What we know about The Crown season 4

The Crown’s third season has just come out but we bet you’ve already binged it. So let’s talk about season four and what we know so far.

You’ve barely finished the third season of The Crown and you’re already thinking about season four.

We don’t blame you — the costumes, the drama, the shade! Bring it on, we say.

So here’s everything we know so far about The Crown season four.

WHEN WILL IT COME OUT?

The gap between the second and third seasons of The Crown was two years — that’s a long time for fans to wait and it had a lot to do with Peter Morgan and the production team needing to cast all the roles as the characters aged up.

Happily, we’re unlikely to have to wait that long for the fourth season. It’s already well into production with the third and fourth seasons filming back-to-back.

Olivia Colman and Tobias Menzies will return for season four

WHEN WILL IT TAKE PLACE?

Season three ends on the Queen’s Silver Jubilee, which was in 1977, so expect it to pick up soon after that. It will stretch into the 1980s with set photos of historical events that happen as late as 1983.

Previously, season one went from 1947 until 1955, season two from 1957 until 1963 while season three had the longest period so far from 1964 until 1977.

There has been no whispers around any casting for Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York who married Prince Andrew in 1986 so it’s possible season four won’t get as far as that.

WHO’S IN IT?

The season three cast will return in their roles, so that includes Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth, Tobias Menzies as Prince Philip, Helena Bonham-Carter as Princess Margaret, Josh O’Connor as Prince Charles and Erin Doherty as Princess Anne.

There’s no official word yet on whether Emerald Fennell will return as Camilla Shand, now Camilla Parker-Bowles for the fourth season but it seems likely given Charles will become a more pivotal character.

But what everyone’s really excited about are the two new additions to the cast.

First is Emma Corrin, a little known actor, who’s taken on the high-profile role of Princess Diana.

Next is Gillian Anderson who will play Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Gillian Anderson as the Iron Lady

We also know Australian actor Richard Roxburgh will feature as our PM Bob Hawke, a role he’s actually already played once before in the Hawke TV movie.

Richard Roxburgh as Bob Hawke in the Hawke movie — he will reprise the role in The Crown

WHAT WILL HAPPEN?

We know there will be a focus on the Queen’s relationship with Mrs Thatcher.

When The Crown was first pitched to audiences three years ago, it emphasised the relationship between Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street. And the first season spent a lot of time with the Queen and Winston Churchill.

That fell by the wayside a bit in the third season as prime ministers came and went but the third season returned to it with the Queen and Harold Wilson.

Thatcher was the UK PM from 1979 to 1990, a long tenure, so the relationship between these two powerful women will make for an interesting dynamic.

The fourth season will also cover the time frame that includes the wedding of Prince Charles and then Lady Diana Spencer, who was only 20 years old when she walked down the aisle at St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Happy day? Maybe not Picture: AFP

So the show should give us glimpses into their courtship and nuptials and, at the very least, the birth of Prince William.

One of the events the show will definitely cover is Charles and Diana’s royal tour of Australia in 1983. Paparazzi photos of the actors filming the scenes (in Spain) have already been revealed.

The season will also likely deal with the assassination of Lord Mountbatten (Charles Dance), who was killed by an IRA bomb in 1979.

WILL THERE BE A SEASON FIVE?

There has been no official word of Netflix giving The Crown any seasons beyond four but Morgan has previously said ideally the show would span six seasons, eventually catching up to the present day.

And there are momentous events still ahead with the marriage of Andrew and Fergie and their subsequent divorce, Diana and Charles’ divorce, all the affairs, the burning of Windsor Castle, the death of Diana, and then the new generation of royals.

But who will play Meghan Markle?

If the series does stretch to a fifth and sixth season, there are reports that Imelda Staunton will take over as Queen Elizabeth.

Filming for the fourth season started in August

If seasons five and six were to go ahead, it’s expected all the roles will be recast again with older actors, with unconfirmed reports that Imelda Staunton will take over as Queen Elizabeth.

Given that The Crown is one of Netflix’s most high-profile shows, even with its very expensive price tag, it would be foolish to not make more and more of this opulent series.

The Crown seasons one, two and three are streaming now on Netflix

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