Season five and six of The Crown will see Olivia Colman, Helena Bonham Carter and Tobias Menzies leave the production and an intake of new actors take over the reign(s). See what we did there?
As is the custom for Peter Morgan's award-winning, big budget Netflix show chronicling the lives of the British royal family, the actors are replaced every two seasons so as to reflect the ages and likenesses of the royals as we progress through the decades.
Season one and two saw Claire Foy and Matt Smith play the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh before passing the baton to Colman and Menzies. Season three then introduced us to Princess Anne (Erin Doherty), Prince Charles (Josh O'Connor), Camilla Parker-Bowles (Emerald Fennell) while season four presented actor Emma Corrin as Princess Diana and the formidable Gillian Anderson as Margaret Thatcher, as we see the UK depicted in the 1970s and 1980s.
With season four having dropped to rave reviews in the Autumn of 2020 - and sweeping up during the 2021 awards season - there are mutterings about to what we can expect from the forthcoming season five.
New photos were shared from the upcoming season in October 2022, with images depicting Princess Diana (played by Elizabeth Debicki) looking sombre, with her head bowed, while dressed in a glamorous gown for a glitzy evening engagement.
Another showed her looking happier on a speed boat with Prince Charles (Dominic West) and their sons, Prince William (Timothee Sambor) and Prince Harry (Teddy Hawley).
Days later the streaming platform released a series of character posters ahead of season five's launch, and it's giving us goosebumps.
Here's everything we know about The Crown season five:
What will happen in The Crown season five?
In October 2022, Netflix released a new series of photos from season five, showing us glimpses of what to expect, such as one of Princess Diana (Debicki) on a speed boat during a holiday with Prince Charles (West) and their sons, Prince William (Sambor) and Prince Harry (Hawley). In the scene, a nod to Diana and Charles' 1991 trip to Italy, Debicki's character sports a yellow and black printed swimsuit.
In a separate photo, Debicki is seen looking in low spirits with her head bowed down, shoulders hunched and an intense stare towards the ground, at a glamorous evening engagement, dressed in a glitzy blue halterneck gown. The scene is reportedly a recreation of her attendance of the English National Ballet's Swan Lake in 1997, for which Diana wore a Jacques Azagury blue sequin dress (though the original had a square neckline).
Another photo shows Prince Charles and Camilla (played by Olivia Williams) elated while close together watching the fireworks display outside. And portraying Queen Elizabeth II, Imelda Staunton is also understood to be in Scotland in one photo, alongside husband Prince Philip (Jonathan Pryce), with both dressed in signature red tartan.
Considering that season four of the show focussed on the 1970s and 1980s, including Thatcher's premiership, the wedding between Diana and Charles and the birth of Prince William and Prince Harry, we can assume season five will pick up towards the latter end of the decade or the start of the early 1990s.
The 1990s were a turbulent decade for the royal family, with the late Queen famously referring to 1992 as her 'annus horribilis' due to the breakdown of the marriages of three of her children, Diana and Charles, Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson and Princess Anne and Mark Phillips, as well as a fire at Windsor Castle. Public opinion about the royal family was particularly low as the decade progressed, especially during the aftermath of the tragic death of Princess Diana in 1997.
It's not known if the season will enter the new millennium. The Queen celebrated her golden jubilee in 2000, but also experienced heartbreak when her mother and sister, Princess Margaret, died just weeks apart.
The Telegraph reported Prince William has spoken privately about the series' alleged intention to portray Princess Diana's 1995 interview with journalist Martin Bashir. While the Duke of Cambridge has previously said the interview should never be aired again, a source has told the publication he is 'frustrated' that The Crown may go against his wishes.
'[The Duke's] words [on the interview] still stand,' the source told the Telegraph.
An independent investigation previously found that the interview was obtained by presenting the late Princess Diana with fake documents. Mr Bashir has denied wrongdoing.
Following the findings, Prince William said in a statement: 'It is welcome that the BBC accepts Lord Dyson’s findings in full - which are extremely concerning - that BBC employees lied and used fake documents to obtain the interview with my mother, [and] made lurid and false claims about the Royal Family which played on her fears and fuelled paranoia.'
Amid reports Netflix plans to dramatise the interview in season five of The Crown, a spokesman for the BBC has since said: 'The BBC has said it has no intention of showing the interview again. We have had no interaction on this specific issue with Netflix.'
Netflix declined to comment in response to a Variety query about the alleged plans to portray the interview. ELLE UK has reached out to Netflix for comment.
