The New Trailer for The Cursed Queen Has Finally Dropped
At long last, the trailer for Season Three of The Cursed Queen has dropped and it is incredible.
The show will premiere on July 9 on HBO.
If you (like everyone else) have been re-watching Season Two on loop since it ended in August, you’ll remember that it ended on a cliffhanger. The 1526 section ended with the Kollstansze court returning from Scharrau to find that the bishop called in to do the exorcism on Federica has arrived despite John's best efforts to stop him from coming. The 1559 section ended with the inquest declaring that a trial is needed to determine what happened with Ludvik, because they have found evidence of poison being used to subdue him before he was stabbed.
(Psst - if you need a refresher on every episode so far, you can find an episode guide here. And if you want to hear what cryptic things George Powell has to say about Season Three, you can check that out here!)
So the trailer has some creepy background music and literally no talking. TBH, we would all feel better if there were some voices, but since there aren't, we just have some pictures to analyze.
First, we see Federica.
If you (like everyone else) have been re-watching Season Two on loop since it ended in August, you’ll remember that it ended on a cliffhanger. The 1526 section ended with the Kollstansze court returning from Scharrau to find that the bishop called in to do the exorcism on Federica has arrived despite John's best efforts to stop him from coming. The 1559 section ended with the inquest declaring that a trial is needed to determine what happened with Ludvik, because they have found evidence of poison being used to subdue him before he was stabbed.
(Psst - if you need a refresher on every episode so far, you can find an episode guide here. And if you want to hear what cryptic things George Powell has to say about Season Three, you can check that out here!)
So the trailer has some creepy background music and literally no talking. TBH, we would all feel better if there were some voices, but since there aren't, we just have some pictures to analyze.
First, we see Federica.
Okay. No one panic. But she's not looking so good and that is not the regular bedroom set. Did they actually do the exorcism on her? (Psst. If you love Federica, you can check out The So-Called Mad Kings, which has a big section about her!)
We also see a grave...
We also see a grave...
Um, I hope someone does a better job of covering that up? George Powell promised that he's not going to murder Hildegard (and he cannot kill William), so...like...who's in there? If someone killed Joseph and buried him in a shallow grave, none of us would mind - but keep reading for a more likely fan theory. (Psst - Joseph is kind of made up, but kind of based on someone real - check out Love Letters if you need to find out more about him.)
We also get a quick look at a baby...
We also get a quick look at a baby...
Maleen and Conrad's son already got baptized, so it's not him. The possibilities are that it's Maleen and Conrad's second baby in about 1527, or that it's Ramona's baby in 1559. We have no idea. WHO IS HOLDING THAT BABY?
We also see some men on horseback...
We also see some men on horseback...
...and would feel WAY better if we knew WHEN they were - 1526, or 1559? If it's 1526, it might be Ludvik out to go drink again. If it's 1559, it's more likely to be a bunch of von Absberg boys. But it's too distant for us to get much.
We see some crowns...
We see some crowns...
So we know the prince of Scharrau was old. Technically he shouldn't die yet, but again - we wouldn't mind. That's our best guess. (The So-Called Mad Kings has a bunch of stuff about the Scharrau royal family, too, if the TV show wasn't enough to horrify you. And the author did an interview that you can find here!)
Then we see a guy in a church....
Then we see a guy in a church....
That's either the terrible bishop here for Federica in 1526, OR the inquest in 1559 brought someone in to investigate some more.
The most common fan theory is that the bishop is the same person as the terrible abusive tutor we find out about in Season 2, Episode 8 - the one who worked in Willmars when Conrad and John were kids. If this is true, then it opens up a lot of questions about Season Three - is Conrad just not going to mention that to Maleen after their giant blow up when he didn't tell her anything? If he doesn't tell her, she might ask Wilhelm - who also wouldn't tell her.
We also saw in Season 2, Episode 8 that Wilhelm and Elka told the tutor/bishop that if they ever saw him again, he would be dead. He laughed and didn't believe them, but Wilhelm seemed pretty serious. It's possible that the grave is going to be the bishop's grave - that Wilhelm and Elka kill him. That would deal with our Federica problem - remember the bishop threatened excommunication for Kollstansze if Federica didn't have an exorcism. The question is - do they tell Maleen? Do they tell Conrad? Or do they just do it kind of quietly?
We see someone writing (probably Conrad, TBH)
The most common fan theory is that the bishop is the same person as the terrible abusive tutor we find out about in Season 2, Episode 8 - the one who worked in Willmars when Conrad and John were kids. If this is true, then it opens up a lot of questions about Season Three - is Conrad just not going to mention that to Maleen after their giant blow up when he didn't tell her anything? If he doesn't tell her, she might ask Wilhelm - who also wouldn't tell her.
We also saw in Season 2, Episode 8 that Wilhelm and Elka told the tutor/bishop that if they ever saw him again, he would be dead. He laughed and didn't believe them, but Wilhelm seemed pretty serious. It's possible that the grave is going to be the bishop's grave - that Wilhelm and Elka kill him. That would deal with our Federica problem - remember the bishop threatened excommunication for Kollstansze if Federica didn't have an exorcism. The question is - do they tell Maleen? Do they tell Conrad? Or do they just do it kind of quietly?
We see someone writing (probably Conrad, TBH)
But what's he writing? Is this 1526 or 1559?
And then we see ink and NO ONE writing.
And then we see ink and NO ONE writing.
What does it say? Who was writing it and what do they want? That's not one of Conrad or Maleen's usual pens....
In short: we're going to have to wait till July for an explanation!
In short: we're going to have to wait till July for an explanation!