Dottie and Albie Roman lead a country music dynasty at the center of a multigenerational family drama. Daughter Nicky Roman does all she can to protect the dynasty's reign in country music while ensuring her own stardom.[3]
Cast and characters
Main
Anna Friel as Nicolette "Nicky" Roman: Dottie and Albie's daughter who struggles to live up to her family's legacy.
Taegan Burns as young Nicky
Trace Adkins as Albie Roman: Dottie's husband and a legendary singer-songwriter known as the "Texas Truthteller".
Joshua Sasse as Luke Roman: Dottie and Albie's son and the CEO of Monarch Records.
Gavin Bedell as young Luke
Beth Ditto as Georgina "Gigi" Taylor-Roman: Dottie and Albie's younger daughter who shunned the spotlight.
Elena Murray as young Gigi
Iñigo Pascual as Ace Grayson: Nicky's and Clive's adopted son.
Dottie Roman, the Queen of Country Music, and her husband Albie are interviewed in advance of receiving a CMA lifetime achievement award when a reporter (played by Josh Rhett Noble) asks her whether her reluctance to perform is due to a rumored cancer diagnosis. Dottie tries to brush it off but, when the reporter persists, Albie punches him and Dottie's diagnosis is made public. As news spreads, Nicky, their daughter and an aspiring artist struggling to escape from her family's shadow, and Luke, their son and CEO of Monarch Records, try to handle the fallout by promoting the planned family tour as a tribute to Dottie, though the promoter warns that, without Dottie performing, they are considering pulling their funding if an upcoming preview show is not successful. Nicky asks her sister Gigi to perform at the showcase with her but she refuses, stating that she is done fighting for the love of their parents, while Luke and Albie clash over the former's management of Monarch. Dottie convinces Gigi to perform by telling her to do it for her siblings and convinces Luke not to leave Monarch by pledging to leave her shares in the company to him when she dies. After the show, Albie confesses that he cheated on Dottie when they first got married and she reveals that she's always known and promises to love him forever. Nicky deduces that Dottie leaked the news of her diagnosis in an effort to go out on her own terms. Dottie asks Nicky to help her commit suicide and, though reluctant, she agrees. In her final moments, Dottie confesses to doing things that cannot be forgiven. Gigi arrives and catches Nicky holding a bottle of empty pills by their mother, who is unresponsive. In a flashforward, Albie buries a body.
Gigi agrees to keep Nicky's part in Dottie's death a secret to avoid fracturing of the family, but their relationship becomes strained. Luke becomes suspicious of his mother's sudden passing and begins to suspect that Albie was responsible after hearing that they had an argument, leading to a physical confrontation. Gigi is declared the "new Queen of country" and is encouraged by Nellie to step out of her sister's shadow. At the will reading, Luke, Nicky and Gigi argue over the Dottie's legacy and the future of the family. Aspiring artist Ana and her mother Catt have their meeting with Monarch cancelled following Dottie's death, leaving Ana dejected but Catt convinces her not to give up hope. During Dottie's funeral, Albie refuses to perform following a song dispute but, after a heart-to-heart with Ace, agrees to sing as long as Ace, who suffers from anxiety, performs as well. Kayla attempts to break off her affair with Luke, feeling guilty about hurting Gigi, but Luke convinces her that they must live in the present and they kiss, which is seen by Nicky. Luke becomes convinced that Nicky is hiding something after finding out that she forged goodbye letters from Dottie. In the flashforward, the Police arrive at the Romans' to interview Albie.
Tying into the first season’s 7th episode (“About Last Night”), Fox Entertainment partnered with ReserveBar and Next Century Spirits to create a “new double-barreled straight bourbon whiskey” named Truthteller 1839.[17] The whiskey took its name from Albie Roman’s legendary moniker – The Texas Truthteller – and the product was featured in show as part of the Monarch empire’s latest business venture.
Production
Development
The series was announced in May 2021. It is created and executive produced by Melissa London Hilfers. Michael Rauch was the original showrunner and one of the executive producers but he was replaced by Jon Feldman in November 2021.[18] Other executive producers are Hend Baghdady, Gail Berman and Jason Owen. The episodes will be hour-long.[19] Jason Ensler has been tapped to direct and executive produce the two-part pilot.[20]Principal photography for the series began on September 13, 2021, and concluded on March 31, 2022, in Atlanta, Georgia.[21] On December 7, 2022, it was announced that the series was cancelled after one season by Fox.[2]
Casting
In September 2021 Susan Sarandon, Trace Adkins, Beth Ditto, Josh Sasse, Megan Holder, Inigo Dominic Pascual, Martha Higareda and Emma Milani were announced to join the series in leading roles[22][23][24][25][26][27][28] along with the recurring cast: Eva Amurri, Adam Croasdell and Faith Prince.[29][30][31] In November 2021, Callum Kerr, Kevin Cahoon, Reshma Shetty, Damon Dayoub and D.W. Moffett were announced to join the series' recurring cast.[32][33] On August 17, 2022, a trailer for the series revealed that several country stars would appear in the show as themselves, including Shania Twain, Martina McBride, Tanya Tucker and Little Big Town.[34][35]
Release
The series was originally scheduled to premiere on January 30, 2022.[36] On January 12, 2022, Fox announced that due to COVID-19-related issues and the change in showrunner impacting production, and to allow for reshoots and a more thorough promotional campaign, the premiere of Monarch had been delayed to fall 2022.[37][38][39] The series premiered on September 11, 2022, as a lead out of Fox's NFL coverage, with the pilot airing four times in a timespan of four days.[40]
Music
The title track of the series "The Card You Gamble", which was written by Nashville songwriters Liz Rose, Lori McKenna and Hillary Lindsey and performed by singer-songwriter Caitlyn Smith, was released on January 14, 2022.[41] On August 3, 2022, "American Cowgirl", a song written by Casey Brown, Heather Morgan and Monarch music supervisor Adam Anders which is performed by Friel's character Nicky in the show, was released. The series features a mixture of original and cover songs and is released through Arista Records.[42]
Emma Milani as Ana Phoenix and Iñigo Pascual as Ace Grayson
Reception
Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 33% approval rating with an average rating of 5.8/10, based on 12 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Heavy on the clichés while disappointingly light on Susan Sarandon, this Monarch is a so-so successor to a lineage of soaps about families warring over their business empire."[52]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 43 out of 100 based on 11 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[53]
