The first images for the fifth season of the Emmy-winning and widely praised royal drama from creator Peter Morgan have been made available on Netflix. The season of 10 episodes debuts on November 9.
The Crown is a dramatization of historical events that tells the tale of Queen Elizabeth II and the political and private events that influenced her reign. Season 5, which takes place in the 1990s, according to Netflix, presents the Royal family with perhaps its largest struggle yet as the public openly challenges its position.
Along with Suzanne Mackie, Andy Harries, Stephen Daldry, Matthew Byam Shaw, Robert Fox, and Jessica Hobbs, Morgan serves as executive producer.
The performers’ character descriptions, which were revealed along with the first look images on Friday on the streamer’s fan site Tudum, are quoted below.
When Imelda Staunton plays Queen Elizabeth II, I am excited to watch the actress. That has been great, and I hope I don’t prove them wrong. So, since I’ve already done it, let’s just hope it works out for them. Nothing I can do right now to stop it!
“Doing this and digging into Philip’s past and finding out what made him the way he was, that was the attraction to me,” says Jonathan Pryce as Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. The Crown investigates their emotional lives, which is what I’m more interested in.
Charles, Prince of Wales (Dominic West): “I think people recognize that this is not an imitation since the cast has changed every two seasons. This invokes a certain character. In the imagined talks of their private lives—something that no one knows—is actually where the show dwells. That, in my opinion, explains why it draws so much flak. How are you expected to know what they speak about while they are alone? We don’t, is the obvious response. But we have a fantastic writer—a dramatist—who creates based on thorough research, and that is a big part of what makes the program so fascinating.
“That’s the beautiful thing about portraying these individuals at this period because, in the journey of The Crown so far out of all the seasons, this is the most visual footage we have of the Royal Family,” said Elizabeth Debicki as Diana, Princess of Wales. The 24-hour news cycle was also invented in the 1990s when everything had already begun to be videotaped, so we now have access to an unbelievable amount of material. Diana was the subject of most photographs at the time. When an actor opens the portal, they are struck with a tremendous informational tsunami.
“One of the most beautiful things about The Crown is that we get to experience those kinds of fictitious intimate moments, which may help us understand someone we’ve previously criticized better,” says Olivia Williams as Camilla Parker-Bowles. Regarding what at times must be an intolerable situation, Charles and Camilla seem to have a very good sense of humor. And it is what I most want to demonstrate.
The scripts eventually arrived, and that was it, said Lesley Manville as Princess Margaret. I had a tonne of movies to watch, pictures to look at, and reading to do. Different people’s accounts of the events are found in every book I’ve read. You must thus let it soak in and become ingrained, but once the scripts arrive and you begin to use them, you nearly forget about it.
In her role as Princess Anne, Claudia Harrison said: “Anne is a remarkable figure. She is excellent in her profession and a true feminist, but she is not there to make people feel better about themselves. She is a role model for us and, in my opinion, does not feel entitled.
“I believe Jonny Lee Miller is an extraordinary achievement in the job and a tremendous surprise,” says Morgan of Jonny Lee Miller as Prime Minister John Major.