Looking for a fabulous cast? Amazing fashion? Subtly devastating status clawing? Look no further than Apple TV+’s newest offering, Palm Royale, premiering March 20 with a triple-decker drop of glitz, glamor, and a glimmer of some dastardly doings.
A Return to a Glamorous Age
Set in the opulence of the most exclusive club in Palm Beach, Florida, during the tumultuous year of 1969, the plotting of the privileged and elite is backlit with Nixon’s handling of the Vietnam War.
Starring Kristen Wiig as Maxine Simmons, a Tennessee beauty queen with aspirations to climb the social ladder among the rich and influential, it sports a female cast of jaw-dropping impressiveness. And Ricky Martin.
A Cast To Kill For
Owning every scene she descends on, Allison Janney plays Evelyn Rollins, the Queen Bee of the Palm Royale with her tight entourage of moneyed and coiffed minions. Meanwhile, Leslie Bibb is the up-and-coming rival, competing with Evelyn for the coveted Volunteer-of-the-Year award. She keeps a sharp eye out for any opportunity to flaunt her youth and energy to contrast Evelyn’s fading flower.
Rounding out the Posh Posse are Julia Duffy as the tipsy and ditsy widow Mary Davidsoul and Claudia Ferri as the edgy but cool mob wife Raquel Kimberly-Marco.
RELATED: 5 TV Women Who Smashed the Patriarchy
Additionally, the legend herself, Carol Burnett, guest stars as Norma Dellacorte, a vital but mostly silent presence to be reckoned with. Laura Dern appears as Linda, a woman of vastly different priorities from both Maxine and Evelyn’s gang.
Supporting this star-studded showcase of women wonders are Dominic Burgess as the gossipy but skilled designer Grayman, Josh Lucas as Maxine’s high-flying and loving husband Douglas, and the aforementioned Ricky Martin as a Palm Royale employee with a lot more going on.
The Premiere is an Event
In Wednesday’s three-episode premiere, the scene is set as the Palm Beach season begins and Maxine makes her opening moves in this exercise in etiquette and social extortion.
Deliberately, the juxtaposition of the Palm Royale shenanigans with the real history in the offing is constantly highlighted as the on-screen television regularly shows the President and the news addressing the civil unrest in America. Meanwhile, Maxine looks to disrupt the status quo enough to make herself a space with the haut ton crowd.
RELATED: Read our recaps for The Buccaneers!
Marrying the societal strategy of The Gilded Age with the sense of entitlement exhibited by frequenters of The White Lotus, Palm Royale frames Maxine’s quest to belong as an underdog story for the ages. With surprising resourcefulness, relentless positivity, and not a little bit of manufactured luck, she teaches the ladies of the club the dangers of underestimating her.
The premiere event is a thorough introduction to the characters, their motivations and modus operandi. The rules may be unwritten but they are very real. The rewards can be huge just as the risks are devastating. Maxine is all-in in what could prove to be a dangerous gamble for both her lifestyle and her very life.
Palm Royale premieres March 20 on Apple TV+ and streams new episodes every Wednesday.
https://www.geekgirlauthority.com/best-historical-fiction-about-real-women/
- Sneak a Peek at THE LIBRARIANS: THE NEXT CHAPTER’s ‘And the Memory Crystal’ - June 10, 2025
- THE LIBRARIANS: THE NEXT CHAPTER Recap: (S01E04) And the Thief of Love - June 9, 2025
- On Location: Jewel Changi Airport on HACKS - June 9, 2025
