General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Prince of Peoria

Prince of Peoria is an American live-action multi-camera comedy series for children and families, produced by Netflix and created by Nick Stanton and Devin Bunje. It follows Emil, a 13-year-old prince from the fictional wealthy island kingdom of Buronia, who travels to Peoria, Illinois, to live incognito as a foreign exchange student and befriends Teddy, a fastidious overachiever who is his total opposite.¹ Netflix ordered 16 episodes in early 2018, and the series ran from November 16, 2018 to May 20, 2019.²^•³

Key fact	Detail
Format	Live-action, multi-camera sitcom for tweens; TV-Y7 rating; episodes of roughly 26 to 30 minutes⁴^•⁵
Order and run	16-episode order announced February 1, 2018; released November 16, 2018 to May 20, 2019¹^•³
Creators	Nick Stanton and Devin Bunje, previously creators of Disney XD's Gamer's Guide to Pretty Much Everything; executive producer Sharla Sumpter Bridgett²
Lead cast	Gavin Lewis as Prince Maxemil "Emil" Vanderklaut III; Theodore Barnes as Teddy Jackson; Cynthia Kaye McWilliams as Regina Jackson; Shelby Simmons as Sydney Quinn⁶
Release pattern	First eight episodes on November 16, 2018; the half-hour special "A Christmas Moose Miracle" on December 17, 2018; the remaining eight episodes (Part 2) on May 20, 2019³
Reception	IMDb rating 6.1/10 from about 690 votes; 2019 WGA Award nomination and two Daytime Emmy nominations⁷^•⁸
Status	Ended after the 2019 episodes; no third season was announced, and the show was described as "ghost-canceled" by June 2020⁹

Spoilers

Premise and setting

The series centers on Teddy Jackson, a 13-year-old student who tinkers on robots and dreams of MIT's Summer Robotics Program, his mother Regina, and their 13-year-old exchange student, Prince Maxemil Vanderklaut III of Buronia, who lives incognito under the name Emil and poses as the son of a moose farmer.¹⁰ The Jacksons live adjacent to and run a Peoria, Illinois bowling alley called Spare Time. Buronia is described as a small, wealthy island nation in the North Sea, due east of Edinburgh, Scotland.¹⁰

Emil's father, the King (Johnathan McClain), opposes the plan, but Buronia's royal charter stipulates that a wish stated by a prince at his Bakshal, the celebration of his 13th birthday, must be granted. The King allows the trip but sends Royal Guard First Officer Joosep (Gabriel Hogan) to watch over the boy. Teddy soon learns Emil's true identity and keeps the secret so Emil can lead a normal life.¹⁰ Emil's main source of information about American life is Stankman & Daryl, a Jackass-style web series starring Stankman (Zach Zagoria) and Daryl (Jared Wernick).¹⁰

Production and release

Netflix announced the 16-episode order on February 1, 2018, naming Stanton and Bunje as executive producers and showrunners and Sharla Sumpter Bridgett, Kerry Washington's former producing partner at Simpson Street, as executive producer.¹^•¹¹ Trade coverage compared the premise to Coming to America for a younger audience and framed the show as a male-centric counterpart to Alexa & Katie, Netflix's first multi-camera comedy series produced in-house.² Production companies were 37 Monkeys and The Story Co.¹²

Netflix released the show in parts rather than as a single season: the first eight episodes on November 16, 2018, the Christmas special "A Christmas Moose Miracle" on December 17, 2018, and the final eight episodes, which the service called Part 2, on May 20, 2019.³ Directors included Eric Dean Seaton, Jonathan Judge, Jody Margolin Hahn, Phill Lewis, and Jason Earles.⁵

Reception

The series holds a 6.1/10 rating on IMDb from about 690 votes.⁷ It earned a 2019 Writers Guild Award nomination in the Children's Episodic and Specials category and two Daytime Emmy nominations, for Outstanding Art Direction/Set Decoration/Scenic Design and Outstanding Main Title and Graphic Design for a Live Action Program.⁸ Common Sense Media rated it appropriate for ages 8 and up, calling it a "so-so buddy comedy" built on the mismatched personalities of its leads, and noted that it normalizes a Black single-parent household and mentions in passing that Teddy's love interest Sydney has two moms.¹³ A Daily Dot review described it as a "quietly progressive" multi-cam sitcom that taps into 2018 youth culture while lacking substantive messages.¹⁴

Cancellation

No third season was announced after the May 2019 episodes. In June 2020, What's on Netflix reported that the show appeared to have been "ghost-canceled," released to little fanfare with no official confirmation of renewal or cancellation from Netflix or the creators.⁹ Database listings record the series as ended in 2019.⁶ After the show, Gavin Lewis played Moody Richardson in Hulu's Little Fires Everywhere, Theodore Barnes appeared in ABC's The Goldbergs, Shelby Simmons joined Disney+'s Stargirl, and Cynthia Kaye McWilliams continued on Amazon's Bosch.⁹

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026