Netflix’s Ratu Ratu Queens – The Series arrives as a hopeful prequel to Ali & Ratu Ratu Queens

Netflix has released Ratu Ratu Queens – The Series, a prequel to the 2021 hit Ali & Ratu Ratu Queens. Set eight years before the events of that film, the series follows a group of Indonesian women whose lives intersect in New York City as they wrestle with poverty, grief, and the search for a new beginning.

Party, played by Nirina Zubir, arrives in America to pursue her own dreams and to send money home. She soon crosses paths with Ance, portrayed by Tika Panggabean, and Ance’s teenage daughter Eva, played by Arianna Tortorici Soto, who are seeking affordable housing while dealing with the death of Eva’s father. Ance latches on to Party as a route to work, aided by Party’s boss Chinta, played by Happy Salma, who is rebuilding her life after a divorce. The trio’ s plans are interrupted when Eva is left alone in their apartment after they go downstairs to fetch pizza, and she ends up getting locked out of the building.

They encounter Biyah, played by Asri Welas, a Times Square character worker whose money problems have left her vulnerable. Biyah’s approach to survival leads to a tense moment as she tries to gain access to Party’s apartment to steal food. When Party and Ance return with Chinta in tow, they confront Biyah, and the confrontation begins to illuminate the kind of bond the series is building among its characters.

The pilot establishes a four‑woman core whose chemistry sustains the show’s found‑family premise, anchored by Zubir, Panggabean, Salma, and Welas, with Soto as Eva providing warmth and humor as she navigates grief, change, and her mother’s culture. The ensemble’s performances balance moments of heightened drama with a generally warm, approachable energy that keeps the story accessible even for viewers new to the Ratu Ratu universe.

The series leans into a tone that is hopeful rather than bleak. It does not shy away from heavy topics such as divorce, financial precarity, and loss, but these themes sit inside a framework of sisterhood and resilience. Chinta’s dramatic flair and Biyah’s streetwise cunning provide counterpoints that, when paired with Party and Ance, help the show to oscillate between lighthearted humor and earnest, character-driven storytelling. In that mix, Soto’s Eva often acts as a bridge between adult concerns and a younger, hopeful perspective.

Across its opening episodes, Ratu Ratu Queens – The Series positions itself as part of a broader wave of diaspora storytelling on streaming platforms. It echoes the tone of other Indonesian projects adapted for Netflix, notably Losmen Bu Broto, by centering found family and communal support as antidotes to isolation. While the series is produced in Indonesia, its setting and themes speak to universal questions about belonging, work, and the evolving meaning of home for immigrants in a new city. The show also engages with contemporaries’ conversations about the immigrant experience in the United States by presenting characters who are hardworking, resourceful, and kind, even as they contend with prejudice and systemic hurdles.

From a storytelling perspective, the pilot does well to establish stakes quickly while offering room for future arcs. The central quartet of women carries the narrative with nuance, and the child actor Soto delivers charm and humor that helps keep the tone buoyant even as the characters confront difficult circumstances. Viewers who come with no prior knowledge of Ali & Ratu Ratu Queens will still find the pilot accessible, as it foregrounds character dynamics and the push-pull of ambition, obligation, and kinship that animates the show’s premise.

Overall, the series presents a charming, empathetic portrait of sisterhood and immigrant life. It frames the American Dream through the lens of friends who become family, showing that resilience and generosity can emerge from shared hardship. While it does not shy from adversity, it remains a feel‑good, uplifting watch that invites audiences to root for these women as they navigate a new city together. Netflix users seeking warm, human storytelling about community and adaptation will find much to connect with in this prequel, which stands on its own while enriching the wider Ratu Ratu Queens universe.