Official poster for Versailles

Scripted series · Canal+

Versailles

Those who come after us will think that they are just fairy tales...

7.7IMDb228 votesWorth your time
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2015 – 20183 seasons · 30 episodes~52 min per episodeTV-MAEnded
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The Nutevio profile

TV DNA

How Versailles actually feels to watch, measured on the traits our editors track across every series.

Signature profile

Versailles reads strongest on Character Depth, Bingeability and Emotional Weight.

Character DepthDefining9.2

How fully written and psychologically layered the ensemble is.

BingeabilityStrong6.8

How hard it is to stop after one episode.

Emotional WeightStrong6.8

How much the series is designed to affect you.

SerializedStrong5.5

How much each hour depends on the one before it.

Cliffhanger IntensityPresent4.0

How often an episode ends on a hook you can't ignore.

TensionPresent4.0

The sustained pressure the series keeps you under.

SpectacleLight3.5

Visual ambition — scale, craft and set-piece filmmaking.

World BuildingLight3.5

The scale, internal logic and texture of the world.

HumourLight2.5

How often the series is genuinely funny, by design.

The story

What it's about

The story of a young Louis XIV on his journey to become the most powerful monarch in Europe, from his battles with the fronde through his development into the Sun King. Historical and fictional characters guide us in a world of betrayal and political maneuvering, revealing Versailles in all its glory and brutality.

The run

Seasons

3 seasons · 30 episodes.

  • Season 0 · Complete

    Specials

    201624 episodes

  • Official poster for Season 1

    Season 1 · Complete

    Season 1

    201510 episodes

    6.0IMDb

    Versailles, 1667. King Louis XIV is a 28-year-old monarch on the cusp of greatness. A ruthless leader, he will stop at nothing to achieve his vision of creating the most beautiful palace in Europe and seizing absolute control of France and his enemies. In order to rule over the nobility and to permanently impose his absolute power, he launches the construction of Versailles, like one sets a trap. Louis XIV is a young king haunted by childhood trauma, the Fronde, a rebellion of the nobility against his father Louis XIII… Outstanding political strategist, manipulator, Machiavellian, he will “invent” Versailles in order to keep the Nobles away from Paris and under control

    Best episode · S01E08 Diplomacy

  • Official poster for Season 2

    Season 2 · Complete

    Season 2

    201710 episodes

    5.6IMDb

    Versailles, 1671. Louis has completed the first phase of his project the building far from Paris, of the most beautiful palace in Europe where he will effectively lock up the nobility to exercise absolute control over them. Unexpectedly, his project turns against him. Versailles is riddled with corruption. Louis has created a new civilization, where the courtesans are desperate to get close to the Sun. Behind the rules of etiquette imposed on the court, they dream of elevating their social status, wealth and power. Any and all means of doing so are utilized which inevitably results in the deterioration of morality and the spread of dangerous and poisonous behaviour… Blinded by the love for his favorite courtesan, Madame de Montespan, Louis remains deaf to the Church’s injunctions. The greatest enemy that stands before Louis is no longer the nobility, nor Guillaume d’Orange, it is God who now threatens the Sun King.

    Best episode · S02E05 War and Peace

  • Official poster for Season 3

    Season 3 · Complete

    Season 3

    201810 episodes

    4.3IMDb

    Louis XIV is ascendant after winning the war with Holland and solving the Affair of the Poisons -- but his angry citizens are fomenting rebellion.

    Best episode · S03E04 Crime and Punishment

Where the series peaks

Best Episodes

The hours that define the show, ranked by audience response and editorial signal.

Still from Diplomacy

S01E08

Diplomacy

8.1IMDb10 votes

With his lover in prison and his wife Henriette surviving a miscarriage Philippe is not a happy man but Louis, buoyant at overcoming his enemies, is keen for an alliance with England for an invasion of the Netherlands and sends Henriette to London to see her brother Charles II and negotiate terms. Cassel and others plot to kill her but the conspiracy is denounced to the king by Montcalm, anxious to be reinstated at court. Fabien survives an attempt to kill him whilst Louis has a job offer for Philippe.

