As part of Netflix’s Tudum fan event, the streamer announced the release date for season five of The Crown, according to Variety. The series will return to the platform in November 2022 with an all-new cast playing the British royal family.
The series will star Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake) as Queen Elizabeth, Jonathan Pryce (The Two Popes) as Prince Philip, Lesley Manville (Phantom Thread) as Princess Margaret, Dominic West (The Affair) as Prince Charles, Elizabeth Debicki (Tenet) as Princess Diana, and Olivia Williams (Sabotage) as Camilla Parker Bowles. The series launched in 2016 with Claire Foy (Unsane) playing the role of Queen Elizabeth for two seasons. After a one year hiatus, the show returned in 2019 with Olivia Colman (The Favourite) starring as the Queen for seasons three and four.
The premiere date announcement was given by Staunton from the set of The Crown as she praised Foy and Colman for their Emmy-winning performances.
“I will do my utmost to maintain the very high standard that they set,” she said. “Hopefully I look calm, collected and capable. My stomach, meanwhile, is doing somersaults,” via Variety.
While Staunton was initially meant to play the Queen for a final season, the show’s creator and executive producer, Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon), expanded her tenure through the sixth season of the show, which is expected to be its last. The upcoming season, set to debut in November 2022, will detail the disintegration of Charles and Diana’s marriage. It is unclear if the season will chronicle the events leading up to Diana’s death in 1997, since their marriage officially ended in 1996.
The official announcement made by the Queen herself from her study can be watched below.