For those of us who follow The Crown series on Netflix, we know that the show was supposed to last six seasons with three different casts. Season three, the first cast changeover, was released in November. Although critics felt this was the best season yet, I read a lot of unhappy fan tweets. So when I read the news this weekend that they’d begun casting for the fifth season, it surprised me. Olivia Colman was announced as Claire Foy’s replacement as Queen Elizabeth II just two months before the second season was released. So it was weird to me that Olivia’s replacement was announced now, when season four won’t drop until this December. But her replacement wasn’t the biggest news in the statement. The big news is – they are ending the series after season five, so no season six as intended.
First things first, ladies and gentlemen, your new queen, Imelda Staunton:
Imelda Staunton will play Queen Elizabeth II in the fifth and final season of The Crown. pic.twitter.com/hUOob58A9p
— The Crown (@TheCrownNetflix) January 31, 2020
Personally I think Imelda will be marvelous. She’s an amazing, award-winning thespian and has just the right look. So casting is off to a great start. I also think this was smart marketing to announce the series will end a season sooner than anticipated. Rather than allowing the public to think there is something so wrong with season four that the show is being ended early, they deflected the fans with casting news. Smart.
However, fans still want to know: why is the show ending early?
Netflix’s hit drama series about the British royal family will end with season five, creator and showrunner Peter Morgan has revealed, with Imelda Staunton confirmed as taking the golden baton from Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth for the final season.
“At the outset I had imagined The Crown running for six seasons but now that we have begun work on the stories for season five it has become clear to me that this is the perfect time and place to stop,” said Morgan. “I’m grateful to Netflix and Sony for supporting me in this decision.”
Morgan added that he was “absolutely thrilled” that Staunton — a British stage and screen icon with a career spanning four decades, five Olivier awards, a BAFTA award and an Oscar nomination (for 2004’s Vera Drake) — would be “taking The Crown into the 21st Century.”
I’m not really here to accuse Peter Morgan of lying. His reason sounds legitimate, especially in light of Mike Shur and Dan Levy making a similar decision for The Good Place and Schitt$ Creek, respectively. If Morgan honestly felt the show was done, then good for him for making this decision. But the timing is coincidental, to say the very least, given the state of the actual Royal Family. I sure the amount of tap-dancing they’d have to do around certain members pasts at least gave Morgan pause. And if season five is going into the 21st century, well, it would either get ugly or whitewashed. I think they’ll end with Diana’s death, bookending with Morgan’s 2006 film, The Queen.
I have not had an opportunity to discuss season three of The Crown with you. I really liked it. I‘ve mentioned that I was not as familiar with this timeframe of British history, so it was fascinating for me from a ‘historical’ perspective (I do realize that many, many liberties are taken). I thought Josh O’Connor was a standout performance-wise, he must have studied Charles intensely. As was Erin Doherty as Anne. Again, just brilliant. And I agree that she was far underutilized and how could they possibly omit Anne foiling her own kidnapping, Erin would have killed at that. Olivia and Helena Bonham Carter were as good as I’d expected but I owe Tobias Menzies a huge apology as I’d worried he would be the weak link. He was fantastic. Whereas Matt Smith did a good job portraying the part with an undercurrent of anger, I though Tobias nailed Philip’s coldness and aloofness. As for the episodes themselves, there are so many I thought were very good, I’d take up too much space talking about them. But I will say that I disagreed with much of the criticism I saw online about Moondust (the US astronauts episode). I did not think it disrespected those men. I thought it was a very nuanced commentary on hero worship among highly visible people, who see themselves as ‘just doing their job.’
Photo credit: Netflix and WENN/Avalon
I loved the moon episode. Their portrayal of middle aged angst, of searching for greater purpose, of “heroes” just being human, was really touching.
The “Charles goes to Wales” episode and the mining town episode we’re both great too…
I’m sad The Crown is ending early! I wanted Season 16 where we saw the behind the scenes of the coordinated smear on the Sussexes. Was just reading another article and was reminded that NONE of the royal family did anything when a BBC reporter compared Archie to a chimpanzee…. of course, they never protected his mother either, so we shouldn’t be surprised…. EAT THE MONARCHY! But please give us more of The Crown…!!
