‘Marie Antoinette’ Season 2 Sets Premiere Date: Is it the Final Season? (VIDEO)

It’s been nearly two years since Marie Antoinette debuted on PBS in March 2023. At long last, PBS has announced the Season 2 premiere date for the lavish period drama.

Marie Antoinette continues to chronicle the life of one of history’s most influential and controversial figures. Emilia Schüle returns as the title character, Marie Antoinette, and Louis Cunningham reprises his role as Louis XVI. The series, a CANAL+ Creation Originale in association with CAPA Drama (Newen Studios), Banijay Studios France, and Beside Productions, invites audiences to peek behind the curtain of the personal and political life of the last Queen of France.

Here, we break down all the latest updates on Season 2, including the trailer, release schedule and episode description for each episode, cast and plot details, and more. Plus, could this be the final season given the history it covers? Here’s everything we know so far.

When does Marie Antoinette Season 2 come out?

Marie Antoinette Season 2 will premiere on Sunday, March 23 at 10/9c on PBS. Season 2 wrapped filming in April 2024.

Season 1 first debuted on the French service Canal+ in October 2022. It was then picked up for additional distribution by PBS in the US and BBC First in Australia and released on streamers Foxtel and Binge, and it made its UK debut on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer in December 2022. Season 1 was available on Disney+ in Germany.

Is there a Marie Antoinette Season 2 trailer?

Yes, PBS shared a short promo for the second season when announcing the premiere date. Check it out in the video above.

What time period will Marie Antoinette Season 2 cover?

Marie Antoinette is just a teenager when she leaves Austria to marry the Dauphin of France, Louis XIV. At Versailles, under the complex rules of the French court, she suffers from not being able to live her life the way she wants. Season 1 chronicles the monarch’s life from her arrival in Versailles. Before that, she struggles to get used to French customs and to connect with her new family and husband, but eventually, Marie and Louis start to get along and Marie’s time in France starts to take a positive turn. Season 1 ends with the death of her mother, however, causing a major shift.

Here’s the official logline for the upcoming season: “Marie Antoinette Season 2 sees Antoinette and Louis facing unprecedented challenges at the height of their power. As financial crises loom across the nation and political rivalries intensify, the royal couple must navigate an increasingly hostile court and a changing France. From Versailles to the Palais Royal, the seeds of a revolution began to take root, threatening the very foundations of France’s long-standing monarchy.”

Following the death of her mother at the end of Season 1, Marie now has to face the world without that support. The queen and king will reach the height of their power in the second season, but they’ll realize that the road to riches is paved with enemies. Louis’ younger brother/second in line for the throne, Provence (Jack Archer), and cousin Chartres (Oscar Lesage) will stage frequent attacks against the royal couple in an attempt to grab power, according to PBS. This will cause chaos among the nobles, and the Diamond Necklace Affair will only make matters worse.

The Diamond Necklace Affair is regarded as one of the events that led to the downfall of the French monarchy. It started in 1784 when Marie’s already bad reputation was soured by a false rumor that she participated in a plot to defraud the Crown’s jewelers with an expensive diamond necklace that she refused to pay for. In reality, Marie rejected buying the necklace at all, but her signature was forged by Jeanne de Valois-Saint-Rémy, who was later convicted of the crime. But the damage was done to her reputation. The Diamond Necklace Affair became fuel for the fire of French revolutionaries.

Who is in the Marie Antoinette PBS cast?

Schüle, Cunningham, Archer, and Lesage star in Season 2 alongside Interview With the Vampire Season 2’s Roxane Duran (Josephine), Jasmine Blackborow (Lamballe), Liah O’Prey (Yolande), Crystal Shepherd-Cross (Adélaīde), Caroline Piette (Victoire), and Martijn Lakemeier (Axel von Fersen), Freya Mavor, and more.

When are new episodes of Marie Antoinette?

Based on the episode titles and descriptions (especially for the finale), it seems Season 2 might cover the end of Antoinette and Louis’ lives. Here’s the release schedule and loglines for each episode of Season 2:

Episode 1 “The Worst Winter” – Sunday, March 23, 2025, 10/9c

Marie Antoinette and Louis embrace modern rule, but enemies lurk everywhere, even in Versailles.

Episode 2 “A Poison Pen” – Sunday, March 30, 2025, 10/9c

Marie Antoinette’s affair with Fersen reignites — could it be part of a carefully orchestrated plot?

Episode 3 “Treacherous Legacy – Sunday, April 6, 2025, 10/9c

The people of Paris openly protest against Marie Antoinette as she protects her unborn child.

Episode 4 “The Pursuit of Happiness – Sunday, April 13, 2025, 10/9c

Marie Antoinette overhauls her image, and the King and Queen find happiness when they experience a taste of “ordinary” life.

Episode 5 “Enemies Assemble” – Sunday, April 20, 2025, 10/9c

When Marie Antoinette is implicated in the diamond necklace theft, she is determined to prove her innocence and punish those responsible.

Episode 6 “Hated, Humbled, Mortified”- Sunday, April 27, 2025, 10/9c

As the public trial begins, events quickly spiral out of Marie Antoinette and Louis’s control.

Episode 7 “Madame Deficit” – Sunday, May 4, 2025, 10/9c

Marie Antoinette deals with personal grief. Political turmoil, a struggling economy, and personal attacks push Louis toward a nervous breakdown.

Episode 8 “The End of the Beginning” Sunday, May 11, 2025, 10/9c

Amid the revolution’s advance, Marie Antoinette struggles to support Louis’s rule. When he succumbs to depression, she steps up to rule in his place.

Will there be a Marie Antoinette Season 3?

As of the time of publication, the series has only been renewed for Season 2. A PBS boss says that Season 2 is “the beginning of the end” for the show’s royal couple, but does not confirm if there will be a Season 3.

“We are so excited that PBS’s audience will get to see the anticipated second season of Marie Antoinette,” Maria Bruno Ruiz, Vice President, Program Content Strategy and Scheduling at PBS, said in a statement on February 4. “The tension in Season 2 builds with each episode as we experience the beginning of the end for King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette. The French debt is increasing with more loans, the Affair of the Diamond Necklace is scandalous, and the inner circle of Versailles is closing in on the king and queen. Season 2 features incredible talent and storytelling along with spectacular breathtaking costumes and set designs that take viewers right inside the walls of the Palace of Versailles.”

Season 1 had eight total episodes. Fans can expect Season 2 to have the same unless PBS notes otherwise. Is eight episodes enough to cover the stretch of time listed above and lead up to Marie and Louis’ deaths in the French Revolution? Marie was killed in 1793, and Season 2 is diving into events from the 1780s. There could be time jumps, or the series could be planning for more seasons to continue depicting the fall of the monarchy in-depth.

However, an Instagram post from Duran in January 2024 hinted that Season 2 could be the last.

“Can’t wait to end this beautiful ride with you on season 2!” she said of her costar, Archer. “Let’s rule the last month.”

 

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A post shared by Roxane Duran (@roxaneduran)

This could mean that her character, Josephine, dies in the second season, or it could mean that everyone’s heads will roll when the French Revolution reaches its climax.

Stay tuned here as we continue to report the latest updates.

Marie Antoinette, Season 2 Premiere, 2025, PBS