"The Royal Family Is in Genuine Crisis": The Full Trailer for 'The Crown' Season Five Is Here
Elizabeth Debicki plays Princess Diana and Imelda Staunton dons the titular headwear after the Netflix drama's latest cast shakeup.
New King, new cast of The Crown. The latter isn't a result of the former; however, change has come to the monarchy IRL, and is also clearly on its way in season five of Netflix's hit regal drama. Chaos and scandal is in the air on-screen, in fact, with the series jumping to the early to mid-1990s — aka the era of Prince Charles and Princess Diana's marriage breakdown.
In The Crown's just-dropped trailer for its fifth season, things are tense in the House of Windsor. Actually, that's an understatement. As the relationship between the now-current off-screen King and his first wife stretches, strains and snaps, media interest heats up, Queen Elizabeth II has plenty of worries and Diana refuses to simply toe the family line.
None of this will be new news to anyone aware of history, just like almost everything in The Crown since 2016, when it started bringing the British royal family's ups and downs from newspaper headlines to Netflix. And, yes, the film Spencer did cover some of the same territory as The Crown season five, just on the big screen, earlier this year — but come Wednesday, November 9, streaming viewers will be able to see how this award-winning series handles it.
Also part of The Crown's fifth season: approaching the 40th anniversary of the Queen's reign, the public questioning the role of the royal family and changes on the international landscape. But it seems that the bulk of the new episodes' focus will sit with Charles, Diana, divorce requests, press scrutiny, explosive books and interviews, and the rest of the fallout.
This time around, Downton Abbey, Maleficent and Paddington star Imelda Staunton dons the titular headwear, while Game of Thrones and Tales from the Loop's Jonathan Pryce steps into Prince Philip's shoes — and Princess Margaret is played by Staunton's Maleficent co-star and Phantom Thread Oscar-nominee Lesley Manville. Also, Australian Tenet, The Burnt Orange Heresy and Widows star Elizabeth Debicki takes over the role of Princess Diana, with The Wire and The Pursuit of Love's Dominic West as Prince Charles.
The Crown shakes up its cast every couple of seasons. After starting out with Claire Foy (The Electrical Life of Louis Wain) as Queen Elizabeth II, Matt Smith (House of the Dragon) as Prince Philip and Vanessa Kirby as Princess Margaret (Pieces of a Woman) in its first two seasons, which aired in 2016 and 2017, the series returned in 2019 with Olivia Colman (Heartstopper), Tobias Menzies (This Way Up) and Helena Bonham Carter (Enola Holmes) in those roles. Plus, it added Josh O'Connor (Mothering Sunday) as Prince Charles — and, in season four in 2020, Emma Corrin (Misbehaviour) and The X-Files icon Gillian Anderson joined the cast as Lady Diana Spencer and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, respectively.
Netflix's full trailer for season five comes after a first sneak peek back in September, which also honed in on Charles and Diana.
Season five arrives two months after Queen Elizabeth II's death in early September, and following a pause in the show's production afterwards.
News around the show's fifth and sixth seasons, with the latter following the monarch into the 2000s, has changed a few times over the past few years. At the beginning of 2020, Netflix announced that it would end the royal drama after its fifth season. Then, the streaming platform had a change of heart, revealing it would continue the series for a sixth season after all.
Check out the trailer for The Crown season five below:
The Crown's fifth season will hit Netflix on Wednesday, November 9.
Images: Keith Bernstein / Netflix
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