“I’m sad The Crown is ending early! I wanted Season 16 where we saw the behind the scenes of the coordinated smear on the Sussexes.” JJ McClay, I think the BRF is afraid of the truth and the producers of the show are afraid to offend anyone. I believe potential for offending the BRF is the reason Ryan Murphy abandoned Feud: Charles & Diana.
I would be happy with a book by a REAL journalist with no ax to grind who would do the research then write about what really happened. Someone like Tina Brown or A.N. Wilson.
It is time like this when I really miss Dominick Dunne and all Vanity Fair use to be in the Graydon Carter days.
I enjoy the Crown but I think they are ending it at the right time if they end with Diana’s death. Anything after that I think would require much more compromise between history/good dramatic writing than even Season 3. That said, I also agree with Kaiser re Season 3. I liked that it was more a series of vignettes than Seasons 1 and 2. They covered a big timeframe and hit some interesting events. I especially agree with Kaiser’s take on the moonwalk arch: “ . I thought it was a very nuanced commentary on hero worship among highly visible people, who see themselves as ‘just doing their job.’ ”. The change in actors has been amazing. Both sets have been outstanding in my opinion and I can’t wait for Imelda Staunton.
BayTampaBay —- I so agree with your last 2 paragraphs. Vanity Fair, edited by Tina Brown (and Grayson Carter in the early years of his editorship) published some of the best investigative journalism and commentary; Right up their with The New Yorker and Esquire. I very much miss Dominique Dunne’ unique and always detailed articles. And, I too, would like one really unbiased, well-researched And well written history book on the Diana years. At the moment, I think Tina Brown’s, The Diana Chronicles, is an outstanding read, but her book focuses only on Diana. I would love a history giving us an arch of all the key players in that timeframe of royal history.
I didn’t really care for the moon episode. For one thing, I found it hard to believe Philip would be flustered with the young astronauts. Mad Men did a moon landing episode, in their final season, that was excellent.
I’m sure she’s an absolute gem of a lady, but I automatically recoil whenever I see her face because of the Umbridge association 😂. The Delores bits of the HP series freaked me out haha.
Came here to say this too! I can’t unsee Professor Umbridge when I look at her.
She really is more than Umbridge though. A real versatile actress who is great in everything.
I can’t forget that role either. She made me want to hurt her which means she really embraced that role and nailed it lol.
Omg yes! I have the exact same reaction. All I can think of is Umbridge.
Me too! It’s almost liked she played that part too well- the character was so horrid & so well played that I still see Umbrage when I see her face, and immediately dislike her!
Probably seeing her in other stuff will break that association eventually.
Please stop watching this nonsense Americans! It propagates this idealised and frankly misguided notion of the UK. Especially now with Prince Andrew’s shenannigans and the Queen standing by him and throwing modernity under the bus (aka the Sussexes).
All these films, The Queen, The Iron lady etc make these wildly anachronistic and at times evil people popular and more important than they really are over here.
Surprised Coleman accepted this but there is acertain thing for these lady actresses to play THE QUEEN. Bah. End of rant.
I’m more apt to watch derogatory accounts of world history with sprinklings of progressive humanity which may have contributed to inching us along history at a wounded snail’s pace lmao. The only glorified characters I ever give into, as a general rule, are purely fictional (comics, classic literature, fantasy, sci-fi, horror). 😁
Well well well we already know she looks good in pink.
Final Season huh? Well S3 ending in the late 70s so S4 will probably end late 80s and S5 will probably end late 90s. And a S6 would probably end late 00s
Hence they would have to cover the Cambridge courtship. Which may be too soon for some people
I’m guessing S5 will end with Charles and Camilla at the Ritz or something
This. I think they would be compelled to show the Cambridge “romance” as it was – a highly dysfunctional, on-and-off relationship between a petulant prince getting constantly turned down by aristo girls he fancies and an unemployed, social-climbing doormat. And we know that would never fly with BRF.
I think Season 4 will cover the entirety of Margaret Thatcher’s reign which lasted from 1979 to 1990. Then the fifth and final season will take start in the early 90s, cover Diana’s death in the middle and will end in the early 2000s shortly after Margaret and the Queen Mother’s death. The Will, Kate, Harry and Andrew events are all too current. This is historical fiction.
