Apple TV + scored a huge hit with the inaugural season of Palm Royale.
Palm Royale follows Maxine Simmons (Kristen Wiig) as an ambitious social climber, giving everything she’s got to break into Palm Beach high society. With a stellar ensemble cast that also includes Laura Dern, Carol Burnett, Josh Lucas, Amber Chardae Robinson, Kaia Gerber and Allison Janney, one of our favorite characters and a fan favorite to be sure has to be Ricky Martin’s Robert.
Source: Courtesy / Apple TV+
Over the last six weeks we’ve tuned in religiously to watch Maxine forge alliances, dodge sabotage and uncover the many secrets of the community she so badly wants to be a member of. As much as Maxine is pretending to be something and someone she’s not, over the course of ten episodes we learned that so was almost ever other character on the show. In fact, the Palm Royale finale was far from a tidy wrapping up of the season — and much more of an explosive event.
“I’ve been dealing with this story for maybe two years now, I know what’s gonna happen and still I was moved,” Ricky Martin told BOSSIP. “I just believe it’s a wonderful story and a wonderful project to be a part of. Just to be working with these amazing actors and people that I respect so much, that I admire, it’s been a wonderful trip and and let’s see what happens, crossing fingers, hopefully we’ll have a second season.”
SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!
Source: Courtesy / Apple TV+
Martin’s character Robert is shot in the season finale — and it wasn’t looking good for him by the end of the episode, but it appears there may be some hope for the future.
“[Palm Royale creator] Abe Sylvia did an interview a couple of weeks ago, when they asked him, ‘Why did you kill him?’ and he said ‘Who said I did?’” Martin told BOSSIP. “Let’s just leave it at that and then see what happens.”
And so the jaw-dropping moments continue for Palm Royale!
Source: Courtesy / Apple TV+
In the first season of Palm Royale, Martin’s character Robert is living a closeted life as a gay man. It’s 1969, a pivotal time for gay rights, but even when he’s offered the opportunity to move to New York where he can maneuver more freely, he opts to stay in Palm Beach.
“He really wants to be protected,” Martin explained. “He doesn’t want to be exposed. He doesn’t want to be a movement he just wants to be a person, like he says, because we live with this fear. The feelings that he was going through or experiencing in the late 60’s are absolutely the same feelings a man or a woman struggling with their identity today are dealing with.”
“Nothing has changed,” Martin continued. “The fear, the uncertainty, the fear of rejection, the fear of being hated, the fear of being fired from a job, it’s all there. It’s still very relevant and I know what it is to be in the closet and it’s one dark place and it’s scary. The choices that you have as a gay man in the closet are limited.”
“You still want to be loved. You still want to feel the affection, but unfortunately the choices that we have are sometimes not healthy. Sometimes because of the hate that is because of the narrative that is out there about the way we love, and unfortunately that is very similar to what happened in the 60s. We’ve taken some steps, little by little we’re moving forward there is freedom more freedom depending on the city that you live and in the country that you live in but it’s a subject that needs to be brought to the table still.
Source: Courtesy / Apple TV+
While Robert’s relationship with Maxine’s aunt-in-law Norma (Carol Burnet) is central to the show’s plot, he also becomes a trusted confidante to Maxine and her husband Douglas, as well as numerous other characters on the show.
“I just think that Robert is not judgmental at all and he’s a good ear,” Ricky Martin told BOSSIP. “He knows what it is to be judged. He comes from a very powerful family, from a very wealthy family, so he protects Norma because his radars are on when it comes to people that come with an agenda and so that’s why he loves her. He wants to protect her because he sees her like if she was his mother.”
Would you be excited for a second season of Palm Royale?
All ten episodes of Palm Royale are streaming on Apple TV+ now!