Palm Royale ending explained

Kristen Wiig’s new comedy Palm Royale just concluded on Apple TV+, so here’s that ending explained in full.

Palm Royale is a wacky comedy that stars Kristen Wiig, Josh Lucas, Laura Dern, Leslie Bibb, Carol Burnett, and Ricky Martin, and revolves around Palm Beach high society in 1969.

Wiig plays Maxine Dellacorte-Simmons (Wiig), a social climber obsessed with status, and the 10 episodes built to her hosting a ‘Beach Ball’ at titular country club, The Palm Royale.

But trouble is afoot, as Mary Jones Davidsoul (Julia Duffy) plans to shoot special guest Richard Nixon dead at the spectacular event. Here’s how that plays out in the TV show, so beware of SPOILERS ahead…

Is Richard Nixon assassinated at the end of Palm Royal?

No, Richard Nixon is not killed during the final episode of Palm Royal. The bullet meant for him ends up hitting innocent bystander Robert Diaz (Martin).

There’s another kind of murder on the dancefloor however, as Maxine takes to the stage, and shoots the audience down with her words, having a musical meltdown during which she reveals secrets, settles scores, and calls husband Douglas (Lucas) out for getting her manicurist Mitzi (Katie Gerber) pregnant.

At much the same time, Diaz realises that Norma Dellacorte (Burnett) isn’t who she seems, but rather an imposter called Agnes, who stole the real Norma’s identity when they were both at boarding school. But before he can tell the world, tragedy strikes.

It starts when Nixon has had enough of the onstage drama, so leaves the Palm Royale. As the President departs with his Secret Service team, Mary pulls a gun, but Linda Shaw (Dern) rushes her, knocking the weapon out of Mary’s hand.

The gun goes off however, and while the bullet misses Nixon, it hits Diaz. The episode then segues into slow-motion and the room erupts into chaos as Peggy Lee’s cover of ‘Something’ plays on the soundtrack. The series then ends with Maxine in hysterics as Robert bleeds out on the floor. An ununexpectedly tragic end for a quirky comedy series.

Will there be a Palm Royale Season 2?

In spite of that cliffhanger climax, there are currently no plans for a second season of Palm Royale.

Should that change, showrunner Abe Sylvia has ideas for where the series could go, telling The Wrap that he “can’t help but think about” potential storylines. “The big questions will be, ‘Who are we now in the wake of tragedy?’” Sylvia tells the outlet. “‘How does a person define themselves after coming so close to danger and tragedy?’ ‘In this country, who are we now?’ ‘Are we forever changed?’ ‘Are we just more ourselves?’”

Rest assured we’ll update this article if Sylvia gets to answers those questions in Palm Royale Season 2. Until then the best series of 2024 so far can be found here.