You thought Tobias Menzies would be the weak link? He’s fabulous in everything!
He’s great! He’s really funny in Catastrophe, and really cute in This Side Up.
I thought they were committed to ten seasons. So now I’m
Bummed!
I adore Tobias Menzies in everything. But I didn’t buy him as Philip.
I thought Matt Smith did an amazing job : physically he really created Philip. I think the differences were too big for me to suspend my disbelief. Also I decided to rewatch S1 and 2 before the start of S3: big mistake considering the change of cast.
I think stopping at Season 5 makes sense if they don’t want to go beyond Diana or really get into the younger royals.
I have faith in their casting decisions, so far I have loved every casting choice so even though I get Umbridge-vibes from Staunton like someone said above, I’ll give her a chance lol.
Ugh, I could not believe what a bore season 3 was! Other than Margaret’s trip to the US and the Charles and Anne episodes, what was there? It was the 60s, man, you mean to tell me NOTHING happened other than Coleman staring out about a million windows?
The birth of the Queen’s first grandchild (Peter Phillips) and Anne’s marriage, kidnapping attempt and Olympics stuff.
IMO they should have taken the astronaut episode and given it to Anne. Cover her wedding and son. And then combine the middle age stuff the moon landing episode talked about with Phillip becoming a grandfather for the first time
Agreed. To me the Moon landing episode was the worst one by far.
I enjoyed Season 3 so much. The cast was superb. Imelda will be fantastic as QE2! She’s so talented.
I have watched The Crown since the end of season one. And considering how utterly garbage the BRF is I dont feel inclined to continue.
*haven’t.
I’ve never been particularly invested in the Harry Potter universe , so to me Staunton’s name means versatile actress.
She’ ll remain an unforgettable Vera Drake, and part of one of my favorite ensemble cast: Peter’s Friends. She and Hugh Laurie were terrific.
Peter’s Friends —- yes, fellow fan here! One of my favorite ensemble movies. Everyone was great in that, but especially Imelda and Hugh.
My current disgust for the royal family, their back biting and racism, is kind of killing my love for The Crown. F**k these people.
I loved the first two seasons of The Crown. I thought that a few of the episodes were well-written, interesting, complex television masterpieces. The episode where John Lithgow as Winston Churchill has his portrait painted… a masterpiece. Sensitive, profound, interesting. I was looking forward to watching the second casting… then kind of never got around to it. While the first two seasons gave me a sort of better appreciation of that whole British royals phenomenon (not being British myself) and I found myself starting to appreciate the real-life Queen a bit, thinking of a life of sacrifice, duty blahblah that she didn’t choose… but then. Real-life events have caught up, I’ve gone back to my non-British ways of thinking of monarchy and inherited extreme privilege as outdated, wasteful, even morally wrong, and I no longer have much interest in watching. I think the show’s producers don’t want to risk looking like apologists for the racist, back-biting, pedo-defending ick of the royals’ recent years.
Like Meghan, the show could have been really good for the monarchy’s image and reception by the public worldwide, but those peeps are just too much of a mess for their own good. I don’t blame the producers for stepping away early.
It should end with Charles marrying Camilla. No need to go beyond that at this point. I thought season 3 was a bit boring, but so was season 2. Incredible cast though.
Who will be better as the Queen, Imelda or Olivia?
You know, they’ve made excellent decisions for the show thus far, so I hope this is one of those rare situations where the top people looked at it and said, “You know what? This is good right here. Any more would be staying too long at the party.”
I hope that’s what it was–a decision for the art–instead of a decision based on wanting to avoid ruffling royal feathers as they got closer to the present issues in the family.
I liked the first two seasons, but the third season left me underwhelmed. Honestly I think it’s probably because I’m really starting to loathe both Queen Elizabeth and prince Philip in real life. I found it so hard to watch their overwhelming privilege while they whined and moped about their lot in life. The moon episode was the worst of all.
The supporting cast was great though, and Charles and princess Margaret stole the show each time. Anne was great as well. Going forward, I wouldn’t mind if the show only focused on these characters and relegated the queen and Philip to the background.