Honestly, Matthew Weiner had a lot of nerve. After basically redefining what television could be with Mad Men, everyone expected him to come back with another tight, prestige drama that we could all obsess over for a decade. Instead, he gave us The Romanoffs TV series. It’s an anthology. It’s expensive. It’s frequently uncomfortable. And it’s one of the most misunderstood pieces of media from the peak-streaming era.
You remember the pitch, right? Eight separate stories about people who believe they are descendants of the Russian Royal family. No recurring characters. No overlapping plots—at least not in the way you’d think. It was a massive gamble for Amazon Prime Video, reportedly costing around $70 million. That is a staggering amount of money for a show where half the characters are just arguing in beautiful Parisian apartments or having existential crises on a cruise ship.
People hated the format at first. Some still do. But if you actually sit with it, the show isn't really about history at all. It’s about the lies we tell ourselves to feel special.
The Massive Ambition (and Ego) of Matthew Weiner
Weiner didn't just write this; he directed every single episode. That’s rare. Usually, showrunners delegate, especially with an anthology where the setting changes from the rolling hills of France to the rainy streets of Ohio. Because he had total control, the show feels incredibly specific. It’s indulgent. It’s slow.
Some episodes feel like a feature-length film, clocking in at nearly 90 minutes. That’s a lot to ask of an audience. We live in a world of TikTok clips and ten-minute recaps. Asking someone to sit through "The Royal We" or "The House of Special Purpose" requires a level of patience that many viewers just didn't have in 2018. But that’s the point. The show moves at the pace of real life—or at least the pace of the wealthy, disconnected lives it portrays.
It’s easy to see why critics were divided. If you go in expecting Mad Men in Russia, you’re going to be annoyed. There are no Don Drapers here. Instead, you get a collection of people who are often deeply unlikable, clinging to a heritage that might be a total fluke of DNA.
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Why the Anthology Format Actually Works
Each episode is a standalone movie. This was a bold choice. You have "The Violet Hour," which stars Marthe Keller and Aaron Eckhart. It’s a story about a xenophobic elderly woman and her nephew who wants her apartment. It feels like a biting French comedy. Then you jump to "Expectation," which is a grueling look at a day in the life of a woman in New York who is cheating on her husband.
The tonal whiplash is real.
But here is the thing: the connective tissue isn't the Romanoff bloodline. It’s the myth. Whether these people are actually related to Nicholas II doesn't matter. What matters is the idea of being royalty. It’s about that human need to be "more than." Most of the characters are desperately searching for a reason why their lives feel so empty despite their privilege.
If you look at "House of Special Purpose," featuring Christina Hendricks and Isabelle Huppert, it turns into a straight-up psychological horror. It’s meta. It’s a show about a show about the Romanoffs. It’s dizzying. Is it pretentious? Yeah, probably. But it’s also fascinating to watch a creator take such big swings with a massive budget.
The Cast is Absolutely Ridiculous
Amazon clearly wrote a blank check for the talent. Look at this list:
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- Isabelle Huppert (a literal legend of French cinema)
- Diane Lane
- Corey Stoll
- Kathryn Hahn
- John Slattery
- Amanda Peet
Seeing Slattery and Hendricks back in a Weiner production was a treat for Mad Men fans, even if they weren't playing anything like Roger Sterling or Joan Holloway. Hahn, in particular, delivers a performance in "End of the Line" that is so raw it makes the rest of the show look like a cartoon. She plays a woman traveling to Russia to adopt a baby, and the episode captures the cold, bureaucratic nightmare of international adoption with terrifying precision. It’s arguably the best hour (and a half) of the whole series.
What Most People Get Wrong About the History
There is a common misconception that The Romanoffs TV series is a period piece. It isn't. Not even a little bit.
If you are looking for the tragedy of 1918, the basement in Yekaterinburg, or the mystery of Anastasia, you’ll only find it in the opening credits (which are stunning, by the way, set to Tom Petty's "Refugee"). The show is firmly planted in the present. It uses the historical tragedy as a backdrop for modern narcissism.
Historians will tell you that after the execution of the Romanovs, dozens of "survivors" popped up across Europe and America. Anna Anderson is the most famous, claiming for decades to be Anastasia. DNA testing eventually proved she was a fraud. Weiner’s show plays with this legacy of pretension. It asks: Who are you if you aren't a prince? ## The Controversy You Might Have Forgotten
You can't really talk about this show without mentioning the cloud it premiered under. During production, allegations of sexual harassment were made against Matthew Weiner by a former writer. This cast a massive shadow over the release. Many critics found it hard to separate the art from the artist, especially since the show frequently deals with power dynamics, gender roles, and men who behave badly.
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The show also faced criticism for its length. Why does an episode about a cruise ship need to be 88 minutes long? Honestly, it probably doesn't. But in the era of "content" being squeezed into predictable boxes, there is something respectable about a creator who refuses to edit his vision down to a "snackable" size. It’s arrogant, sure, but it’s also "prestige TV" in its purest, most unfiltered form.
Is It Worth a Binge in 2026?
Streaming services are deleting shows left and right for tax write-offs. It’s a miracle The Romanoffs TV series is still sitting there on the Prime servers.
If you decide to dive in, don't try to watch it all at once. It’s not a binge show. It’s an "one episode every few days" show. Treat it like a film festival. Some entries will bore you. "Bright and High Circle" feels a bit like a slog. But then you’ll hit "The One That Holds Everything," and the way the narrative threads finally—finally—pull together will leave you staring at the wall for ten minutes after the credits roll.
The show captures a very specific moment in time when streamers were willing to spend $70 million on a literary, high-brow experiment. We might never see that happen again. Most shows now are designed by algorithms to keep you scrolling. The Romanoffs doesn't care if you're scrolling. It demands you pay attention to the dialogue, the costume design, and the subtle ways people ruin each other's lives.
What to Keep in Mind Before Watching
If you're going to start the series tonight, here’s the reality:
- Ignore the "Russian" aspect. This is a show about Americans and Europeans who have an identity crisis. The "Romanoff" title is a hook, not a history lesson.
- Pick and choose. Since it's an anthology, you don't strictly have to watch them in order, though the final episode does have some payoff if you've seen the others. If an episode isn't vibing with you after 20 minutes, skip to the next one. They are entirely different worlds.
- Watch "End of the Line" first. If you want to see the show at its absolute peak of emotional stakes and storytelling, start with Episode 7. It’s the most "human" story in the bunch.
- Pay attention to the intros. The title sequence is a masterpiece of visual storytelling, summarizing the 1918 execution in a stylized, bloody way that sets the tone for the "descendants" who follow.
The series is a weird, bloated, beautiful, and frustrating mess. It’s exactly the kind of thing that gets buried in the "Recommended for You" section but deserves a second look. It reminds us that even if we share the blood of kings, we’re still just people trying to figure out why we’re so unhappy in our own living rooms.
To get the most out of your viewing, start with the episodes "The Violet Hour" and "End of the Line" to see the two extremes of the show's tone. Check your expectations for a traditional plot at the door, and look for the subtle ways Weiner uses the Romanov myth to critique modern wealth. You won't find a "happily ever after," but you will find some of the most piercing character studies of the last decade.