Everything to Know About 'The Crown' Season 5

Hear ye, hear ye!

The highly-anticipated fifth season of The Crown started production in July 2021, which means fans of the Netflix drama inspired by the lives of Britain's royal family don't have much longer to wait for the next installment of palace intrigue.

Like seasons 1 and 3 before it, The Crown season 5 will debut a completely new cast to play the iconic royals, to reflect the changing decades covered by the series, from Queen Elizabeth II's ascension to the fraught relationship between Princess Diana and Prince Charles,

While season 4 chronicled the courtship and marriage years of Diana and Charles, this season will explore the early 1990s — a turbulent period for the Royal Family. Although Netflix has kept details under wraps, the streamer's been giving hints and glimpses of what's to come when the fictionalized British royals return to our screens, with a few glimpses of production being released that were taken at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey, about an hour outside of London.

On Sept. 8, 2022, following news of Queen Elizabeth II's death, creator Peter Morgan paid tribute to the longest-reigning British monarch and said production would stop for the moment "out of respect" to the late Queen.

Here's everything we know about The Crown season 5 so far.

What will The Crown season 5 be about?

Actors portraying the younger William and Harry were last seen together onscreen in episode 9 of season 4 of The Crown, singing in the backseat of their mother's car while driving to Highgrove. The latest chapter of the fictional drama will likely watch them grow up even more (a theory borne out even more by the fact that the series just cast collegiate William and Kate lookalikes for season 6).

Though much of the project remains under wraps, season 5 is slated to explore the early 1990s. It will be a rocky road for the royals, with the dissolution of Charles and Diana's marriage just one lowlights for the Windsors.

The storyline may focus in part on 1992, which the Queen declared to be an "annus horribilis" (Latin for "horrible year"), speculates Variety. It was the year in which three of her four children separated from their spouses and a devastating fire hit Windsor Castle.

The drama will likely carry through to 1995, when Diana gave a bombshell interview to the BBC's Panorama in 1995, according to Deadline. The scandal from that interview continues even today, after it came to light that journalist Martin Bashir may have used deceptive methods to persuade Diane to sit for the interview, and Prince William slamming Bashir after the official BBC inquiry determined that Bashir did.

Who's joining The Crown season 5 cast?

Elizabeth Debicki will join the cast as Princess Diana and Dominic West will play Prince Charles in The Crown season 5. Netflix shared an official first look at the two on Aug. 17. Debicki takes the tiara from Emma Corrin, who embodied Diana in an Emmy-nominated entrée into the series in season 4.

Debicki described the role as an honor: "Princess Diana's spirit, her words and her actions live in the hearts of so many. It is my true privilege and honour to be joining this masterful series, which has had me absolutely hooked from episode one."

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Before dropping the official photos of the then-Prince and Princess of Wales, the show released a season 5 shot of Oscar nominee Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth II. The Harry Potter actress has also been spotted twice on set in Scotland, filming with two men and Claudia Harrison, who takes the reins as Princess Anne.

The new season will also see these additions: Jonathan Pryce as Prince Philip, Lesley Manville as Princess Margaret, and Johnny Lee Miller as John Major, whose 1990–97 tenure as Prime Minister sheds light on which years the show will cover.

Has Netflix shared official images from The Crown season 5?

On Oct. 14, Netflix released seven first-look images from The Crown season 5. The shots are taken from separate scenes, teasing the intrigue to come.

One image shows Debicki as a downcast Princess Diana, wearing a halter dress similar to the one the Princess of Wales wore at a Vanity Fair fundraising gala in 1995, while another shows Olivia Williams and West looking up at the night sky as they play the future Queen Camilla and King Charles.

Is there a trailer for The Crown season 5?

On Oct. 20, Netflix released the first official trailer for The Crown season 5 set to a haunting version of the 1997 hit "Bittersweet Symphony" by The Verve.

Opening with scenes of the devastating 1992 fire at Windsor Castle, the trailer features a voiceover from Queen Elizabeth summing up a year that also saw the separations of Princess Diana and Prince Charles and Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson — a year the Queen later famously called her "annus horribilis" (Latin for "horrible year").

It also includes Princess Diana's pain as she prepares to talk to BBC Panorama about life inside the palace. "I won't go quietly," she says. "I'll battle to the end."

Will The Crown season 5 be the last season?

Though season 5 was initially intended to be the show's last, producers changed their minds and, to fans' great relief, promised that the historical drama will continue to rule Netflix queues for a final, sixth season.

"As we started to discuss the storylines for Series 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," creator Peter Morgan said in July 2020. "To be clear, Series 6 will not bring us any closer to present-day — it will simply enable us to cover the same period in greater detail."

The plot will reportedly cover the late '90s and early 2000s with a focus on a young Prince William and Prince Harry. Furthermore, it's speculated that the show will portray Kate Middleton in a minor role, depicting the beginning of her romance with William during their time together at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

In early September, it was announced that newcomer Meg Bellamy will play Kate. Meanwhile, Will be portrayed by multiple actors as the character ages: 16-year-old Rufus Kampa and 21-year-old Ed McVey.

When does The Crown season 5 premiere?

The fifth season of The Crown will be released on Nov. 9. Seasons 1 through 4 of The Crown are now streaming on Netflix.