Socialites, hold on to your Birkin bags! There’s a new status-seeking wannabe in town, and she will stop at nothing to ascend to high society. In Palm Royale, a new dramedy series based on the novel Mr. and Mrs. American Pie by Juliet McDaniel, Kristen Wiig takes us poolside along with some of Hollywood’s most glittering stars.
Wiig, who also executive produced Palm Royale, stars as Maxine Simmons, a pampered rich lady who is devastated when her husband leaves her for a much younger woman. Assuming the show follows roughly the same plot as the book, the former beauty queen becomes obsessed with re-establishing her place at the top of high society. She enters the Mrs. American Pie pageant, which promises to name America’s “best wife and mother,” a title Maxine covets with raw, unadulterated greed. Maxine has to find a whole new family to fake her way into the pageant, with hilarious and sometimes heartwarming results.
Climbing to the top of the social circle is no mean feat, especially with all of those spoiled socialites trying to keep out the riff-raff. Palm Royale has attracted a slew of A-list actors to play those juicy roles, including Allison Janney, Laura Dern, and the incomparable Carol Burnett.
Other supporting cast includes Ricky Martin, Josh Lucas, Leslie Bibb, Amber Chardae Robinson, Mindy Cohn, Julia Duffy, and Kaia Gerber (a.k.a. Cindy Crawford’s daughter). Bruce Dern also appears opposite Burnett.
The series, which is set in 1969 in Palm Beach, Florida (a departure from the novel, which takes place in Scottsdale, Arizona) debuts the first three episodes on Apple TV+ on March 20, 2023. New episodes will be released every Wednesday through May 8. Apple Studios created Palm Royale, which was written and executive produced by Abe Sylvia (Dead To Me). Sylvia will also run the show on behalf of Aunt Sylvia’s Moving Picture Company.
The anticipation reached new heights on February 5, 2024, when Apple TV+ released the full trailer for Palm Royale. Just look at this cast!
The set sounds legendary
Palm Royale offers a strong premise and fun character roles for these noteworthy actors to sink their teeth into. There aren’t a lot of details about the plot yet, but Burnett told Entertainment Tonight that she thoroughly enjoyed working with such a strong group of actresses, especially Allison Janney. In fact, the two now play a popular crossword game nearly every day.
“Just being in a scene with any one of them,” said Burnett, “We all bonded very much and we just had a great girls club.”
“It was fabulous,” she added. “And Allison and I, we Wordle. We just Wordle back and forth. She’s the first one every morning at my coffee.”
Isn’t that just delightful?
Palm Royale will stream on Apple TV+ starting on March 20.
(featured image: Apple TV+)
