On Monday, Netflix dropped some new photos for The Crown Season 6, and all of these pics look like they’re from the “Part 1” of the final season. Meaning, there’s a lot of focus on the summer of 1997, where Princess Diana spent the summer on Mohamed al-Fayed’s yacht, Jonikal. The first part of the summer, Prince Harry and William were on the yacht, and the al-Fayeds were focused on providing a good family environment for the boys. Then Diana sent the boys off to spend the rest of the summer in Balmoral with their father, and she remained with the al-Fayeds, which is when her “romance” with Dodi al-Fayed really started happening. There were paparazzi stalking that yacht for weeks. Then Dodi took Diana to Paris and… you know the rest.
From the photos, we can see how Diana-intensive it will be, but they’ll also do something in Balmoral. Charles did a “photocall” with his sons at Balmoral weeks before (if memory serves) Diana’s death. That photocall seems to be part of the story. The kid they got to play a 12-year-old Harry is… not the one. Good lord, that’s bad casting! No offense to the kid, but he looks nothing like Harry at that age. And William had a growth spurt just months earlier and he was as tall as his dad during the photocall.
I wonder how much Peter Morgan will include about the hours before Diana’s death. Those hours were especially chaotic, with Dodi not being able to settle on staying in one place, and there were reports that Diana sat in the middle of the Ritz and wept openly because she was so frustrated with the paparazzi situation and Dodi’s indecision. The remarkable Khalid Abdalla returns to play Dodi, as he did in Season 5. Abdalla looks so much like Dodi!!
Photos courtesy of Netflix/The Crown.
this will be an interesting season. i wonder how harry and will feel about who plays them and the reenactment of a horrible time in their lives. i hope they don’t make it macabre.
Morgan must hate Will because the actor looks like he just came from Children of the Corn. They needed an actor with big beaver teeth, cmon, were they even trying? Or is this more of a love letter to Charles, so that the kids don’t upstage the strange new handsome version of Charles?
The William and Harry casting is SO BAD. SO BAD. And thats something that’s important to get right because images of those boys at that time in their life is seared in the minds of millions around the world bc of Diana’s funeral.
100%
I think one of these kid actors is Dominic West’s son but maybe it’s for an older version of the characters.
I was pleasantly surprised by the acting chops of Dominic West’s son. He was actually pretty good.
I wonder what was behind West’s sudden discomfort with his son in the role… ??
Dominic West’s son was last season. West was uncomfortable with his son continuing in the role, so they recast.
@Aries48, thanks for the detail !
Big beaver teeth, lol.
The resemblance with the actor who plays Dodi to the real Dodi is really creeping me out.
I must admit that I haven’t been watching this – I pay more attention to the casting choices as some a very good and they seem to go for people who have a decent resemblance to their real life counterpart. Thou Chuck must be thrilled at West playing him.
I am not too hopeful about this season. Charles may be made to look heroic. I wonder how the show will handle how the boys had to walk behind their mother s coffin.
So wait. Did Diana have a security detail or did they do to her what they did to Harry? 🤔
No, she didn’t have royal protection officers by then. The official story is that she rejected them because she felt they were spying on her. But seeing what happened to Harry, I believe they yanked them away from her to leave her vulnerable.
That night it was supposed to be Dodi’s security but he was indecisive on what to do.
Yeah, I think many of us are re-evaluating what we were told or thought we knew about the Diana situation, given what happened to Harry.
I hope Morgan is kinder to Diana this season. Last season was a travesty
And the actress playing her gets better scripts
They really did Harry dirty with the casting. That kid looks nothing like Harry at all.
The only casting they got right for Harry was the first Harry and Meghan movie on lifetime. That guy resembled Harry. Everyone else has been a big miss.
The first Lifetime movie had perfect casting. It’s too bad they couldn’t keep those actors.
On Saturday the Times dropped a throwback anecdote about Diana being asked by a teenage girl in hospital long-term if Prince William who was then 14 , would visit with her next time? Diana asked William , who gave a flat No then she gently reminded him that he’ll have to visit hospitals when he is King. William snapped that he didn’t want to become king! Maybe the Crown can dramatize this revealing glimpse into William’s truculence?
I agree that the Harry casting is bad but I think William is worse. I don’t want to be mean about a child but William was absolutely beautiful when he was younger (what happened?!). You can’t get someone who looks exactly like him but I think it needs to be someone who has the ‘glow’ he used to have.
Harry was sweet looking as a child but he really grew into his looks so it’s less important that the child actor is attractive & charismatic like Harry is now.
Lol. I love the William casting. The actor is a bad likeness but 10/10 on the nefariousness he’s exuding in these shots. No notes.
Last season was SO bad. Someone really got to Morgan after season four. And Dominic West remains horribly cast. They should have just aged Josh Charles, he was so much better at the mannerisms and Eeyore self-pity