General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20268 min read

The Empress of Ayodhaya (แม่หยัว)

The Empress of Ayodhaya (แม่หยัว) is a 2024 Thai historical period drama series broadcast on the One31 channel, inspired by Thao Sri Sudachan (ท้าวศรีสุดาจันทร์), the woman recorded in Ayutthaya-era chronicles as the only "mae yua" (แม่อยู่หัว, roughly "mother who sits above") of Ayodhaya. The series ran for 10 episodes, premiering on Thursday 24 October 2024 and airing Wednesdays and Thursdays at 20:30 on One31, with an uncut version on the oneD application and later availability on Netflix.¹^•²^•³

Key fact	Detail
Format	10-episode Thai period drama on One31; premiered 24 October 2024, Wed–Thu 20:30; UNCUT version on oneD, later on Netflix¹^•³
Creative team	Directed by Sant Srikaewlaw; creator and scriptwriter Sirilux Srisukon; produced as oneD ORIGINAL content²
Lead cast	Davika Hoorne as Jinda (Thao Sri Sudachan), Thanapat Kawila as Wamon, Teerapat Sajjakul as Phra Chairachathirat, Panwad Hemmanee as Chitrawadee, Sirin Leearamwat as La-ong Kham, Nopjira Lerkkajornnamkul as Tanyong⁴
Premiere rating	Episode 1 drew 3.2 million TV viewers and a 3.089 rating, the highest-rated post-news drama premiere on One31 (Nielsen Media Research Thailand, viewers aged 15+ nationwide)⁵
Historical basis	Thao Sri Sudachan, an Ayutthaya-period woman recorded negatively under patriarchal principles; the series presents a deliberately different perspective⁶
Major controversy	A scene in episode 5 (aired 7 November 2024) in which a black cat was sedated for filming triggered the #แบนแม่หยัว (Ban Mae Yua) campaign and a Department of Livestock Development investigation⁷
Awards	Davika Hoorne won Actress of the Year (series/drama) at FEED x KHAOSOD AWARDS 2025; Nopjira Lerkkajornnamkul won best rising actress at the 13th Pikhaneswar Awards (2025)⁸^•⁹

Spoilers

Premise and characters

The story centers on Jinda (จินดา), daughter of Ok Phra Lopburi, a woman of exceptional beauty and intelligence born with a destiny above all others. Her assigned mission is to seize the throne from Phra Chairachathirat (พระไชยราชาธิราช), the warrior king of Ayodhaya, and return it to the Lavo dynasty line of her own blood. To do this she must become one of the king's four royal consorts of the four directions, forcing her to leave her lover Wamon (วามน). Inside the palace she faces three rival consorts, Chitrawadee (จิตรวดี), La-ong Kham (ละอองคำ), and Tanyong (ตันหยง), each competing to become the principal queen amid the struggle for the throne and power.⁴

The drama frames its central figure as more than a pawn: the promotion of the four consorts, the contest for the position of principal queen, and the question of who will bear the first royal son drive the palace intrigue, which reviewers described as a game of power played with wit rather than simple melodrama.¹⁰

Historical inspiration and the meaning of "Mae Yua"

The title term is an honorific, not a personal name. "Mae yua" (often rendered "mae yua mueang" or "mae yu hua") was a respectful term for a person of the highest rank, a ruler or one who stands "above the heads" of the people, and in the drama's context it became attached to Thao Sri Sudachan because of her ascent to the throne and her role in the Ayutthaya court.¹¹ One proposed etymology derives "yua" from "mae yu" (แม่อยู่), meaning a woman resident or stationed at a place, here the palace or royal court, with sound change producing "yua" in old documents; the term thus reflects the historical role of women in the Thai royal court, their social status, their closeness to the king, and their high-level political power.¹²

An academic analysis of the series found that its plot draws on the historical record of Thao Sri Sudachan, a woman who played a significant role in the Ayutthaya period and was portrayed negatively in chronicles written under patriarchal principles. The series presents her from a perspective different from those records, analyzing the drama's main idea and conclusion, its presentation of history through symbolic media conventions, and its perspectives on gender and LGBTQ+ issues, linking the main characters' actions to motivations rather than interpreting them through the written record as earlier adaptations did.⁶ The same analysis notes that Thao Sri Sudachan appears in multiple documents, generally in a negative image consistent with historical observation, and that the series is a reinterpretation of a figure recorded in the chronicles.¹³

