The princess will fall in love with a different kind of heir in season five of The Crown.
It appears that the highly anticipated fifth season will take a closer look at Princess Diana's relationship with Dodi Fayed, which ended in tragedy for both after a fatal car accident. According to Variety, British actor Khalid Abdalla has been cast as the Egyptian film producer, who also happened to be the son of billionaire Mohamed Al Fayed.
According to Abdalla's IMDB page, he is slated to appear as Dodi in 10 episodes of The Crown, confirming our suspicions that the new season will take place in the final months of the former Princess of Wales' life. For those unfamiliar with Diana and Dodi's love story, they had a whirlwind summer romance before their lives were cut short in August 1997.
So, who exactly is Abdalla and why exactly is he the perfect man to play the doomed department store heir?
Fans of Amazon Prime Video's Hanna series will likely recognize Abdalla from season one, as he played Jerome Sawyer, an arrogant CIA agent who viewers loved to hate. He also made an impression as the lead character Amir in 2007's big screen adaptation of The Kite Runner.
And it's not just Abdalla's acting credits that have us excited about his addition to the cast, as he's certainly handsome enough to portray the late charismatic socialite. He's set to act opposite the striking Elizabeth Debicki, who is taking over for Emma Corrin as Princess Diana.
Dodi won't be the only member of the prominent Egyptian family introduced in season five, since Oslo actor Salim Daw has also reportedly joined the cast as the former Harrods owner and Fayed patriarch.
Curious to learn more about season five? Find everything we know about the new season in the gallery below.
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!
Seasons one through four of The Crown are available to stream on Netflix.