E! Greenlights Season Three of Original Scripted Series THE ROYALS

E! Entertainment today announced the season three pick-up of hit first original scripted drama series THE ROYALS, co-produced by Lionsgate and Universal Cable Productions. Created by Mark Schwahn, the hour-long drama centers around a fictional modern day royal family. "The Royals'" third season will again be 10 one-hour episodes.

Currently, all-new episodes of season two air every Sunday at 10pm ET/PT. The stellar cast is led by Elizabeth Hurley as the calculating Queen Helena, and she is joined by William Moseley as the vengeful Prince Liam, Alexandra Park as an uncontrollable Princess Eleanor, Tom Austen as the Prince's devious bodyguard Jasper Frost, Oliver Milburn as the troubled head of the Royal security, and Jake Maskall as the newly-crowned and universally despised King Cyrus. Lydia Rose Bewley, Andrew Bicknell, Victoria Ekanoye, Poppy Corby-Tuech, Simon Thomas, and Scott Maslen co-star along with Joan Collins as the Grand Duchess of Oxford. The series, which ranks as one of 2015's top new scripted cable series, is executive produced, written and directed by Mark Schwahn ("One Tree Hill"), and executive produced by Brian Robbins, Joe Davola ("One Tree Hill," "Smallville") and Shauna Phelan.

"We are incredibly proud of the success of 'The Royals,'" said Jeff Olde, Executive Vice President, Original Programming & Development, E! "The series has captured fans and brought them into a regal world of sexy, fun drama. We can't wait to see what season three will bring and what surprises are still in store as we enter the second half of season two."

"We are delighted by today's pick-up announcement for season three of 'The Royals,'" said Kevin Beggs, Lionsgate Television Group Chairman. "'The Royals' reflects the kind of original, noisy and provocative series that is a Lionsgate signature. We look forward to an all-new season of palace intrigue and badly behaved royals with our partners at E! and Universal Cable Productions."

In its second season, "The Royals" is averaging an impressive 1.3M Total Viewers and 754K A18-49. "The Royals" is one of the top 3 new original scripted series of 2015 among P18-49 across ad-supported cable, excluding spinoffs. The series ranks as the #2 new original scripted series of 2015 among P/W 18-34 and W18-49 across ad-supported cable, excluding spinoffs. "The Royals" contributed to E!'s ongoing success as the fastest growing top 30 entertainment network in primetime with P18-49 in 4Q 2015. E! was the only network to see double digit growth, building 12% over 4Q 2014.

The second season picked up eight weeks after the tragic murder of King Simon (Vincent Regan) by an unknown assailant. Cyrus, Simon's arrogant brother, has taken the throne after deeming the Prince and Princess illegitimate, with the help of the Queen to fabricate the paternity results. While Cyrus, who is also secretly battling cancer, is convinced the Queen is on his side, her majesty has her own agenda in mind: change the succession of the Royal Family and make the power shift to the Queen if anything should happen to yet another King. Meanwhile, Liam vows to bring his father's murderer to justice and teams up with an unlikely ally to do so, the duplicitous bodyguard Jasper who had been relieved from his duties after sleeping with both the Princess and the Queen, and had once been considered a prime suspect in the King's attack that led to his death. However, the two young men, who are both working to mend their respective broken hearts, have bonded over their mutual concern for the Princess' wellbeing as she falls further down the rabbit hole.

"The Royals" is co-produced by Lionsgate and Universal Cable Productions. The series is executive produced, written and directed by Mark Schwahn ("One Tree Hill"), and executive produced by Brian Robbins, Joe Davola ("One Tree Hill," "Smallville"), and Shauna Phelan.

"The Royals" season two finale airs Sunday, January 17 at 10pm ET/PT on E!

About E! Entertainment: E! is the only global, multiplatform brand for all things pop culture. The network is currently available to 98 million cable and satellite subscribers in the U.S. Eonline delivers breaking entertainment news and in-depth coverage on television, movies, music, celebrities, fashion, beauty and lifestyle. One of the fastest-growing, most influential digital properties, Eonline is a leader in online video and mobile and a leading entertainment brand across social. E! programming includes core franchises "E! News," "The Soup" and "Fashion Police," popular series "Keeping Up with the Kardashians," "Total Divas," "#RichKids of Beverly Hills," "Botched," "House of DVF," "I Am Cait" and "WAGS," as well as the network's first original scripted series "The Royals." Additionally, E!'s "Live from the Red Carpet" signature events keep fans connected to their favorite stars on pop culture's biggest nights. E! is a network of NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment, a division of NBCUniversal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news and information to a global audience. For more corporate information, visit www.nbcuniversal.com.

About Universal Cable Productions: Universal Cable Productions (UCP) creates innovative and critically acclaimed original scripted and digital content across media platforms for domestic and international distribution. UCP's content library spans classics such as Emmy-award winning, "Monk," and critic and fan favorites "Psych," "Battlestar Galactica" and "Warehouse 13." In the U.S., UCP's programming can be seen across various networks, including: "Colony" (2016), "Dig," "Mr. Robot," "Playing House," "Royal Pains," "Satisfaction" and "Suits" on USA Network; "12 Monkeys," "Childhood's End" (2015), "Hunters" (2016), "Killjoys" and "The Magicians" (2016) on Syfy; "Girlfriends' Guide To Divorce" on Bravo; "The Royals," on E!; "Difficult People" on Hulu; "Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome" on Machinima Prime/YouTube, Syfy and DVD/Blu-Ray; and "Side Effects" on Awesomeness TV/YouTube. Universal Cable Productions is a part of NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment, a division of NBCUniversal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies. Follow us @UCPisTV.

About Lionsgate Lionsgate is a premier next generation global content leader with a strong and diversified presence in motion picture production and distribution, television programming and syndication, home entertainment, digital distribution, new channel platforms, video games and international distribution and sales. The Company has nearly 80 television shows on 40 different networks spanning its primetime production, distribution and Syndication businesses. These include the critically-acclaimed hit series Orange is the New Black, the multiple Emmy Award-winning drama Mad Men, the hit broadcast network series Nashville, the Syndication success The Wendy Williams Show, the acclaimed drama Manhattan and the breakout series The Royals. Its feature film business has been fueled by such successes as the blockbuster Hunger Games franchise, the first two installments of the Divergent franchise, Sicario, The Age of Adaline, CBS/Lionsgate's The DUFF, John Wick, Now You See Me, Roadside Attractions' Love & Mercy and Mr. Holmes, Lionsgate/Codeblack Films' Addicted and Pantelion Films' Instructions Not Included, the highest-grossing Spanish-language film ever released in the U.S. Lionsgate's home entertainment business is an industry leader in box office-to-DVD and box office-to-VOD revenue conversion rates. Lionsgate handles a prestigious and prolific library of approximately 16,000 motion picture and television titles that is an important source of recurring revenue and serves as the foundation for the growth of the Company's core businesses. The Lionsgate and Summit brands remain synonymous with original, daring, quality entertainment in markets around the world. www.lionsgate.com

Image courtesy of E!

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