'The Crown' Casts Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana for Season 5 and 6 of Netflix Series

The next actor to star as Princess Diana on Netflix's The Crown will be Elizabeth Debicki. The [...]

By Daniel S. Levine

The next actor to star as Princess Diana on Netflix's The Crown will be Elizabeth Debicki. The Australian actress is best known for her roles in The Great Gatsby, The Man from UNCLE, and Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, and will now play the late Diana in the fifth and sixth seasons of Peter Morgan's epic tale of the British Royal Family. Emma Corrin played Diana in the fourth season.

"Princess Diana's spirit, her words, and her actions live in the hearts of so many," Debicki said in a statement released by Netflix on Sunday. "It is my true privilege and honor to be joining this masterful series, which has had me absolutely hooked from episode one." Debicki's casting came just a few days after Netflix announced Jonathan Pryce will play Prince Philip in the last two seasons, with Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth and Lesley Manville as Princess Margaret.

The Crown was created by Morgan, and each season centers on specific periods in the Royal Family's life. In the first two seasons, Claire Foy played Queen Elizabeth, with Oliva Colman taking over the role for Seasons 3 and 4. Matt Smith and Tobias Menzies played Prince Philip in previous time periods, while Vanessa Kirby and Helena Bonham Carter have played Princess Margaret. Josh O'Connor joined the cast as an adult Prince Charles for Season 3.

Season 4 is expected to debut later this year. The new season will introduce Diana to the series and is set during Margaret Thatcher's time as Prime Minister, with The X-Files star Gillian Anderson as Thatcher. The fifth season was originally planned to be the last for the show, but Morgan decided a sixth season would allow him to cover important events in greater detail. Netflix and Sony, which produces the series, agreed and picked up the show for another year.

"As we started to discuss the storylines for Series 5, it soon became clear that in order to do justice to the richness and complexity of the story we should go back to the original plan and do six seasons," Morgan said in a statement in July. "To be clear, Series 6 will not bring us any closer to present day — it will simply enable us to cover the same period in greater detail."

Debicki made her film debut with A Few Best Men in 2011, then landed a breakout role as Jordan Baker in Baz Luhrmann's glitzy adaptation of The Great Gatsby in 2013. She went on to appear in The Man from UNCLE, Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 and Widows. She also stars in Christopher Nolan's Tenet, which has seen its theatrical release delayed numerous times due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Crown will be her first major TV role since she appeared in 2016's The Night Manager.

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