The sixth and final season of The Crown, which follows the life and reign of Queen Elizabeth II, is in production and will be released by Netflix in two installments: the first four episodes being released on 16 November 2023, and the remaining six on 14 December 2023. It is the only season of the series to be produced following the death of Queen Elizabeth II on 8 September 2022.
Premise
The Crown traces the reign of Queen Elizabeth II from her wedding in 1947 to the early 21st century.
The sixth season is expected to be set between 1997 and 2005 and will depict the premiership of Tony Blair, the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, the wedding of Edward, Earl of Wessex and Sophie Rhys-Jones, the deaths of Princess Margaret and the Queen Mother, the early relationship of Prince William and Kate Middleton, and the wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles.
Cast
Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth II
Viola Prettejohn as young Princess Elizabeth
Jonathan Pryce as Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Elizabeth's husband
Lesley Manville as Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, Elizabeth's younger sister Beau Gadsdon as young Princess Margaret Dominic West as Charles, Prince of Wales, Elizabeth and Philip's eldest child and the heir apparent Elizabeth Debicki as Diana, Princess of Wales, Charles' ex-wife Olivia Williams as Camilla Parker Bowles, Charles' long-time lover Khalid Abdalla as Dodi Fayed, Diana's lover who died alongside her in the 1997 car crash Salim Daw as Mohamed Al-Fayed, Dodi Fayed's father Bertie Carvel as Tony Blair, Prime Minister 1997–2007 Lydia Leonard as Cherie Blair, Tony Blair's wife Andrew Havill as Robert Fellowes, the Queen's private secretary and brother-in-law of Princess Diana Marcia Warren as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, widow of King George VI, mother of Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret Claudia Harrison as Anne, Princess Royal, Elizabeth and Philip's second child and only daughter Theo Fraser Steele as Timothy Laurence, Princess Anne's husband James Murray as Prince Andrew, Duke of York, Elizabeth and Philip's third child Sam Woolf as Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, Elizabeth and Philip's youngest child Ed McVey as William, Prince of Wales, Charles and Diana's elder son and the second-in-line for the British throne Rufus Kampa as young Prince William of Wales Meg Bellamy as Catherine Middleton, a classmate of Prince William Luther Ford as Prince Harry of Wales, Charles and Diana's younger son and the third-in-line to the British throne Will Powell as young Prince Harry of Wales Richard Rycroft as George Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury Matilda Broadbridge as Pippa Middleton, sister of Catherine Middleton
Production
Development
Though the series was initially planned to run for six seasons, in January 2020 creator Peter Morgan announced that the series would instead conclude with the fifth season. In July 2020, Morgan reversed his decision and announced that the series would end with a sixth season as originally planned, saying, "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. To be clear, Season 6 will not bring us any closer to present-day — it will simply enable us to cover the same period in greater detail."
Casting
In January 2020, Imelda Staunton was announced as succeeding Colman as the Queen in the fifth season, and her role in the final sixth season was reported in July. Also in July 2020, Lesley Manville was announced as portraying Princess Margaret, and the following month, Jonathan Pryce and Elizabeth Debicki had been cast as Prince Philip and Diana, Princess of Wales, respectively. In October 2020, Dominic West was in talks to play Prince Charles and was officially confirmed as part of the cast in April 2021. In June 2021, Olivia Williams announced that she would portray Camilla Parker Bowles. In September 2022, Rufus Kampa and Ed McVey were cast as Prince William, while Meg Bellamy was cast as Kate Middleton. Viola Prettejohn was cast as young Elizabeth, while Beau Gadsdon reprised her role as young Margaret, for flashback scenes set on Victory in Europe Day.
Filming
Filming for the season began in early September 2022, but was paused following the death of Queen Elizabeth II on 8 September 2022. Filming resumed the following week, but paused again on the day of the Queen's funeral on 19 September 2022. Filming wrapped on 21 April 2023.