7 Dec 201553 min
Still from Bring the Garden Here

S01E10

Bring the Garden Here

7.0IMDb12 votes

Duchess Henriette becomes suddenly ill when she returns from a visit to her brother in England. They fear she might have been poisoned, so King Louis XIV shuts all access To Versailles.

14 Dec 201551 min
Still from Etiquette

S01E09

Etiquette

6.7IMDb12 votes

Louis believes to triumph diplomatically when his queen Henriette negotiates an alliance with England against the Dutch for cash and a guard for her brother, English king Charles II, but when William of Orange personally comes question the Stuart 'reunion', Charles offers him a princess's hand. Rohan continues to elude Marchal's efforts to dismantle the secret society in Orange's service, even arranges the escape of a traitor locked up for torture. Marchal, who is losing Louis' confidence, proves the Pau ladies frauds, discretely executes the mother, his 'lover' and the poison monger, and chases the daughter. Chevalier convinces Philippe not to resent Louis' demand to devise elaborate court etiquette but to enjoy becoming the aristocracy at court's puppeteers, while Louis proudly radiates as a heliocentric sun.

14 Dec 201554 min
Still from War and Peace

S02E05

War and Peace

6.6IMDb6 votes

King Louis XIV's continued insomnia makes him increasingly volatile, meaning Marchal's loyalty counts for nothing. Claudine continues to investigate the mystery toxin, while Sophie seeks a solution to her situation.

10 Apr 201756 min
Still from Revelations

S01E07

Revelations

6.5IMDb12 votes

Louis is struck down with fever and, whilst the official version is that he has had a hunting accident, the courtiers are suspicious and Philippe lets slip to Rohan that, if his brother dies, he will be regent. When the delirious Louis runs round the palace in his night shirt the facts become visible and the queen, Cassel and others meet secretly to plan ahead should he not survive but Louis recovers, thanks to Claudine Masson, daughter of the late court doctor whom Louis now appoints as his physician. Due to Fabien's spy network he also exposes the conspirators, in particular the CHevalier, and orders arrests to be made whilst finally releasing Mademoiselle de Clermont to become a nun on her request.

7 Dec 201556 min
Still from Invalides

S01E06

Invalides

6.4IMDb13 votes

Ex-soldiers working on construction at the palace feel aggrieved at their treatment and down tools. On advice from gardener and confidant Jacques, who suggests a war hero act as intermediary, Louis is nonetheless jealously intransigent when Philippe offers his services. The king's bullying also extends to his refusal to allow ex-mistress Louise de la Valliere to leave for a convent whilst Athenais conducts her own agenda and Cassel, his home burned to the ground, is forced to move into the palace from where he continues to scheme. Louis is ultimately forced to bring Philippe in for a public relations exercise as he breaks the strike, after which Philippe makes his own plans to leave Versailles.

30 Nov 201553 min

Recently aired

Latest Episodes

Still from Episode 24

S00E24

Episode 24

21 Dec 201820 min
Still unavailable

S00E23

Versailles: The Final Act

5.0IMDb1 votes
15 Dec 201852 min
Still unavailable

S00E22

Versailles: Behind the Scenes

5.0IMDb1 votes
23 Sept 201852 min
Still unavailable

S00E21

Versailles: An Introduction

5.0IMDb1 votes
13 Sept 201852 min
Still from The Tinderbox

S03E09

The Tinderbox

5.0IMDb2 votes
21 May 201854 min
Still from The Legacy

S03E10

The Legacy

5.0IMDb2 votes
21 May 201859 min

Behind the series

Created by

Showrunners, creators, executive producers and the writers who set the voice of the series.

The craft

Key Crew

Directing, writing, production, camera, music and editing.

Direction

Music

Where to watch

Streaming

Availability verified against regional listings.

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