The countdown has finally begun for fans of The Crown.
Netflix has announced that Season 5 will drop on the streaming platform on 9 November.
The hit royal drama series follows the life and reign of Elizabeth II and will pick up in the early 1990s. The period was an extremely turbulent time for Her Majesty, which the Queen infamously dubbed 1992 her “annus horribilis.”
Not only was the late sovereign’s beloved Windsor Castle damaged in a catastrophic fire, but the decade also saw three of the Queen’s children’s marriages implode, providing plenty of fodder for the program.
In keeping with the tradition of the series, which has swapped casts every two seasons, the show will be back with an all-new lineup. Olivia Coleman will pass her crown to Imelda Staunton, who takes over playing Elizabeth II. Josh O’Connor will be replaced by Dominic West, who plays an older Prince Charles. Elizabeth Debicki takes over from Emma Corrin in portraying Diana.
Potential storylines for this season include the breakdown of the Princess Royal’s marriage to Captain Mark Phillips and the split of Prince Andrew and Sarah, Duchess of York.
However, the drama will likely focus on the very public breakdown of the Prince of Wales, now King Charles III, relationship with the late Diana, Princess of Wales. During the early part of the decade, the pair waged a battle against each other in the media called “the War of the Waleses.”
Shots fired during their marriage breakdown include the Princess cooperating with author Andrew Morton in his 1992 biography, Diana, Her True Story. The Princess secretly recorded tapes for the writer where she confessed to bulimia, mental health struggles and outed her husband’s affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, now the Queen Consort.
It ended with the Queen ordering her eldest son and his estranged wife to divorce in 1995 following Diana’s Panorama interview with Martin Bashir. Recently, the BBC has been forced to apologise to the Royal Family after it came to light that the disgraced journalist used deceitful means to secure the tell-all, including forging bank statements to make the Princess believe the palace was spying on her.
Deadline reports that the final episode in the season will look at the events of 31 August 1997. The date marks the day Diana died in a Paris car crash while fleeing the paparazzi. As Debicki was spotted off the coast of Spain last week filming scenes for Season 6, it appears that Diana’s tale will continue into the final season, possibly appearing in flashback sequences.
The series has been immensely popular since it debuted to critical acclaim in 2016. Since the death of the Queen, ratings have soared, with Variety reporting that viewership has increased by a mammoth 800 per cent since 8 September.
Show creator Peter Morgan recently called The Crown “a love letter” dedicated to Queen Elizabeth.
