Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth in 'The Crown'
How Many Seasons of 'The Crown' Will There Be?
Sep. 9 2022, Updated 6:27 p.m. ET
The Netflix show The Crown has documented the story of the British Royal Family up through the 1990s, but when will the story end? Previously, The Hollywood Reporter announced that the show would conclude with Season 5, but initially, creator Peter Morgan envisioned six seasons to round out the series.
How many seasons of The Crown will there be? When can we expect The Crown Season 5 to be released? Here's what we know.
How many seasons of 'The Crown' will there be?
Initially, The Hollywood Reporter spoke to Peter Morgan in 2020, who said, "At the outset, I had imagined The Crown running for six seasons but now that we have begun work on the stories for Season 5, it has become clear to me that this is the perfect time and place to stop. I’m grateful to Netflix and Sony for supporting me in this decision."
However, several months later in July, Peter reversed his Season 5 finale statement and said, "As we started to discuss the storylines for [Season 5], it soon became clear that in order to do justice to the richness and complexity of the story, we should go back to the original plan and do six seasons."
However, the series extension doesn't mean the show intends to conclude in the present day. Peter has previously said he would not cover Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding, as his initial intentions were to cover 60 years of British royal history, which would place the end of the series in 2012, at Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee.
In September 2022, Deadline announced that rising actress Meg Bellamy would play Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cornwall and Cambridge, though it’s unclear if we’ll see a reenactment of Kate and William’s 2011 wedding. Rufus Kampa will play teen Prince William, with actor Ed McVey taking over for his later teen years and beyond.
When does ‘The Crown’ return, or has it been canceled?
Fans of The Crown will have to wait until November 2022 for Season 5 to hit Netflix (a specific date hasn't been released yet). Season 5 of the show stars Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth II, Jonathan Pryce as Prince Philip, Lesley Manville as Princess Margaret, Jonny Lee Miller as John Major, Dominic West as Prince Charles, and Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana.
While viewers are still anticipating Season 5, the show’s final season may take even longer. The series already began production on Season 6, which includes most of the Season 5 actors. However, on Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022, the royal family’s monarch (and the reason The Crown exists), Queen Elizabeth II, died at age 96.
Upon news of Queen Elizabeth’s passing, Netflix reportedly chose to suspend production on the series to pay homage to the queen’s 70-year reign.
“As a mark of respect, filming on The Crown was suspended today,” a Netflix source shared with Variety on Friday, Sept. 9, 2022. “Filming will also be suspended on the day of Her Majesty The Queen’s funeral.”
Although the series ended production, The Crown Season 6 hasn’t been canceled and will likely continue filming after the weekend and Queen Elizabeth’s memorial, which occurs on Sept. 17, 2022.
The Crown Seasons 1 through 4 are available for streaming on Netflix.
