Season 5 of The Crown, the critically praised Netflix drama, is almost here, and yet there has been no trailer for it as of yet. That is not to imply that we have no idea what to anticipate from the forthcoming episodes. Since the drama is based on actual events, we have a general notion of what will happen in the fifth episode. It will span the Prime Ministerships of John Major and Tony Blair and bring the Queen’s reign into the modern day. The breakup of Diana Spencer and Prince Charles’ marriage and her subsequent death are anticipated to be major plot points.
Below, we detail all we know about the film, including the identities of the actors portraying the various roles (because the entire cast is swapped out for a second time), images from the set, and a look at Imelda Staunton’s Elizabeth II. The release date for season 5 of The Crown has not yet been announced, but if you want to build up your anticipation before you press play later this year, then keep reading.
Warning: this article alludes to events from season 4 of The Crown, so if you aren’t familiar with the royal family or its history, you may want to look away now. All right, let’s get down to business.
When will Season 5 of The Crown premiere?
The Crown season 5 will premiere in November 2022, although a specific date has not yet been set. When new information becomes available, we will post an update. The number of episodes in the next fifth season has not been announced by Netflix, but given that the previous three seasons each had 10 episodes, it seems probable that this one will also follow suit. The streaming service does not often release new episodes on a weekly basis; instead, you can anticipate all of the episodes to become available at once, and you may watch them at your own pace.
The actors of The Crown season 5
For seasons 5 and onwards of The Crown, Imelda Staunton will play Queen Elizabeth II in place of Claire Foy, much as Olivia Colman did in seasons 3 and 4. Staunton stated in a statement after her casting, “I have adored watching The Crown from the very start.” “As an actress, I found it gratifying to witness how both of Claire Foy and Olivia Colman interpreted [series creator] Peter Morgan’s writing in their own distinctive ways. I feel really fortunate to be a part of The Crown’s incredible creative team and to be able to see the show through to its end.”
Lesley Manville, following in the footsteps of Vanessa Kirby and Helena Bonham Carter, will play Princess Margaret, while Jonathan Pryce will portray Elizabeth’s husband, Prince Philip. The Queen Mother, Princess Anne, Prince Edward, and Prince Andrew will be portrayed by Marcia Warren, Claudia Harrison, Sam Woolf, and James Murray, respectively. Timothy Dalton, the first James Bond, returns in a brief appearance as Peter Townsend, Margaret’s lover from the first season.
The fourth season of The Crown saw the debut of Emma Corrin in the role of Princess Diana. Elizabeth Debicki will play the role this time around. Elsewhere, Dominic West is entrusted with portraying Prince Charles, Diana’s husband and Elizabeth’s son, while Olivia Williams takes on his long-time girlfriend Camilla Parker Bowles. Diana and Charles’ eldest son William will be played by Senan West. There has been no word on who will play Harry.
Khalid Abdalla will play Dodi Fayed, Diana’s boyfriend who died with her in 1997, while Amir El-Masry will represent Dodi’s father Mohamed Al-Fayed. Masry is younger than Abdalla, hence it’s probable that any scenes he appears in will be flashbacks. Diana dated Humayun Saeed’s character, Dr. Hasnat Khan, before she started dating Dodi.
There are a lot of familiar faces at Number 10: Jonny Lee Miller (as John Major), Flora Montgomery (as Norma Major), Bertie Carvel (as Tony Blair), and Lydia Leonard (as Cherie Blair). Emma Laird Craig portrays Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York; Andrew Havill plays Robert Fellowes, the Queen’s private secretary and the brother-in-law of Princess Diana; Natascha McElhone plays Penelope Knatchbull, Lady Romsey; Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu plays Monique Ritz; and Prasanna Puwanarajah plays the role of Ritz (Martin Bashir).
The storyline of The Crown Season 5
The fourth season of The Crown covered the years 1977-1990, and season five will most likely continue the story from there. The Queen’s address to the nation upon Britain’s joining the United States in the Gulf War in 1991 and its aftermath are likely to be shown in earlier episodes. A major story component is likely to be Princess Diana and Prince Charles’s “amicable” divorce in 1992, a year that Elizabeth would subsequently refer to as her “Annus horribilis” despite it being her Ruby Jubilee.
A photo of Elizabeth Debicki wearing Diana’s famous “revenge dress” from a 1994 dinner at the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens has surfaced from the set of the film. There will be other divorces discussed in season 5 than Diana and Charles’. Separations between Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew and Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips both occurred in the 1990s. But considering how minor Anne and Andrew have always been on the programme, it’s possible that their private lives won’t play a significant role.
Since Prasanna Puwanarajah has been cast as the BBC’s Martin Bashir, we may assume that the controversial November 20, 1995 broadcast of Diana’s interview on Panorama will also be included. She informed the reporter, “There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded,” which made quite a commotion at the time. The terrible death of Diana in a vehicle accident two years later is another pivotal event that will be examined in the next fifth chapter. We may also brace ourselves for the narratives surrounding the 1997 election of Tony Blair as Prime Minister, the fire at Windsor Castle, the Queen’s visit to South Africa, and the tight connection between Prince Philip and the aristocratic Penny Brabourne, née Knatchbull.
Season 5 will bring Elizabeth’s reign into the 21st century, and it’s possible that we’ll see the death of Princess Margaret in 2002 after Season 4 focused on her battles with illness, addiction, and melancholy. One way or another, in 1998 she will have a mini-stroke. It’s unclear if Season 5 will be as ambitious as Season 4, which spanned 13 years of history.
Peter Morgan, the show’s creator, has said that he has no interest in bringing the series up to the present day since it would be impolite to focus on events now unfolding in the life of the Royal Family. If the conclusion of Season 5 occurred in the year 2003, then the end of the last season (Season 6) would take place in the year 2016, which is not so very long ago. When it comes to specific timelines, though, we’ll have to wait and see.
Where does The Crown go beyond Season 5?
The Crown creator Peter Morgan said in 2020 that the decision to return to the original idea of six seasons was made after discussions of the storylines for Series 5 made it evident that more time will be needed to do justice to the richness and complexity of the plot. The Crown will return for a sixth season, but that will be its final run. Shooting is scheduled to begin in late August 2022, and the confirmation came via a casting call for young actors to portray Prince William and Prince Harry. Seasons 1-4 of The Crown is currently streaming on Netflix.