Deliberate deviation from history. Director Sant Srikaewlaw stated publicly that the production never aimed to be a historical documentary. The timeline of events was kept accurate, but the details between timeline points, and characters added to fill gaps that were never recorded, were inventions: "there are events that really happened, the timeline matches... but along the way things that were not recorded, or are our own hypotheses, became space for us to create and add." He added that some chronicles were written 50 or 80 years after the events, so the production anchored itself to the timeline and used creative judgment for everything else, hoping viewers would be prompted to study the history further.¹⁴ Every episode carried an on-screen disclaimer that it was a dramatization inspired by history, not a 100 percent historical account.¹⁵

Reception and ratings

The premiere was a ratings event. Episode 1 reached 3.2 million television viewers with a 3.089 national rating, the highest premiere rating for a post-news drama in One31's history and the most-discussed post-news drama on its broadcast day, measured by Nielsen Media Research Thailand among viewers aged 15 and over nationwide.⁵ Episode 2 drew 3.4 million viewers and ranked first among post-news dramas and first among content watched in Bangkok.¹⁶ The finale reached a 5.2 rating nationwide and 6.4 in Bangkok and provincial urban areas, and the series ranked as the sixth most-searched series on Google in Thailand for the year.¹⁷

The series also drew scholarly attention beyond entertainment coverage. A qualitative content-analysis study of the costumes worn by three groups of female characters, Thao Sri Sudachan, court women, and commoner women, found that costume functioned as a sign system communicating Thai female identity in three dimensions: gender, where the title character's gold-threaded silk and luxurious ornaments signaled a woman with power who dared to express herself, challenging the traditional image of Thai noblewomen; class and social status, where materials, patterns, and fineness of fabric reflected social hierarchy; and power and Thai culture, where costume linked Thai female identity between past and present.¹⁸

The cat sedation controversy

A scene broadcast in episode 5 on 7 November 2024 showed a black cat convulsing and stiffening after drinking poisoned tea, staged as a test of whether the king's tea had been drugged. Viewers initially praised the cat's realistic "acting"; it then emerged that the cat had been sedated for the shoot. The hashtag #แบนแม่หยัว trended on X, with calls to boycott the series, withdraw sponsors, and remove it from Netflix.¹⁹

Director Sant Srikaewlaw acknowledged on Facebook that the cat had been sedated for filming, under the care of its owner and specialists, and posted clips showing the cat, named Sli, living normally afterward.²⁰ One31 issued a statement saying the cat came from an animal modeling company with more than 10 years of experience, which owned and supervised the animal throughout filming, and apologized to viewers who felt uncomfortable.²¹ The actors' agency, Exact Scenario, stated that the actors had no involvement in bringing the cat to the scene and were not informed of the filming procedure in advance.²²

Regulators and animal-welfare organizations became involved. The Department of Livestock Development summoned One31 executives and the production to give statements on 18 November 2024 under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Animal Welfare Act.²³ Its investigation, which used AI and deep-learning image comparison (an approximately 80 percent match across frames) to confirm the examined cat was the one in the drama, found the cat healthy with no abnormalities on X-ray, skin, or blood examination, but determined that the owner, who held no veterinary license, had herself injected a nerve sedative of the kind veterinarians use, and the department moved to prosecute the owner and participants for animal cruelty without reasonable cause under Section 20 and failure to provide proper animal welfare under Section 22 of the act.⁷ The Broadcasting Professional Council issued a statement calling on all member organizations and television stations to exercise maximum caution when using animals in productions, and the broadcasting regulator's content subcommittee discussed the case with One31 and the Veterinary Council.²⁴^•²⁵ The controversy was reported internationally, with the Malay Mail noting that the show's success was blighted by the animal-abuse allegations.²⁶

Awards

Despite the controversy, the series collected industry recognition. Davika Hoorne, who played Thao Sri Sudachan, won Actress of the Year in the series/drama category at the FEED x KHAOSOD AWARDS 2025, organized by the Matichon group.⁸ Thanapat Kawila, who played Wamon, was named most popular male actor of 2024 at the Sanook Top of the Year 2024 awards.²⁷ At the 13th Pikhaneswar Awards (2025), Nopjira Lerkkajornnamkul won best rising actress for her role as Thao Inthathewi, one of the royal consorts.⁹

References

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