Television series
Les Rois Maudits
A French historical drama following the cursed Capetian dynasty from Philip the Fair through the Hundred Years' War. Sumptuous, labyrinthine, and grounded in real political machination rather than romance. Built on intimate betrayals and dynastic collapse. For viewers who want their history complicated, their villains human, and their television ambitious.
If you liked this
The Crown2016
Likewise tracks power through a royal family across decades, with meticulous attention to political detail beneath the crown. Both shows treat monarchy as a machinery of competing wills rather than a morality play.
But The Crown's soap-opera tendencies and modern setting may feel less weighty than medieval intrigue, and its tone is sometimes softer than the material deserves.
Outlander2014
Medieval and early modern history rendered with sensory abundance and emotional authenticity. Like Les Rois Maudits, it respects its source material and trusts viewers with complexity and temporal depth.
But Romance is the engine here. If you want pure dynastic collision without the love story, this will occasionally frustrate you.
The Pillars of the Earth2010
Ken Follett's cathedral epic has the same granular detail about feudal power, the same weaving of personal ambition into historical tides, and the same scope across generations and regions.
But It's more melodrama than Les Rois Maudits. The personal plots sometimes overshadow the history rather than being woven through it.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Les Rois Maudits
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
A Separation2011
Both treat family dissolution as a window onto systemic collapse. The machinery that destroys nations is the same machinery that destroys homes.
Iranian domestic law drama that operates like a historical epic compressed into ninety minutes. Two people divorcing while a nation fractures around them. The same architecture: personal betrayal as political allegory, no easy villains, every choice costly.
But Entirely domestic and contemporary. If you want swords and crowns, this strips all spectacle away. Deliberately slow-burning.
More like this (7)
Wolf Hall2015
Mantel's adaptation shares the obsessive attention to political detail, the dry wit, and the willingness to make history a matter of small conversations and accumulated power moves rather than grand gestures.
But Visually austere to the point of bleakness. Some viewers found it hard to follow the overlapping schemes; others felt the restraint was distancing.
The Borgias2011
Family corruption, religious hypocrisy, and the casual brutality of Renaissance Italy. The same DNA of ambitious people destroying each other in the name of legacy, with sumptuous production values.
But Occasionally sacrifices historical accuracy for scandal. Tone can veer into pulp where Les Rois Maudits stays grounded.
Versailles2015
Another French royal saga, this one tracking Louis XIV's consolidation of power through court politics, sexual intrigue, and architectural ambition. The machinery of monarchy as spectacle and control.
But More soap opera than Les Rois Maudits. The personal drama sometimes overwhelms the political substance.
The White Princess2017
Follows the aftermath of the Wars of the Roses with a focus on women navigating dynastic collapse and consolidation. Political stakes as high as Les Rois Maudits, with a different cast and accent.
But Three seasons and somewhat uneven. The final season loses focus. Early episodes are stronger than the arc sustains.
Knightfall2017
The Knights Templar themselves at the center—the very order Philip the Fair destroys in Les Rois Maudits. A chance to see the other side of that curse and the world that produced it.
But Less rigorous historically and more action-adventure than Les Rois Maudits. Treats the Templars as a mystery rather than a political fact.
The Name of the Rose1986
Both understand the Middle Ages as an era of competing authorities (religious, political, dynastic) all claiming truth. Both are genuinely medieval in their thinking, not modern people in costumes.
Medieval monastery as a locked mystery where theology and politics are indistinguishable. Umberto Eco's obsession with how power hides itself in language and structure. Gorgeous, haunted, intellectually dense.
But A film, not a series—you don't live in it the way you do with Les Rois Maudits. Adapted from a novel, some find it difficult to follow without the book's footnotes.
A Prophet2009
Both are studies of how power perpetuates itself: not through strength or righteousness, but through understanding the rules well enough to manipulate them. Both are about ascent through ruthlessness.
A young man imprisoned learns the machinery of power through observation and survival. Rises through cunning, betrayal, and strategic alliance inside a closed system. Prison as microcosm of how authority actually works.
But French-language crime film. Contemporary setting. Violent and claustrophobic rather than epic. Nothing like what you expect from the title.
