Meghan Markle, but fans of E!'s The Royals have been captivated by the fictional Henstridge family for seasons. In advance of Season 4, William Moseley and Alexandra Park of The Royals, who play Princess Eleanor and Prince Liam, came to the Bustle office to discuss what to expect from the jam-packed new season, which premieres on March 11 on E! at 10 p.m. Based on what the stars said, Loyals are in for quite the ride in The Royals Season 4.
"It's a massive team effort, this show, and I think it's come together beautifully and I'm really excited for everyone to see it," Park says.
"I think people are going to absolutely love this season," Moseley adds. "I think it's our — I know everybody says that — but I do think it's our best one yet. Because it's taken us three seasons to find our tone and to build all of our characters in." Now that the backstory has been established, Moseley says, "It feels almost like a battle is about to take place."
"Everyone's in bit of a disarray in terms of the family," Park says. "There's a lot of sort of sneakiness going on." And based on Robert's appearance in Season 3, he's most likely the cause of this disarray. "The stakes are higher," Moseley says of Season 4. "It's got a kind of murder mystery sense to it. ... Like whatever people like from before, we've just amped it up."
Beyond the plot, the scope of the season has increased with Park and Moseley getting to film in new locations, particularly Park. Eleanor starts the season by styling hotels around the world with Toby Sandeman's Sebastian, which means she leaves the palace — and Tom Austen's Jasper.
"Basically right now, Eleanor just needs to figure out who she is and what her purpose is before she can have the ability to give herself to Jasper or to anyone else. And that's what her aim is for this season," Park says. "As soon as she starts to figure that out, which she does in this season very much, she grows enormously. ... That's when there's definitely hope for Jasper — or for anyone else," she teases.
As Eleanor is figuring herself out, Liam is at his most unstable since he's consumed with exposing his older brother as a fraud. "[He] feels like the only person he can now trust is his enemy, which is Cyrus out of all people," Moseley says. Yet, the actor is happy to see this other side of Liam. "I always feel that [Liam is] very righteous," Moseley says. "So I'm very happy that I could switch things up, make it a little bit darker, a bit more interesting."
While Moseley notes that Liam will have a new love interest this season, he'll be romantically at odds with his brother again. "Kathryn's back," Moseley says. "And I like the whole dynamic that she was in love with [Robert] first and there's not just a fight for the crown, but a fight for the girl."
Moseley also says that Genevieve Gaunt returns as Willow and plays a "very pivotal part of the season." Beyond Kathryn and Willow, Robert will have other love interests as well since the king is attempting to find himself a queen — and a preview for The Royals Season 4 appears to show a wedding.
With this season kicking off in March, the last episode should be airing in May — right around the time of the real Prince Harry's wedding to Markle. While neither actor would officially confirm if there will be a Royals wedding to coincide with the royal wedding, they didn't shut the idea down. "You know, you'll just have to wait and see," Moseley says. While Park says it's "definitely a possibility." Interestingly enough, the season finished filming before Prince Harry's engagement was even announced.
As for the upcoming nuptials of the real prince of England, the Australian Park compliments Markle's personality and says that she is "such a lovely addition" to the family. And the British Moseley confirms that people in the UK are just as into the royals as people in the U.S. "People are pretty obsessed in England. It's on TV every day," Moseley says. "I remember there was a thing on TV about 'How to get Meghan Markle's dress sense.' And seriously, she was just wearing like a shirt and jeans and they were like [in an awe-struck voice], 'How do we get this look?'"
"She's amazing though. She always looks so incredible," Park says after laughing at Moseley's anecdote. To which Moseley agrees, "She does look amazing." On if the actual British royals have ever indulged in watching The Royals, Moseley says, "I don't think they've seen it." Yet, Park says, "Perhaps maybe someone in the family watched an episode at some point on like an iPad hiding in a room. And maybe got quite a kick out of it. Who knows?" After all, Markle was once a TV star too.
But back to their own Royals duties, Moseley and Park warn that the twins in Season 4 aren't as in sync as they usually are. "They're both trying to solve separate issues, which I think they can't connect into realizing that the issue is the same," Park says. And that shared issue is very likely their older brother, who is simultaneously undermining both Liam and Eleanor with only Liam realizing it.
"A criticism of this season [could be] that we didn't get enough scenes together," Moseley says. Which is also a disappointment to the actors since Moseley and Park note how they love to work together with Park saying they have a "brotherly-sisterly type of friendship." Moseley adds, "I hope if there is a fifth season and we go forward that we get more scenes together."
As for if there will be a Season 5, the actors don't know yet. "It's just one of those delicious and wonderful shows that comes down to a huge amount of people that have just created this thing that could keep going and going for as long as you'd like," Park says. "We're hopeful."
Plus, they tease that the Season 4 finale is going to be a doozy. "I think it's such a good season. And I think it's such a strong season and a cliffhangery season that I don't know how they could finish it," Moseley says. Park adds, "The end of Season 4, it's a massive ending. Like, it's a huge ending. And I think the fans and the Loyals will be pretty upset if that's the end."
Moseley cuts her off at this point with their sibling-like friendship showing. "Did I say too much?" Park asks innocently before saying, "[Fans are] gonna be wanting more, that's all I mean."
So whether The Royals Season 4 ends with a royal wedding or in some other fashion, fans should expect to be left wanting much more from their favorite (TV) royal family.