Who are the cast of The Crown season five?
The lead role of the Queen will be played by Staunton, it was confirmed earlier this year. The actor - best known for portraying Professor Dolores Umbridge in the Harry Potter films, as well as the titular character in Vera Drake - said she was a fan of the show and 'genuinely honoured' to be taking The Crown to 'its conclusion'.
In July 2021, the show presented the first look picture of Staunton as the British monarch and, we have to say, the resemblance is uncanny:
On August 2, 2022 it was confirmed that the new cast had begun filming season five as Staunton and some other characters were spotted in production. The 65-year-old was photographed in the Scottish village of Macduff onboard a boat designed to look like a royal yacht.
While it's not known exactly what scene The Crown were filming, Staunton's nautical setting and outfit looks rather like this picture of the Queen on board the QE2 in Southampton in 1990:
The 'royal yacht', which was spotted during filming in Scotland, also bore similarity to HMY Britannia, the yacht the Queen boarded (she's seen at the front in yellow in this picture) from Heysham Port in Lancashire in August, 1989:
Following in the footsteps of Vanessa Kirby and Bonham Carter, Princess Margaret will be played by Lesley Manville, who has worked with Staunton on various projects including Vera Drake as well as awards-nominated films like Phantom Thread and TV series including Save Me and Mum.
Prince Philip will be played by Pryce - who was nominated for an Oscar for The Two Popes. He is is mostly recognised for his roles in theatre (including many a Shakespeare production), Pirates of The Caribbean and historical TV dramas like Wolf Hall and starring opposite Glenn Close in The Wife.
In August, 2021, Netflix announced that they had also found their Princess Diana for the final seasons of the series in Australian actress, Debicki. Best known for her part as Jordan Baker in Baz Luhrman's The Great Gatsby, the actor said it was a 'true privilege' to be portraying the Princess of Wales.
Debicki told Netflix’s fansite Tudum: 'That’s the amazing thing about playing these people at this time, because in the journey of ‘The Crown’ so far out of all the seasons, this is the most visual content we have of the Royal Family.'
'In the 90s everything had started to be filmed and also it was the birth of the 24-hour news cycle so there’s just this incredible amount of content that we have access to. Diana was the most photographed person in the world at that time. As an actor you open the portal and this huge tsunami of information comes at you. I happily swam around in it.'
In a previous statement, she said: 'Princess Diana's spirit, her words and her actions live in the hearts of so many.'
On November 8, 2022, Debicki joined her cast members at the premiere of season five, held at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in central London.
Debicki stole the red carpet in a demure black Dior gown from the fashion house's haute couture spring/summer 2022 collection.
Royal watchers observed her look for the evening, likening the black silk crepe strapless design she wore to a baby-blue Catherine Walker dress Princess Diana herself donned to Cannes in 1987.
It was the ribbed draped bustier, in particular, that style-focused fans pointed out.
Debicki's black dress was also a nod to the period portrayed in the new series, which saw the late Princess of Wales rewrite the rulebook when it came to royal style, as she was often pictured in black - a colour previously reserved for mourning.
While the silhouette of her gown was pared back, it took Dior 300 hours to make.
The actor's choice of designer also subtly nods to the fact the fashion house named its Lady Dior bag after the late princess in 1996.
Debicki styled her gown with Bois de Rose rings, bracelets and yellow gold, pink gold and diamond ear cuffs, in addition to pink gold and diamond Rose Dior Couture earrings.
In August 2021 Netflix released the first-look pictures of Debicki as Princess Diana, where the Australian actress sports the late Princesses' very familiar early-1990s hairstyle.
Prince Charles will be portrayed by The Affair's West, who told Netflix fansite Tundum: 'I think people understand, because the cast has changed every two seasons, that this is not an imitation. This is an evoking of a character. That’s really where the show lives: in the imagined conversations of their private life, which is something that no one knows. I think that’s what it gets a lot of criticism for. How can you know what they talk about in their private lives? The obvious answer is we don’t, but we have an incredible writer, a dramatist, who imagines based on exhaustive research, and that’s really part of the fascination of the show.' During an interview, former The Crown star O'Connor was asked about what advice he'd impart to The Crown's next Prince Of Wales when he name-dropped West.
'The reason I wanted to be an actor is to play different people,' the Golden Globe winner told GQ Hype. 'Playing that character has brought me a lot of joy. But it’s lovely to come away and go, "Great. Now hand it over to Dominic West."... if Dominic West came to me asking me for advice, I’d laugh him off. I’d be like, "Dom! You’re Dominic West!"'
