Netflix confirms The Crown won’t cover Prince Harry and Meghan

The past decade has thrown up some of the juiciest royal sagas of all time – and everyone’s been asking: will we see it play out on The Crown?

Netflix’s award-winning British royal drama The Crown has decided to abdicate the throne after the fifth season.

The Peter Morgan series was originally slated to run for six seasons with three different actresses playing Queen Elizabeth II at various points in her 67-year reign. With the announcement of the show’s ending, Netflix confirmed that Imelda Staunton will play the queen in season five, which is likely to finish up around the time of Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s divorce.

REVIEW: The Crown season 3

The recent dramas surrounding the royal family won’t be covered on the show. Picture: Tolga Akmen/AFP

One person who’ll surely be relieved by Netflix’s decision is Prince Andrew. Picture: Lindsey Parnaby/AFP

Staunton is a British acting powerhouse who has thrived on the London stage, picking up four Olivier Awards, several for musical performances such as Gypsy. She has one Oscar nomination to her credit, for Mike Leigh’s 2004 abortion drama Vera Drake. (She lost to Hilary Swank for Million Dollar Baby, but won a New York Film Critics award for best actress.) Staunton was most recently seen in the film version of Downton Abbey, and she’s married to Jim Carter, who plays Carson.

Imelda Staunton will play Queen Elizabeth II in the fifth and final season of The Crown. pic.twitter.com/hUOob58A9p

— The Crown (@TheCrownNetflix) January 31, 2020

“At the outset, I had imagined The Crown running for six seasons, but now that we have begun work on the stories for season five, it has become clear to me that this is the perfect time and place to stop,” Morgan told The Hollywood Reporter. “I’m grateful to Netflix and Sony for supporting me in this decision.”

Season four of The Crown, which stars Olivia Colman, is currently in production. It covers the 1960s when the outrageous (by British standards) antics of Princess Margaret (Helena Bonham Carter) were really getting on the Queen’s royal nerves and her perpetually neutered husband, Prince Philip (Tobias Menzies), was feeling sidelined, as usual.

Earlier this month, Colman won a Golden Globe for her work on the show and the entire cast was given a best ensemble trophy at the SAG awards. Seasons one and two of the series brought Emmy and Golden Globe awards to Claire Foy, who also played the queen.

Colman and Menzies in a scene from season three. Picture: Netflix

Viewers hoping that The Crown would go long enough to catch up to the association of Prince Andrew with Jeffrey Epstein are likely to be disappointed. Ditto the shocking decision of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to move out of England, a decision which cost them their titles.

This story originally appeared in the NY Post and is reproduced with permission.