Netflix India is shaking up the creative foundation of The Royals. Filmmaker Jasmeet K. Reen, best known for the acclaimed movie Darlings, is officially stepping in to direct the second season. She replaces the original directorial duo, Priyanka Ghose and Nupur Asthana, according to a detailed report by Bollywood Hungama.
The directorial swap kicks off a total genre pivot for the streaming series. When The Royals premiered in May 2025, it leaned heavily into a romantic comedy format built around Ishaan Khatter and Bhumi Pednekar. While that debut season pulled in high viewership numbers and dominated the regional charts, audiences and critics sharply criticized the writing and performances. The production team is now abandoning the central romance in favor of a serious, sprawling family drama.
This creative overhaul directly follows a high-profile casting exit. Earlier in May 2026, Pednekar formally walked away from the project to pursue darker, layered characters like her upcoming role in Daldal 2, as outlined by The Times of India. Her departure gave the writers a clean runway to scrap the original storyline completely.
With Pednekar gone and Reen taking control behind the camera, the upcoming episodes will dig straight into the internal power struggles of the royal household. The new narrative structure prioritizes the character arcs of Khatter, Sakshi Tanwar, and veteran actress Zeenat Aman. Netflix is clearly leaning on Reen’s proven ability to balance dark tension with domestic drama to fix a commercially lucrative but heavily scrutinized television property.