The Crown – copyright. Left Bank Pictures
As season 4 concludes, so too does Olivia Colman’s time on The Crown as Queen Elizabeth II. With the changing of the guard (filming) scheduled to begin in 2021, we’ll be keeping track of all everything related to The Crown season 5 on Netflix. Here’s everything we know so far about The Crown season 5, including the cast, film dates, and the Netflix release date.
Starting in 2016, The Crown has gone from strength to strength with each new season. The polarising drama has attracted millions of subscribers as the life, and the current reign of Queen Elizabeth II is explored.
The series was created by Peter Morgan, and derived from his 2006 film The Queen. From day one, The Crown has been one of the most expensive television series that Netflix has to offer. It is estimated that the first season cost roughly $100 million to produce.
When is the Netflix release date for The Crown season 5?
It has been confirmed that we won’t be seeing the fifth season of The Crown on Netflix until 2022. The reason for the delay is Left Bank Pictures are taking a break in between filming as the cast changes for the final time.
Who are the new cast members of The Crown season 5?
Like Claire Foy before her, Olivia Colman’s time as Queen Elizabeth in The Crown is over. Colman and all of the cast members from the third and fourth seasons of The Crown will be replaced by a new cast that will portray the aging members of the Royal Family, respectively.
Imelda Staunton – Queen Elizabeth II
Replacing Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth II is Imelda Staunton. She will be portraying the oldest version of Queen Elizabeth II we’ve seen in The Crown thus far. Like Foy and Colman before her, Staunton will portray Queen Elizabeth II for two seasons.
Imelda Staunton is famous for her portrayal of the villain Dolores Umbridge in the Harry Potter series.
Imelda Staunton (top right) will be the third lead actress to portray Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown.
Jonathan Pryce – Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Replacing Tobias Menzies as Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh is Jonathan Pryce. Coincidentally both actors are largely well known for acting in HBO’s Game of Thrones, but Pryce is most well known for being Bond villain Elliot Carver in Tomorrow Never Dies. Most recently, Pryce portrayed his real-life look-a-like, Pope Francis, in the Netflix Original movie The Two Popes.
Jonathan Pryce (top right) will be the third lead actor to portray Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in The Crown.
Lesley Manville – Princess Margaret
Replacing Helena Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon is Lesley Manville. Both, Vanessa Kirby and Helena Bonham Carter have done excellent jobs in their portrayals of Princess Margaret, and we expect Manville to follow in their footsteps. Manville is known for her portrayal of the fairy Flittle in Disney’s live-action of Maleficent, and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, respectively.
Lesley Manville (top right) will be the third lead actor to portray Princess William in The Crown.
Dominic West – Prince Charles
Replacing Josh O’Connor as Prince Charles is Dominic West. The casting of West has been a major surprise, and we’re more than intrigued to see how the actor will look in his portrayal of Prince Charles. Arguably any casting of Prince Charles will be under scrutiny as the heir to the throne certainly has a unique look that not many could duplicate. West is most well known for his role on The Wire as Detective James McNulty.
Dominic West (top right) will be the third actor to portray Prince Charles in The Crown.
Elizabeth Debicki – Princess Diana
Replacing Emma Corrin as Princess Diana is Elizabeth Debicki. Despite only starring as Princess Diana for one season, Emma Corrin gave a very memorable performance. There are only five years between Corrin and Debecki, but no one can argue that the latter will certainly give an excellent portrayal of Princess Diana in the final years of her life.
Eagle-eyed Marvel fans will recognize Debicki for her portrayal of Ayesha, the Golden High Priestess of the Sovereign in Guardians of the Galaxy 2.
Elizabeth Debecki will be the second actress to take on the role of Princess Diana.
We’re still waiting to learn which cast members will take on the roles of Princess Anne, and Princes Edwards and Andrew, respectively. There’s also the interest in which young actors will play the roles of Princes William and Harry.
We’ll be certain to keep you up to date with all of the latest cast news.
Which historical events will we see in The Crown season 5?
The 1990s was arguably one of the most challenging years of Queen Elizabeth’s reign. In particular, the Queen has lamented that 1992 was her “annus horribilis” (horrible year), which was rocked by royal scandals and political discord.
In 1992, three of the four children of Queen Elizabeth separated or divorced from their partners. Most famously was the separation of Princess Diana and Prince Charles.
Public opinion towards the royal family took a huge hit in the decade, paving the way for a rise in republicanism amongst some of the population. Much of the discord between Queen Elizabeth and her subjects were not aimed at her directly, and more towards the behaviors of extended members of the family.
In 1997, one of the most controversial events in British history took place in Paris, when Diana was killed in a car crash. In response, the Queen and Duke shielded Princes William and Harry from the onslaught of the press, which in turn caused public opinion to waver, when in the eyes of the public, the Queen had not addressed her former Daughter-in-Law’s death.
Historical events we’re likely to see in season 5 of The Crown:
- Prince Andrew’s divorce
- Princess Anne’s divorce
- Windsor Castle fire
- The separation/divorce of Prince Charles and Lady Diana
- The Queen sues The Sun newspaper
- The death of Princess Diana
- Tony Blair becomes Prime Minister
What is the production status of The Crown season 5?
Official Production Status: In Development (Last Updated: 15/11/2020)
Left Bank Pictures has decided to take a break in between the production of the fourth and fifth season of The Crown. There was a similar delay between the cast handover of seasons two and three. This means the coronavirus pandemic hasn’t influenced the decision to delay filming as it simply apart of Left Bank’s schedule.
We do have confirmation that filming is scheduled to begin in June 2021, and the final season will shoot sometime in 2022.
Executive producer Suzanna Mackie may not be involved in the upcoming season as she recently signed an exclusive output deal with Netflix under Orchid Pictures.
What is the episode count for The Crown season 5?
A further ten episodes will be available to stream when The Crown returns for season 5.
Is a sixth season of The Crown coming to Netflix?
When the series was renewed for its fifth season it had been announced it would be The Crown’s last. In the following month’s creator, Peter Morgan decided to reverse the decision, and a sixth and final season of The Crown will be coming to Netflix in 2023.
Morgan had the following to say about the decision to renew the series for a sixth season:
As we started to discuss the storylines for Series 5, 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. To be clear, Series 6 will not bring us any closer to the present-day — it will simply enable us to cover the same period in greater detail.
Fans were delighted to learn the news when Netflix announced the news on Twitter.
News from the palace: we can confirm there will be a sixth (and final) season of @TheCrownNetflix, in addition to the previously announced five!
— Netflix UK & Ireland (@NetflixUK) July 9, 2020
Are you excited for the fifth season of The Crown on Netflix? Let us know in the comments below!