While previewing the first look at Princess Diana in season five, Netflix also showed West as Prince Charles:
Considering Prime Minister Thatcher did not resign until 1992, it's likely Anderson will continue to feature for the first part of the season at least.
The Prime Minister that took over from Thatcher in 1992 was John Major, and in June it was confirmed that actor Jonny Lee Miller - best known for his role as Sick Boy in Trainspotting (and for celebrity news hounds, he was also married to Angelina Jolie and the pair remain good friends) - will take on this role.
Ahead of the release of season five, the Duchess of Cornwall met her on-screen counterpart from season four, Emerald Fennell, in real life at a reception hosted at Clarence House on International Women's Day in March 2022.
The pair have kept details from their discussion private, but Fennell reportedly told The Telegraph following their chat: 'I’m going to be very discreet – because if I've learnt anything, it’s "loose lips sink ships".'
She also told Variety: 'She is such an impressive person. It was fittingly nice to meet her today on International Women’s Day because she does so much for so many particularly female-centred charities. I was nervous I might be thrown in the Tower, but so far so good.'
Will there be a sixth season of The Crown?
Originally the answer was no, with Morgan coinciding his announcement of Staunton as the Queen by saying he would cut The Crown at season five.
However, in July, the acclaimed writer appeared to change his mind when Netflix announced there would be a sixth season.
While fans wondered if this meant recent royal events like royal weddings, Meghan Markle's introduction to the family and the subsequent decision of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to become financially independent from the monarchy, plus Prince Andrews' friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, would be covered, Morgan shut down speculation pretty quickly.
'As we started to discuss the storylines for series five, it soon became clear that in order to do justice to the richness and complexity of the story, we should go back to the original plan and do six seasons,' Morgan said, per The Hollywood Reporter.
'To be clear, season six will not bring us any closer to present day — it will simply enable us to cover the same period in greater detail.'
When will The Crown season five be released on Netflix?
Season five will be released on Wednesday, November 9, 2022. The cast and crew of The Crown have been filming season five since July 2021, but were reportedly forced to finish shooting slightly earlier than planned before Christmas due to a surge of the Omicron variant.
At the time, Netflix told Variety: 'The Crown finished filming one day earlier than planned for the Christmas break following a few positive cases within the team, thus ensuring others' safety and so that everyone on production can enjoy a festive break with their loved ones.'
Filming picked up again in the new year of 2022. The streaming platform previously shared an announcement from the set of The Crown courtesy of Staunton who introduces herself as Queen Elizabeth in the clip.
In the clip, Staunton pays tribute to the previous two actors - Olivia Colman and Claire Foy - who played the Queen in the hit series. 'I will do my upmost to maintain the very high standard that they set, she says before adding that her stomach is 'doing somersaults' at the though of taking on the famous role.
'On behalf of the cast and crew, we look forward to bringing you the next season of The Crown in November 2022,' the actor says.
On April 7 2021, Variety reported that the fifth season would begin production in the UK in July 2021.
Is there a trailer for The Crown season 5?
Yes. In October 2022, Netflix released the official season five trailer (which you can watch at the top of this article), showing the chaos surrounding the monarchy and Princess Diana's hardship.
The trailer teases the chaos that unravelled within the royal family and indicates Princess Diana's fate. 'The royal family is in genuine crisis,' as declared in the trailer. Elsewhere in the clip, Princess Diana says: 'People will never understand how it’s really been for me. I never stood a chance.'
A previous teaser trailer for season five (see below), released in September 2022, showed the conflict between the then Prince Charles (who has since been appointed King Charles III, following the Queen's death on September 8, 2022) and Princess Diana.
The trailer begins with a reporter reading: ‘It is with regret, the Prince and Princess of Wales are separating.'
It then shows close-up shots of the former royal couple, and documents other reports describing their separation as an 'uproar in Britain after Prince Charles bared his soul to the nation, but the Princess of Wales upstaged her husband'.
Both characters are then shown having their hair and make-up done as they prepare for their separate interviews. Another voice says: 'This is becoming all-out war.'
We'll continue to update this page as more information, cast announcements and trailers for The Crown season five are released.
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Olivia Blair is Entertainment Editor (Luxury) at Hearst UK, working across ELLE, Esquire and Harper's Bazaar. Olivia covers all things entertainment and has interviewed the likes of Margot Robbie, Emma Stone, Michaela Coel and Ryan Gosling over the years.
