Apple TV+’s Palm Royale transports viewers back to 1960s Palm Beach for a darkly comic story of rejection and comeuppance.
Saturday Night Live legend Kristen Wiig leads an all-star cast of the comedy-drama as Maxine Dellacorte-Simmons, an aspiring debutante desperate to break into Palm Beach, Florida’s ultra-exclusive high society. Maxine is determined to rise through the ranks of Palm Beach’s most expensive private country club, The Palm Royale, at any cost.
Palm Royale viewers may recognize some of Palm Beach’s most popular tourist destinations — though the production team actually used visual effects to recreate the resort destination as it was in the late 1960s.
“We wanted to pick a spot that was very family oriented and was at a certain budget range, but just wasn’t completely derelict,” executive producer Tate Taylor told Screen Rant. “Even in West Palm Beach, the motel, the cheapest place to stay is actually kind of cool. Then when you start the bar there with Maxine where she’s squatting, and you think, ‘Well, I would stay there,’ then you raise the bar to where she’s trying to go.”
Amber Chardae Robinson is giving Us a little taste of what to expect from her character, Virginia, in Palm Royale season 2. “I can’t tease much, but we’re going to see what Virginia has up her sleeve a little bit,” the actress, 35, exclusively told Us Weekly on the Emmys red carpet on Sunday, September […]
Keep scrolling for more information on Palm Royale and where it is filmed.
Where Is ‘Palm Royale’ Filmed?
Palm Royale is set in the ritzy world of late 1960s Palm Beach, Florida, but most of the show was actually filmed elsewhere.
According to The Palm Beach Post, Palm Royale does use aerial shots of unmistakable locations like The Bath & Tennis Club. The private club sits next door to the estate Donald Trump bought in 1985 and converted into his Mar-a-Lago Club a decade later.
Palm Royale cleverly uses establishing shots of the real Palm Beach shopping district Royal Poinciana Way and the horseshoe-shaped condominium complex The President of Palm Beach. Through the use of visual effects and set dressing, both locations appear mostly as they looked in the 1960s. (The President’s white wave entranceway has been altered in Palm Royale to look slightly different than in real life.)
The Breakers Palm Beach Resort features heavily in some of Palm Royale’s pivotal scenes, though producers only used the outside of the hotel for an establishing shot. Most of the scenes taking place inside The Breakers were actually shot at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, according to film tracker Sceen It.
Palm Royale executive producer and director Tate Taylor revealed that he had an experience much like Kristen Wiig’s character Maxine Dellacorte-Simmons when he tried to do some research at one of Palm Beach’s historic resorts.
“I snuck in a side door like Maxine, got a great glimpse of the club, was spotted by security, and was kicked out. So I left Palm Beach feeling like a loser and trash,” Taylor told The Hollywood Reporter in 2024. “I said, ‘OK, this is a very real place.’”
Taylor explained that, because of Palm Beach’s very private and affluent community, Palm Royale had to mostly film on sound stages and L.A. venues that could double for their Florida counterparts.
The producer confirmed to THR that he “absolutely” wanted to shoot in Palm Beach originally, but eventually realized he’d have to make other plans.
“I felt most comfortable in West Palm Beach where Maxine was. That was my jam,” he added. “But as a director and storyteller, and former actor, it was very important for me to feel that [rejection].”
What Is ‘Palm Royale’ About?
Dead to Me and The Eyes of Tammy Faye filmmaker Abe Sylvia adapted Juliet McDaniel’s 2018 novel Mr. & Mrs. American Pie into Palm Royale.
Set in 1969, Palm Royale chronicles former beauty queen Maxine Dellacorte-Simmons (Wiig) attempting to climb the Palm Beach, Florida’s social hierarchy by using her comatose aunt-in-law Norma’s wealth and influence. Maxine sets her sights on the Palm Royale country club as a way to insinuate herself into the lives of Palm Beach’s jetset.
Who Stars in ‘Palm Royale’?
Wiig leads the cast of Palm Royale as Maxine Dellacorte Simmons. The beauty queen uses her comatose aunt-in-law Norma Dellacorte’s (Carol Burnett) considerable financial resources and her own cunning to gain the upper hand on the Palm Beach elite.
“Maxine is very ambitious and will stop at nothing to get what she wants but that twist of being so sunny and positive while she is doing it, makes you think, ‘Wait I think I like her’,” Wiig told Deadline.
Laura Dern’s feminist activist Linda Shaw forms an unlikely friendship with Maxine despite their differences. In season 2, Maxine also makes friends with local manicurist and aspiring model Mitzi, played by real-life model Kaia Gerber.
Laura Dern, Mindy Cohn, Amber Chardae Robinson, and Julia Duffy. Apple TV
Oscar winner Allison Janney’s high society queen bee Evelyn Rollins is less accepting of Maxine because she distrust the new arrival’s motives. Pop icon Ricky Martin plays Norma’s caretaker, Robert Diaz, who is hiding his own dark secret.
Palm Royale also features Josh Lucas (Yellowstone), Leslie Bibb (The White Lotus), Amber Chardae Robinson (80 for Brady), and Laura Dern’s real-life father, Bruce Dern, in supporting roles.
How Can You Watch ‘Palm Royale’?
Palm Royale season 1 and 2 are available to stream now on Apple TV+. The second season premiered in November 2025.
As of publication, Apple has not yet renewed Palm Royale for a third season.
