Critics and viewers aghast at ‘Diana ghost’ in The Crown’s final season

Viewers and critics alike have been left gobsmacked by one bold, bizarre story choice as The Crown’s final season streams on Netflix.

The final season of The Crown.

The first four episodes of the final season of The Crown debuted on Netflix last Thursday – and viewers and critics alike have been left gobsmacked by one bold, controversial choice from the show’s creators.

The show’s sixth season has a heavy focus on the events surrounding the tragic death of Princess Diana in 1997. We see Diana in the final weeks of her life with new partner Dodi Al-Fayed, her fatal car accident in a Paris tunnel, and the aftermath as the royal family grapple to match the public mood of overwhelming grief over her death.

The show’s final season focuses on the events surrounding Diana’s death … Picture: Daniel Escale/Netflix

… and shows her visiting the royal family from beyond the grave. Picture: Netflix

But it’s the decision to have Diana (Elisabeth Debicki) stay in the show after her death – as a ghost, no less, visiting members of the royal family to offer advice from beyond the grave – that’s left many shocked. Has The Crown officially jumped the shark?
The Guardian certainly seems to think so, giving the season a brutal one-star review and singling out the appearance of Diana’s ghost as the undisputable low point of the season.

“By the time Ghost Diana takes the Queen’s hand and gently whispers ‘You’ve always shown us what it meant to be British. Maybe it’s time to learn, too’, and prompts her to cave in to the headline’s demand to ‘Show us you care, Ma’am’, I am having quite the out-of-body experience myself,” writes reviewer Lucy Mangan.

And that’s the part of this whole Diana-haunting viewers seem to be having the most difficulty with, too: If you’re going to have ghostly Diana visiting members of the royal family, would she not visit the ones she loved? Instead, The Crown shows her checking in with her ex-husband and mother-in-law to offer sage advice about how they should handle her death.

So Diana’s ghost went to Charles before William and Harry? Not only does her ghost go to him before her pride and joy but she absolves him of everything he ever did to her in their marriage? Whose idea was it to write that???! #TheCrownpic.twitter.com/5x2jdnRqcs

— ♉️ alien superstar 👽😈 (@RobynDMarley_) November 17, 2023

the ghost of diana would visit her boys, not her ex. make this make sense #thecrownpic.twitter.com/bEoDszQ9pb

— Hetal (@hetall_patell) November 16, 2023

No they did not bring Diana back as a GHOST to visit CHARLES to call him handsome and tell him that she loved him so much! #TheCrownpic.twitter.com/q56bu2Fj2t

— SORROWS, SORROWS. PRAYERS! (@SamiJo91) November 18, 2023

Whoever suggested the Diana ghost scenes on #TheCrown needs the chop ASAP pic.twitter.com/FZp1cf2Qf4

— SP 💋 (@remiibeauty) November 17, 2023

Did Charles write season 6? Because the way they have Diana’s ghost visiting all the people who couldn’t stand her… she would be with her babies and only her babies #thecrownpic.twitter.com/1ynXQoQqUH

— Erica Done It Last (@triadacross) November 19, 2023

god ok i know more important things are going on right now, but the crown dead-ass has diana's ghost come tell charles what a handsome special sad boy he is and i'm done done pic.twitter.com/bC2BEH0DwT

— a 🦋summery✨but still 💀spooky🥀 lil sam like me (@SamanthaSandy7) November 18, 2023

To be fair, the Diana apparition isn’t technically a g-g-g-ghost, more a creative display of Charles’ and Queen Elizabeth’s grief. Still, the sight of a post-death Diana on screen was enough to turn off many critics.

Elsewhere, Time Magazine called the Diana ghost “easily the show’s worst creative decision to date,” and says the scenes “cement the impression that The Crown has devolved into a mega-budget Lifetime Original Movie.”

People Magazine called the ghostly apparition “a ridiculous device, and far more insulting to [Queen] Elizabeth than anything else The Crown might have thrown or will throw at her.”

The Crown still has time to stick the landing, though: While the first four episodes of the final season were released on Netflix last week, the final six – including the series finale – will drop on December 14.

Originally published as Critics and viewers aghast at ‘Diana ghost’ in The Crown’s final season