The Royals was cancelled so unexpectedly that there was not much planned for its fifth season, but season four certainly left many unanswered questions.
It is still unclear why The Royals ended so suddenly after the show’s fourth season, but this is not the only thing about the show that was left up in the air.
With all of the cliffhangers in the series finale, season five certainly would have had a lot of ground to cover.
Why did The Royals end?
It is always a sad day when a popular show gets cancelled, but what made The Royals’s cancellation all the more devastating was the fact that the series was cancelled so abruptly.
Ultimately, E! never really gave the public any explanation for the sudden cancellation of The Royals just after its fourth season ended.
But since the show had such a loyal fan base (see what we did there, Loyals?), this decision can likely just be attributed to all of the controversy surrounding the show’s showrunner, Mark Schwahn.
What was supposed to happen in The Royals season 5?
It is always difficult to say goodbye to a well-renowned, beloved show. But, at least when a show’s cancellation is planned, there is some kind of resolution or final bow at the end.
Unfortunately, since no one (not even the cast of The Royals), saw the series’ cancellation coming, the fourth season finale (which has now become the rather lackluster series finale) left many, many questions unanswered.
When all was said and done, this finale left avid fans of the show with quite a few cliffhangers.
This includes the surprise twist in which King Robert (who was played by Max Brown and was a latecomer to the series) not only ended up having a perfect and uninterrupted wedding, but also ended up keeping his title as the King of England, to the chagrin of the rest of his family.
On a more positive note, though, this did inspire Violet (Keeley Hazell) to make her return to the castle.
However, this was not the only shocking moment in this final episode. We also saw the relationship between Jasper (portrayed by Tom Austen) and Eleanor (played by Alexandra Park) evolve when the couple got pre-engaged.
And, in the last few moments of the episode, it was not only confirmed that Kathryn (Christina Wolfe) was pregnant, but it also seemed as if she had been kidnapped.
Now that the cast’s contracts have expired and a renewal seems all the more unlikely, it is safe to say that we may never know what would have happened in season five of the series.
However, this does not mean that we cannot make a few educated guesses.
We would likely have seen much more of Jasper and Eleanor in season 5
Since Jasper and Eleanor ended up pre-engaged by the end of season four, it is likely that we would have seen much more of the couple, and possibly even a second royal wedding, in the fifth season.
At the very least, the fifth season would have included some incredibly stylish wedding-planning scenes with Eleanor.
William Moseley (who played Liam in the show) even admitted that he had hoped that Jasper would choose Liam to be his best man.
What would have happened to Robert and Willow?
Willow’s choice to align herself with Robert at the end of the fourth season certainly came as a shock.
It certainly would have been interesting to see how her new marriage with Robert played out and how the other members of the family retaliated after her betrayal.
As for Robert, season five would also likely have given us some answers about whether he was the one who orchestrated Kathryn’s kidnapping (and whether this had anything to do with the baby).
The fight for the crown was far from over
Robert may have avoided Liam, Eleanor and Helena’s plan to bring him down at the end of the fourth season of The Royals, but if there is anything that we know for certain about this royal family – it is that they will do anything for the crown.
Alexandra Park confirmed that she would have liked to see Robert removed from the throne in season five, saying “He’s dark and twisted and needs to be dethroned, and I think he would be.”
The members of this royal family pulled out a variety of cruel tricks against each other in the first four seasons of the series, but season five would certainly have been jam-packed with schemes, drama and betrayal if Liam, Eleanor, Helena, and even Cyrus, Violet and Jasper, continued to band together in an effort to take Robert down.