The Royals Season 2 Begins Filming: Ishaan Khatter, Zeenat Aman and Sakshi Tanwar Return, Bhumi Pednekar Out

Netflix has officially begun filming the second season of The Royals, its romantic drama set in the fictional kingdom of Morpur, with Ishaan Khatter returning as Prince Aviraaj Singh alongside Zeenat Aman, Sakshi Tanwar, Vihaan Samat and Kavya Trehan. The announcement, made by Netflix and Pritish Nandy Communications on Tuesday, November 3, confirms the season is now in production after a troubled behind-the-scenes run that saw two directors exit before filming resumed under a new hand. The new season is directed by Nitya Mehra and Tanuj Chopra, and it will expand the world of Morpur with new kingdoms, characters, alliances, rivalries and romances.

The headline casting news is who is not returning. Bhumi Pednekar, who played the female lead Sophia Kanmani Shekhar opposite Khatter in season 1, will not be part of season 2, with the makers shifting focus from the central romance to the dynamics of the royal family itself. Reports have previously linked Miss India World Sini Shetty and actor Gurfateh Pirzada to the new season’s cast, with a love triangle reportedly forming around Khatter’s character, though Netflix has not yet revealed the identities of the new cast members or their characters.

Season 1, which premiered on Netflix on May 9, 2025, followed Aviraaj and Sophia as they tried to turn his financially struggling palace into a luxury homestay, and it became the first Indian series to trend in Netflix’s Global Top 10 Non-English TV shows across 58 countries. The production history behind this announcement is unusually public. Season 2’s shoot began in Rajasthan, where director Jasmeet K Reen exited after three days on location, and her replacement Mitakshara Kumar also departed, before Delhi Crime director Tanuj Chopra stepped in and the shoot shifted to a Mumbai schedule.

Read our report on that director change here: https://filmverse.in/the-royals-season-2-tanuj-chopra-director/

Here is the Filmverse take: an official filming announcement after two director exits is Netflix’s way of saying the show is back on rails, and the casting reset is the real story — season 1’s romance was its selling point, and dropping it means season 2 is being rebuilt as a family drama with the palace, not the couple, at its centre. That is a brave call, because it risks the audience that came for the romance, but it is also an honest reading of what worked: viewers remembered Ishaan, Sakshi and Zeenat and the world of Morpur more than the love story. If the new kingdoms and the new love triangle give Khatter sharper material than season 1 did, the rebuild could work; if not, the show will have swapped one problem for another. No release date has been announced yet.

Sources: Netflix via ANI, EquityBulls, Cinema Express.