The Crown’s Season 6, its final season, will be released this fall. I have no idea if King Charles is going to throw another tantrum about it, but seeing as how showrunner Peter Morgan has made public assurances to the Windsors, I’m guessing that it will be a mixed bag. Charles’s people will moan about this or that, but really, they’ll be secretly pleased that the show has largely gone easy on him. Season 6 kicks off with the start of Tony Blair’s term as prime minister, which coincided with the death of Princess Diana in Paris. Before Diana and Dodi went to Paris, they were on the al-Fayed yacht, Jonikal, for about a month that summer. Well, the Daily Mail has some information about those Diana & Dodi scenes:
Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed will be seen engaging in a love affair — without any love scenes — as the final series of The Crown attempts to avoid giving more offence than the last one did. The pair started a relationship on the yacht Jonikal in the summer of 1997, just weeks before they died together in a car accident in Paris on August 31. Their romance will be depicted. However I’m told that there are no nude scenes or ‘anything which could be called intimate’.
Perhaps Netflix are trying not to upset Diana’s son Prince Harry, who has a megabucks deal to produce content for the streamer.
Executives insisted at the Edinburgh TV festival last month that the depiction of Diana’s death had been done with the utmost sensitivity. It will feature in the early episodes of the new series, which was filmed last autumn and is expected to be broadcast in October. But no matter how sensitively it’s been handled, it’s bound to be controversial. Producer Suzanne Mackie said: ‘The show might be big and noisy, but we’re not. We’re thoughtful people and we’re sensitive people. There were very careful, long conversations about how we were going to do it. The audience will judge it, in the end. But I think it’s been delicately, thoughtfully recreated. Elizabeth Debicki is an extraordinary actress and she was so thoughtful and considerate. She loved Diana. There’s a huge amount of respect from us all. I hope that’s evident.’
Producer Andy Harries said that the final episode of the drama — directed by Stephen Daldry — is one of the best shows he has ever done. It will feature all three actresses who have played the Queen. Harries said: ‘It’s a very respectful episode.’
“Perhaps Netflix are trying not to upset Diana’s son Prince Harry, who has a megabucks deal to produce content for the streamer.” These people rock themselves to sleep in the asylum, chanting “but Netflix, but Netflix, but Netflix.” Harry doesn’t have anything to do with The Crown and no one has ever credibly accused Harry OR Peter Morgan of colluding with each other on what The Crown does or does not cover. Isn’t far more likely that Peter Morgan, as a storyteller, decided not to prioritize the “love story” of Dodi and Diana because Dodi was little more than Diana’s rebound and, even if he proposed, she wouldn’t have said yes? Morgan has largely pulled his punches about Diana’s story, so I also suspect that “it’s a very respectful episode” means that it’s respectful to the Windsors and their catastrophic reaction to Diana’s death.
Photos courtesy of Netflix.
Oh, lord… another season (thank g-d the last) of The Crown. This series has been a bore. You’d get better info about this family by reading back issues of The National Enquirer. The whole series has just skipped over the surface. It’s like watching episodes of “upcoming scenes.”
The Dodi/Diana story is minimised as it was short term and not very deep. A diversion from her real love.
She had zero intention of being with him and this was a false narrative created post their deaths.
No matter how deep or shallow this relationship was, the creators know we all love Diana too much to create an intimate scene without any base of what their relationship truly was,,stain her beautiful legacy and offend all the people who love her still. It just doesn’t seem right.
@michele yes!
You could almost say it’s a propaganda series for this family to get more attention! Especially when they show Willy+Karen and their “love story”…
Nothing to do with Prince Harry, everything to do with Charles and Camilla. Like last season, the Crown managed to get at the writer and the producer. Less people will watch than last season, that’s a guarantee. For me, it’s a hard pass.
i wasn’t that in love with Season 5. They definitely went soft on Charles and Camilla. I would have liked some analysis of the hypocrisy of the royals for slamming Diana for her interview but being okay with Charles’. I would have liked it to be more obvious that William was being singled out and treated better than Harry by the royals. Etc.
I think the show started out being interesting and critical without necessarily being anti-royal or pro-royal, and now I think its definitely whitewashing some history for the royals.
I agree. The first two seasons were the best IMO.
I really didn’t care for how Di was portrayed as a self-centered opportunist in season 5. Even if there’s some truth to it, it was overly sympathetic to the RF.
I didn’t even bother to watch the last season when heard the producers made a mess of it by trying to appease the royals. This series needs to end. It’s lived passed it’s usefulness especially when they can’t even be honest.
Harry is not the son that the Crown should be worried about. He has talked about his mother’s relationship with Dodi in that there was a feeding frenzy from the press about it and that it wasn’t lost on him that when she died she was in a relationship with someone who wasn’t white. It would be great if the Crown portrayed the story from that angle but I’ve come to realisation that the producers are eager to have the endorsement of the Palace as they did with the earlier seasons of the show and so they will water down the show like they did last season.
Why would anyone think they’d do a nude scene with Diana and Dodi?
Kaiser is spot on – Dodi was tangential to arc of The Crown. In this case, the real story is how the RF reacted to Diana’s death
My question exactly, Eurydice! Seriously, that never entered my mind until they put it there. They didn’t do a nude scene (or even a real love scene) during the episode about Dr. Khan so…And I think she actually loved him.
“In this case, the real story is how the RF reacted to Diana’s death.”
Correct, and Peter Morgan already told this story in “The Queen.” He’s not going to waste time telling it again. Dodi’s a distraction that’ll take time away from William and Kate which surely will be tackled in the final season.
Didn’t season 5 end within a month of Di’s death? I though season 6 would be more about the aftermath, and the boys becoming adults (e.g. the casting of Kate).
Pretty close. IIRC they said the series finale was going to be C&C’s wedding.
They did shoot the final season completely out of order – they were filming William and Kate months before they were filming the crash.
I get the feeling the season might open with the crash and then time jump.
What is the point of massaging the narrative to appease the BRF? Audiences are attracted by the salacious bits. To leave them out in favor of the soft-focus treatment would be fiduciary malpractice.
I’m laughing so hard at “fiduciary malpractice.”
I wonder if they will mention the negotiations over Diana’s security detail, and how the loss of the previous level of security changed her decisions in life (dating men who could provide security) and made her far more vulnerable to danger.
I have never thought there was foul play in her death, other than that the RF left her very vulnerable to any accidents or risky circumstances by removing her royal security.
If there hadn’t been the accident in Paris, there probably would have been another catastrophe – one that having better and more security could also have prevented.
But I suspect they won’t because the whole security issue is too sensitive, and the parallels of mistreatment are too evident, in regards to H&M.
I loved seasons 1-4 and I’ve watched them a few times. I’ve only watched season 5 once and I’m reluctant to watch 6. I’ll probably sit through it just to finish out the series, but there’s no eager anticipation. What a waste.
This reminds me of “the windsors” itv mini-show. It was going after everyone and while predictable did get some laughs. This new season is painting William and kate as geniuses. I stopped watching. Megan and harry was made the grasp’ers. Which we know they both are planners.
“The Crown” has lost its backbone. It’s not worth watching. The actors look foolish and I hope they have other jobs lined up.
They sold out and lost their integrity, which killed the spark that made this series interesting. They could have had a memorable series but now, we’ll just remember how Peter Morgan sold out for I am sure some kind of honors from the Windsors.