What goes in to making hit Netflix period drama 'The Empress'? Thousands of candles, wigs and extras

The cast and crew never expected a German TV show about European monarchy to go global, but “The Empress” has reached viewers far beyond the old Austrian Empire.

According to Netflix , the period drama’s first two seasons hit the Top 10 in more than 85 countries, ahead of the third and final season launching Thursday.

Stars Devrim Lingnau Islamoğlu and Philip Froissant, who play Empress Elisabeth (better known to some as Sisi or Sissi) and Emperor Franz Joseph I, have been recognized — even out of the wigs and gowns of the costume drama — around the world from the U.K. to Turkey (Lingnau is German-Turkish) to Peru where Lingnau was filming a movie.

The show is set in the latter half of the 19th century and based on the real lives of the ill-fated empress, who was assassinated by an anarchist, and one of the last Habsburg emperors of Austria-Hungary.

Despite struggling with her own mental health and shyness, Empress Elisabeth fought for her political beliefs and to find her own place in the world. This continues to win her plenty of admirers and portrayals — by Romy Schneider in the 1950s “Sissi” trilogy of films and Vicky Krieps in 2022’s “Corsage.”

Born in Munich like the real Empress Elisabeth, showrunner Katharina Eyssen grew up “overwhelmed” by stories about Sisi and wasn’t sure another version was needed. Now, she gets emotional thinking about how viewers from Ukraine, Iran and African countries have contacted her “saying that it meant so much to them to see this character and it gave them hope or a moment of relief or just a moment of joy.”

Froissant says he too receives messages from people over the world, who have been traveling to historic sites recreated in the show — though they're disappointed to find the series is shot in a Bavarian castle, not Austria. (Sisi's real palaces are now museums and haven't been used for filming since the 1970s.)

That hasn’t stopped fans paying their respects, as Eyssen noted when visiting Vienna’s Imperial Crypt where Habsburgs — including the couple and Archduke Maximilian, briefly emperor of Mexico before his execution — are buried. Among the Mexican flags and coins left by visitors, she saw, was a picture of the actor Johannes Nussbaum, who plays Franz Joseph's brother on the show.

Recreating the world of Sisi and Franz Joseph required a staggering number of costume changes, wigs and even fake Champagne bottles. Here's a behind the scenes look at the details that went into the period drama, according to Netflix.

It’s “quite unbalanced” to compare the number of costumes the lead actors had across three seasons, according to Froissant. “For me it was much easier, there’s just like three kinds of uniforms and then maybe eight to 10 civil outfits,” he says.

Lingnau, on the other hand, clocked 88 different costumes in total, with each outfit consisting of multiple layers — blouses, skirts, underskirts, corsets. The majority were hand-sewn.

“Some of the dresses we had were just seen once or something, in one small scene, and then they’re gone again, and people were working on it for weeks,” recalled Lingnau.

While 23 wigs were made for the main cast — four or five just for Sisi and her double — many more beards and sideburns were created.

Froissant, though, never needed to touch the stash of fake sideburns; it was all his own facial hair and he was stuck with it during shooting.

“It’s such a distinctive look, especially when you’re wearing normal day clothes," he said. "It makes you look more like a trucker or a rocker, rockabilly guy.”

That’s a lot of candles, but it could have been much more. Eyssen says that estimate is just from the last two seasons.

“We couldn’t (use candles) on Season 1 because we were still shooting in so many original locations,” Eyssen explained. “Then we got wiser and moved it to the stage and then we burned all the candles because you’re not allowed in the actual castles.”

Lingnau is surprised at the total number of fake champagne bottles on set, expecting it to be far higher.

"Almost all of the scenes in Schönbrunn people are drinking,” she says, of the parties and special occasions which are set at one of the couple's grand Austrian palaces.

Big events like weddings, coronations and public appearances all involved huge crowds of background actors.

“The first time when everybody goes to their knees when you enter the room, it was a strange feeling,” says Froissant.

Both stars say the background actors were extremely patient but, after shooting the same scene multiple times, Lingnau said, “even the extras are starting to giggle, because they don’t take you serious anymore.”