The Crown Season 5 Announces November Premiere Date

The Netflix series "The Crown" hit the top 10 for the streaming service shortly after the death of Queen Elizabeth II on September 8, 2022. There have been four seasons of the series chronicling the life of the royal house of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, with a fifth and sixth on the way. Production on season 6 paused briefly out of respect for the Queen's passing.

Today, the premiere date for the fifth season has been announced, which will bring new actors playing the main roles. For the final two seasons, Dominic West is taking over for Josh O'Connor as Prince Charles, with Elizabeth Debicki taking over Princess Diana from Emma Corrin. Imelda Staunton is now playing Queen Elizabeth, played earlier by Claire Foy, then Olivia Colman, with Jonathan Pryce as Prince Philip, taking over from Matt Smith and Tobias Menzies. Princess Margaret was first played by Vanessa Kirby, then Helena Bonham Carter, and now Lesley Manville.

The first two seasons of the series chronicled the marriage and the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's reign. The third season covered the period between 1964 and 1977, with the investiture of Prince Charles as Prince of Wales, and ended with the Silver Jubilee. The fourth gave us the meeting and subsequent troubled marital beginnings of Prince Charles and Princess Diana.

Season 5 covers the scandals that hit the royal family in the 1990s. During that decade, Charles and Diana divorced, as did Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson. There was also the scandal of Diana's affairs and Charles' extramarital relationship with Camilla Parker-Bowles, his current wife (played earlier by Emerald Fennell). We know that the death of Princess Diana will be handled in the sixth season from the casting of Prince William and the new Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton. William will be played in season 6 first by Rufus Kampa, with Ed McVey taking over the role for the Prince's later teen years. Middleton will be played by Meg Bellamy. Prince Harry has yet to be cast.

Netflix

New cast members for season 5 also include Jonny Lee Miller as Prime Minister John Major; Florida Montgomery as his wife, Norma Major; Marcia Warren as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother; Olivia Williams as Camilla Parker Bowles; Claudia Harrison as Princess Anne; James Murray as Prince Andrew; Emma Laird Craig as Sarah, Duchess of York; Sam Woolf as Prince Edward; and Andrew Havill as Robert Fellowes, the Queen's private secretary.

"The Crown" season 5 will premiere on Netflix on November 9, 2022.