A good period piece can transport you to another, much more thrilling time and place in history, inspire you to start a Pinterest board for vintage tea sets and make you say things like "I beg your pardon!" in public. But the truly life-changing costume dramas are the ones that overwhelm the senses right away. We're talking blinding gold leaf, explosions of silk and jewels and inspired violin covers of modern pop songs. These period pieces are so exquisitely designed, so extravagantly expensive, they blur the line between historical fiction and fantasy. They may be steamy romances with extra-tight corsets or soapy satires of life at court. Whatever the subject matter, these opulent movies and TV series dazzle you into submission.
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The latest entry to the bodice-ripper canon is Apple TV+'s "The Buccaneers," an eight-episode series inspired by Edith Wharton's unfinished final novel about young American women thrust into London high society with instructions to nab a wealthy husband — and one preferably with a title. With a modern, feminist sensibility, expect "The Buccaneers" to tap into the same pleasures offered by Netflix's "Bridgerton" or Sofia Coppola's "Marie Antoinette." The series is led by rising star Kristine Froseth ("The First Lady"), and also features Mia Threapleton (who starred alongside her mother, Kate Winslet, in "I Am Ruth") and Christina Hendricks ("Mad Men").
In honor of the genre that just keeps on giving, we're spotlighting 10 of the most sumptuous period dramas on streaming, from elegant, Oscar-bait biopics ("The Young Victoria") to TV series that subvert all that stuffiness with wild abandon ("The Great"). Some are classic costume dramas with the biggest budgets in TV history. Others present revisionist takes on less-represented eras. But every single one of them is a feast for the eye.
'The Buccaneers'
Apple TV+
Budget: Undisclosed, but seeing as how this is the famously big-budget Apple TV+'s answer to Netflix's "Bridgerton" phenomenon, you can bet the streamer put it all on the table to make it look great.
Apple TV+ puts a bold, feminist spin on Edith Wharton's unfinished final novel "The Buccaneers." The eight-episode drama follows a group of young American women sent to London to secure wealthy husbands with aristocratic titles. In the process, they challenge the stiff upper lip of 1870s London.
'The Gilded Age'
Alison Cohen Rosa/HBO
Budget: Unknown, but the executive producer said, "This really has cost a lot of money, this show" — which means an exorbitant amount of dough went into the series.
It took "Downton Abbey" creator Julian Fellowes nearly a decade to find a network flush enough to splurge on his 1880s drama "The Gilded Age," currently airing its second season on Max. Starring Carrie Coon ("Fargo") and Cynthia Nixon ("Sex and the City"), the HBO show centers on the wild excess of New York's robber barons and nouveau riche. Think bustle dresses, first-class at the horse races and those tiny freaking parasols.
'Emma.'
Focus Features
Budget: $10 million
2020's "Emma." is a relatively low-budget film compared to the other morsels on this list, but you'll want to gobble up every pastel-hued shot. Led by a deliciously bratty Anya Taylor-Joy ("The Queen's Gambit") and Johnny Flynn ("Ripley"), this is the best period-accurate adaptation of Jane Austen's novel of the same name. (Sorry to the old Gwyneth Paltrow one...) It even made the top 10 of our list of the best Jane Austen adaptations of all time.
'Catherine the Great'
HBO
Budget: Undisclosed, but no doubt hefty. Nearly every shot drips with gold.
Dame Helen Mirren received a Golden Globe nomination for her title role in the 2019 HBO miniseries "Catherine the Great." The colors jump off the screen in this ultra-saturated political drama about the Russian Czarina's turbulent rule and multiple, torrid love affairs. Jason Clarke ("Oppenheimer") and Joseph Quinn ("Stranger Things") also star.
'The Young Victoria'
Apparition Films
Budget: $35 million
Here's another Julian Fellowes joint to bask in. Emily Blunt ("Oppenheimer") stars as the era-defining Queen Victoria, with Rupert Friend as her beloved husband Prince Albert. "The Young Victoria" convincingly recreated palatial grandeur years before "The Crown," and the film's lavish costuming nabbed both the Oscar and BAFTA Awards.
'Colette'
Robert Viglasky/Bleecker Street
Budget: $7-9 million
No period piece roundup is complete without at least one turn by Keira Knightley, reigning queen of the corset drama. She plays the trailblazing French novelist Colette in this 2018 biopic. Set in Paris during the Belle Époque, "Colette" offers sumptuous, Steampunk-esque visuals: Roaring trains, Edwardian necklines and those adorable straw boater hats.
'Bridgerton'
Liam Daniel/Netflix
Budget: $7 million per episode.
"Bridgerton," the steamy Regency-era romance that debuted in 2020, is one of Netflix's most expensive series ever. And the money is well-spent: Extravagant balls, exquisite costuming and seriously over-the-top hairstyles make each shot of this show sing. Better yet, there are two full seasons to enjoy on Netflix, with Seasons 3-4 also greenlit.
'The Beguiled'
Focus Features
Budget: $10.5 million
Loved Sofia Coppola's "Priscilla"? Go ahead and reacquaint yourself with the director's previous period dramas. "Marie Antoinette's" candy-colored excess is a no-brainer, but if you haven't seen Coppola's 2017 remake of "The Beguiled," you're in for a hauntingly beautiful treat. Nicole Kidman and Kirsten Dunst lead a girls' school in Virginia during the Civil War when a wounded Union soldier (Colin Farrell) stumbles into their keep.
'The Crown'
Netflix
Budget: $13 million per episode.
The first four seasons of "The Crown" reportedly cost Netflix over half a billion dollars, making it the streamer's most expensive series to date. Sure, it takes a lot to recreate the British Royal Family's many palaces, but we're taken with the show's richly-detailed renderings of 1950s England. It's tough to find lavish midcentury period pieces, and the early seasons of "The Crown" have all those silk driving scarves and mahogany desks in spades. The final season premieres in two parts, in Nov. and Dec. 2023.
'The Great'
Christopher Raphael/Hulu
Budget: Undisclosed, but you don't win an Emmy for Best Period Costuming on a shoestring budget.
Hulu's "The Great" is the spiritual successor to Sofia Coppola's "Marie Antoinette," with an eye-popping aesthetic to match. A satirical comedy packed with anachronistic flourishes, Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult are laugh-out-loud funny as Catherine the Great and Peter III. The series ended in May 2023 after three glorious seasons, but its brightly-colored costuming and inventive production design will live on.
'War & Peace'
BBC
Budget: An estimated $2.5 million per episode.
Nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Drama Series, this 2016 miniseries follows five aristocratic Russian families whose fortunes are uncertain in the lead-up to the Napoleonic Wars. It features a stacked cast (Lily James, Paul Dano, Jessie Buckley and Jim Broadbent, for starters) and some gorgeous shots of those sublime and wicked Russian winters. Besides, at 6 hours, 20 minutes, it's much quicker than reading the Tolstoy novel.
