Whether you’re ~obsessed~ with the royal family or don’t know your Harrys from your Williams, Stan-exclusive series The Royals is a hoot and a half for everyone.
The show centers on a fictional royal family and all the salacious scandal that encompasses them and while it isn’t at all based on the real royals, Aussie actress Alexandra Park (who plays Princess Eleanor) notes that a couple of similarities popped up over time.
“There was no relation to what was going on [in real life] really although now, who knows,” she says, referring to the Meghan Markle saga. “The more we went on, the more similarities I see between the two.”
Fans of the E! series were rocked with the news that the show had not been renewed for a fifth season. However, Park says that there’s still hope for the future of the show as Lionsgate are reportedly shopping around for a network to pick up the show.
“It was a bit of a shock to hear that NBC and E! have come to the end of the road,” she said. “But I’m really appreciative of Lionsgate who are still trying to find a home for the show.”
Adding, “It’s not over until the fat lady sings, as they say.”
Here, the Sydney-based star discusses her experience playing the beloved Princess Eleanor on the spicy series…
What was your reaction when you found out that season 4 would be the end of The Royals?
Listen, we’ve had such a great one and I’m so grateful that we’ve had the four seasons that we’ve had. I think we’ve left it on a bit of a cliffhanger to say the least but I don’t think we’re completely over just yet.
It was a bit of a shock to hear that NBC and E! have come to the end of the road with The Royals but they’ve been amazing and I’m really appreciative of Lionsgate who are still trying to find a home for the show but whichever way it goes, I’m so grateful for the experience we’ve had and the story that we’ve told. Everything has to end at some point!
So if the series does continue, what would you like to see happen to your character?
I’d like to see Eleanor combine her two most obvious sides. She starts off a bit rough and confused and a bit unsure of herself and she’s just got walls up, she feels pretty useless and doesn’t know what her place is in the world. Then as the show goes on she starts to grow and develop into this young woman who takes the positive things that happen in her life and lets them contribute to her growth as a woman and she starts to realise her value as a princess and as a leader for women and the public, basically by righting wrongs.
And even though Eleanor does it in a not-so standard fashion, that’s kind of what I like about her. She’s trying to do the right thing in her own way and I’d like to continue to see that happen.
I think if we did do it again there’d be no holding back, she’d go balls to the wall to make things right, to make her father proud and set an example regardless of how that might appear to others.
Absolutely and I’ve noticed a lot of fans online saying that there are still so many stories to be told, particularly with your character, there’s still so much left for her to explore and it would be such a shame to not see that.
Yeah, absolutely, I couldn’t agree more and I think that was the plan, season 4 was almost a set up season for season 5 and I feel like you just never know what’s going to happen. I feel like a lot of people will be really thrilled if we could go back and film another season to finish it off in the way that we all want it to go.
It’s so nice to hear you speaking so passionately about your character, do you feel a connection to her after playing her for so long?
I do, I really, really do and I have from the very beginning. I spent 10 years trying to get any kind of role, let alone this role and if I had to choose any character out of the hundreds and hundreds of auditions that I’ve gone for in my life, I would choose Eleanor every time because I’ve had so much room to bring her to life and bring pieces of myself and pieces of other brilliant women that I’ve known and put them all together in this character who I love. I’m very protective of her and the messages that she delivers and the fashion she delivers them in. I feel very passionate about her, there’s a lot of me in her.
Touch wood that it isn’t, but if this is the end, what will you miss most about the series?
I’d miss her the most, definitely. I’d miss getting a script every couple of weeks and seeing what Eleanor’s doing, what she’s up to. I’d miss her ‘coz she’s the thing I loved the most about the show. She’s helped me grow as a person and as an actor and it’s been an incredibly pivotal time in my life, playing this character and it’s just powerful stuff, being given that opportunity to bring someone to life like that. But if it is the end, I think that I will carry a bit of Eleanor with me always.
Throughout the filming of the series, a lot of pivotal events happened in the lives of the real life royals. Did you stay up to date with what was happening with them or did you block that out?
I feel like it’s kind of hard to not pay attention but I’m not there Googling at any second or picking up all the magazines.
There was no relation to what was going on there really although [laughs] now, who knows. The more we went on, the more similarities I see between the two but I think they’re pretty separate and there’s no influence for Eleanor from public figures or royal members. But it’s nice when random influences come up.
Who is your favourite royal?
I think they’re all pretty fantastic, they’ve got it down. I think I’ve gotta say Harry is my fave, he seems to me, not that I know him from a bar of soap, but he just looks like he doesn’t take himself very seriously but he’s doing a great job and he’s a great example.
He’s married to what looks like a full of spark woman, so probably Harry.
Do you think they watch the show?
I don’t know. We get asked that a bit and I like to think that just a couple of them might get it up on an iPad in private and have a look and enjoy it. I mean, what’s not to like? It’s fun, it’s not about them.
I’m just picturing Queen Liz in bed at night watching it on her iPad and having a good chuckle.
Yeah, with a little bowl of Maltesers [laughs]. Look, it’s very wishy-washy in terms of royal procedures but that’s the beauty of it, it’s a form of escapism. It’s fantasy, it’s the story of a family at the end of the day and then put in this setting of money, drugs, sex, power, unlimited access to anything you want and then there’s just these individual humans like anybody else trying to figure out who they are and what’s their place in the world. What’s not to love?
All four seasons are now streaming on Stan so what message do you have for someone who’s about to sit down and binge-watch the show?
I’d say congratulations on the decision, thank you for tuning in and making the choice. Relax, let go of all the negative, frightening, overbearing issues of the world and just enjoy going for a ride that’ll make you feel good. ‘Coz our family is so ridiculous in many ways but we’re a family and so I think everybody likes to know they’re not alone.
That’s why I think the show has done so well as it has because it’s not a serious show, we’re not mirroring any important issues that are going on in the world, it’s just a show about a family who’s trying to figure it out just like the rest of us… except they live in a palace.
All four seasons of The Royals are now streaming on Stan.
