NetflixPrincess Diana has arrived but this is no fairytale princess story.
The Crown just released a new trailer for season four and while of course we know how dark things got for Prince Charles and Princess Diana in the '80s and '90s, the trailer makes that darkness very prominent. Even as Diana, played by Emma Corrin, hangs out of cars and dances with her future husband, intense, pounding music gives a certain sense of foreboding. On top of that, a portion of the sermon from Charles and Diana's wedding plays via voiceover and is somehow anything but romantic.
The trailer puts Diana front and center, but it also offers a glimpse of Gillian Anderson as Margaret Thatcher and shows Princess Margaret (Helena Bonham Carter) dealing with the illnesses that plagued her until she died in 2002.
Here's Netflix's description of the season: "As the 1970s are drawing to a close, Queen Elizabeth (Olivia Colman) and her family find themselves preoccupied with safeguarding the line of succession by securing an appropriate bride for Prince Charles (Josh O'Connor), who is still unmarried at 30.
While Charles' romance with a young Lady Diana Spencer provides a much-needed fairytale to unite the British people, as the transformation from teenager to Princess of Wales takes place, it is anything but a fairytale for Diana."
Watch the trailer below!
Get the full scoop on what's to come on The Crown (this season and beyond) by scrolling down!
There are two more seasons to go before the tiaras and tea sets get put away for good (or at least until creator Peter Morgan decides to get them out again). Season five is next, and season six will be the last.
November 2022!
We know that it feels like we've waited forever, but the show has followed its routine production schedule. Season one came out in 2016, followed by season two in 2017. Season three arrived in 2019, season four in 2020, and now there's another break for season five. Morgan explained in an interview with THR that he needs the time off to both shoot and write the next season, since the show films in two-season chunks.
The sixth and final season will likely premiere in 2023.
Seasons five and six will take the royal family into the 21st century, but not too far into it. Nothing super recent will be covered, but since each season tends to span around a decade, it makes sense that the show might end with the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2012. That would mean William and Kate's 2011 wedding would be featured, but little else from the 2010s.
Elizabeth Debicki will play a slightly older Diana in season five, which will likely cover the '90s from her split from Charles to her death in 1997. She takes over from Emma Corrin, who debuted in season four.
The former Princess of Wales' boyfriend Dodi Fayed will reportedly be played by Khalid Abdalla, per Variety. Dodi's billionaire father, Mohamed Al-Fayed, will also appear in season five, as Oslo actor Salim Daw has been cast in this role.
The entire cast gets replaced every two seasons, so Olivia Colman will pass the torch to Imelda Staunton, who you may know best as Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter.
Game of Thrones star Jonathan Pryce will play Prince Philip in seasons five and six, taking over for Tobias Menzies.
Lesley Manville will follow in the footsteps of Helena Bonham Carter as the new Princess Margaret in seasons five and six.
The Wire and The Affair star Dominic West plays Prince Charles, succeeding Josh O'Connor in the role.
Dominic's own son Senan will play a teenage Prince William in season five.
Jonny Lee Miller has joined The Crown for season five as John Major, the British Prime Minister from 1990 to 1997. Gillian Anderson played previous Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who left office in 1990.
In Sept. 2022, Netflix revealed that two actors will portray a young William in season six: 16-year-old Rufus Kampa and 21-year-old Ed McVey. And 19-year-old Meg Ballamy will play Kate.
Sadly, no. As much as we keep hoping, Morgan said that Harry and Meghan, despite the captivating drama they've added to the world of the royal family, are too recent to cover with any clarity.
"Meghan and Harry are in the middle of their journey, and I don't know what their journey is or how it will end," he told THR. "One wishes some happiness, but I'm much more comfortable writing about things that happened at least 20 years ago. I sort of have in my head a 20-year rule. That is enough time and enough distance to really understand something, to understand its role, to understand its position, to understand its relevance."
Here's hoping for another season in 2040!
The Crown returns Nov. 15 on Netflix.