William and Kate’s romance; Diana’s death; a Royal wedding. Here’s what we’ll see in the last series of Netflix’s drama – and what we won’t
All good, and some bad, things must come to an end, and this autumn is going to bring the sixth, and final, season of Netflix’s The Crown. Expectations are, as ever, high, but tempered by the knowledge that the fifth series of the royal behemoth was not its best, despite a starry cast that included everyone from Imelda Staunton (as the Queen) and Jonathan Pryce as Prince Philip to Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana and – to widespread, and rather unfair, ridicule – Jonny Lee Miller, Trainspotting’s Sick Boy himself, as John Major.
It attracted criticism for rushing storylines and (even by its own standards) inventing outrageous scenes, such as a moment in which Prince Charles asks Major if he’d be willing to back him in trying to compel his mother to abdicate. Yet at its best, it was as gripping and moving as any of the earlier instalments, keeping viewers intrigued right up until the end and anxious to see how its conclusion will pan out.
Its writer Peter Morgan had originally announced that the fifth series would be the last, presumably ending with the death of Diana in August 1997. While he was writing the script, he said, it “became clear… that this is the perfect time and place to stop.” He subsequently reconsidered, and so Crown aficionados can look forward to their final fix when the show launches later this year. Although no streaming date has been confirmed, most of the other series have been aired in November; it wouldn’t be too presumptuous to assume that it will be with us in a couple of months.
Netflix has teased the final season with a photograph posted on its official account, of the order of service of the April 2005 wedding of Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, which suggests that this will form part of the main storyline.