The American Throne - What We Know So Far

What if the United States was founded as a monarchy? A new drama series is seeking out the answer to this alternative history hypothetical with "The American Throne."

The new series is being developed by "Mr. Robot" creator Sam Esmail and Nigerian-American filmmaker Julius Onah for Universal Content Productions (a company under NBCUniversal). Onah, who will write and direct the new series, has previously written and directed 2015's "The Girl is in Trouble" and 2019's "Luce," as well as directing 2018's "The Cloverfield Paradox." Meanwhile, since "Mr. Robot" ended in 2019, Esmail has kept plenty busy and currently has a slew of other shows in the works as either writer or producer (or both), such as the upcoming "Angelyne" and "Gaslit."

As for "The American Throne," very little information is out so far, as it's still in early development. But for those curious, here's all we know so far about the release date, cast, and plot.

As mentioned above, there isn't a ton of information currently out about "The American Throne" as of yet, so it's unclear when the series will be making its way to our televisions.

For speculation purposes, however, we can look at Esmail's most recent executive producing project under UCP, "Homecoming," which starred Julia Roberts in its first season and Janelle Monae in its second. In December 2016, Deadline reported that Esmail would be developing a series, "Homecoming," based on the popular podcast of the same name. The series then premiered in November of 2018. With that in mind, we can estimate that it'll be about two years from now, the time of the initial announcement, until we see the premiere of "The American Throne."

Once we hear the news that filming has begun, we can make a better estimate, but as of now, the summer of 2023 is looking pretty likely for "The American Throne" to be available to viewers.

Again, we can only speculate as to who might appear in "The American Throne," as the project is still in early production stages and no casting choices have been announced yet.

For "Homecoming," Esmail was able to nab quite a few recognizable faces — alongside veteran actor Julia Roberts, Season 1 alone also included Bobby Cannavale ("Boardwalk Empire," "Mr. Robot"), Stephen James ("If Beale Street Could Talk") and Stephen King's Carrie White herself Sissy Spacek (from the 1976 film). And speaking of Roberts, she's also set to star in Esmail's other upcoming project, "Gaslit," so it's possible she could complete a hat trick and show up in "The American Throne."

Meanwhile, Esmail's other in-the-works project, "Angelyne" boasts many up-and-coming actors, such as Charlie Rowe ("Red Band Society"), Diana Gitelman ("We Are Fathers") and Lukas Gage ("Love, Victor"), alongside Emmy Rossum in her first major TV role since "Shameless." So, it's also just as likely that Esmail will go the "Angelyne" route and cast lesser-known actors.

We'll just have to wait for the casting announcements to start rolling out to find out.

"The American Throne" will be set in the present-day United States, but with a vital twist — in this version of America, the country was founded as a monarchy. Per The Hollywood Reporter, the official synopsis continues as such, "an entirely white royal family is plunged into a scorched earth succession battle when it's revealed the late king has hidden a mind-blowing secret: A Black son who is the true heir to the throne."

This brief synopsis is the only information we currently have plot-wise. Since the series is an original idea — versus being based on a novel, for example — this premise is all we have to go off of so far. It's undoubtedly an intriguing idea for a series, as there are so many layers just to this short synopsis. We can expect the series to explore race relations head-on, including how they play into power positions and public personas.

Stay tuned for more details on "The American Throne" as they become available.