The Crown's creator, Peter Morgan, is keeping details about the forthcoming second series as protected as the crown jewels, but has revealed that "its soul is about Prince Phillip's complexity".

Prince Phillip is portrayed by Matt Smith, while Claire Foy makes a remarkable young Queen Elizabeth.

Speaking at the Royal Television Society's The Crown: Deconstructing the Coronation in London last night, the writer of the award-winning Netflix series explained: "He's [Prince Philip] a strong flavor.

"I find him extraordinarily interesting—his childhood, again, you couldn't make it up. The soul of season two is about his complexity."

On whether Prince Philip's infamous affair will be dramatized in the next series, Morgan said: "This is a spoiler-free chat! We're still in the cutting room and making all sorts of changes..."

What the writer and producer would say of the upcoming season was that it "continues exactly where we left off, so the years that it travels are 1956 and 1964".

"It takes Claire Foy and Matt Smith to the outer edge of where we can take them, with their ages, if we took it any further we would have to think about recasting," he continued. "There is no commitment of it going further at the moment, we're just focusing on this season up until 1964."

When asked whether a third season has been commissioned, Morgan replied diplomatically: "We're talking [to Netflix] all the the time but we just want to see how the second series goes.

"We're pretty swamped at the moment. I've started thinking about a third season - you have to be responsible, you can't say you'll do it and then suddenly go, 'actually I found out it's really dull'.

"I have done some preparatory work, I'd be happy to do it, but at the moment I'm swamped."

Golden Globe-winning actress Foy recently confirmed that the second series would be her last as Queen Elizabeth.

The Crown series 2 is rumoured to be released on Netflix in November.

From: Harper's BAZAAR UK