‘The Crown’ Season 5 Release Date Is Almost Here! Plus Cast News and More
Updated Sept. 24 2022, 3:32 p.m. ET
Hear ye, hear ye! Netflix’s drama series The Crown Season 5 is officially ready to be shown to audiences, and boy are they eager. While the first few seasons followed Queen Elizabeth’s reign and marriage to Prince Charles, Season 5 continues telling Princess Diana and Prince Charles’ story. After Princess Di realized their marriage wasn’t a genuine fairy tale, she chose to protect herself and their sons, Prince Harry and William.
The decision changed the family’s trajectory and, as many royal fans already know, had a tragic outcome in the 1990s, which Season 5 will cover. So, when can viewers tune into The Crown Season 5? Here’s what we know!
Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth II in 'The Crown' Season 5.
The royal family will look different in ‘The Crown' Season 5.
In September 2021, People shared exclusive photos of The Crown’s actors filming Season 5.
While Emma Corrin gave an Emmy-nominated performance of the Princess of Wales in Season 4, Elizabeth Debicki will portray Diana’s later years.
Additionally, Dominic West replaced Josh O’Connor as Prince Charles.
"Princess Diana's spirit, her words, and her actions live in the hearts of so many,” Elizabeth said about the opportunity. "It is my true privilege and honor to be joining this masterful series, which has had me absolutely hooked from episode one.”
In addition to Princess Diana and Prince Charles, several royal family members will have different looks in Season 5. After Claire Foy and Olivia Colman’s respective exits as Queen Elizabeth II, another actress, Imelda Staunton, will take over her spot.
Additionally, Jonathan Pryce joins the cast as Prince Philip to replace Tobias Menzies, who played the role for the last two seasons, while Lesley Manville is taking over the role of Princess Margaret, which Helena Bonham Carter played in Seasons 3-4.
When is ‘The Crown’ Season 5’s release date?
Although Netflix announced on Sept. 25, 2021, that The Crown Season 5 would debut sometime in November 2022, the streamer didn’t reveal the exact release date for the show.
Thankfully, at a Netflix TUDUM event on Sept. 24, 2022, they finally announced the Season 5 release date: Nov. 9, 2022.
Dominic West as Prince Charles in Season 5 of 'The Crown.'
Fans should also take comfort in knowing that the drama’s creator and showrunner, Peter Morgan, stated in 2020 that he decided to keep the show on for six seasons.
Peter had actually initially declared that he'd chosen to go against his initial agreement with Netflix and considered ending the series in Season 5, saying at the time (per The Hollywood Reporter): “At the outset, I had imagined The Crown running for six seasons, but now that we have begun work on the stories for Season 5, it has become clear to me that this is the perfect time and place to stop. I’m grateful to Netflix and Sony for supporting me in this decision.”
Peter then retracted his statement and said he and The Crown’s writers felt they needed more time to wrap up the royal family’s story.
“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,” he said (per Deadline). “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.”
Tune into Netflix to stream all current seasons of The Crown.
