The Crown Season 5 will not be released for another month, but it is poised to be the most controversial season yet. A former U.K. prime minister has even spoken out against the series over a storyline reportedly included in the premiere. Despite all this negative buzz, Netflix is moving ahead with the Season 5 release on Nov. 9. The streamer also released the first photos from the new episodes, showing the all-new cast.
In Season 5, creator Peter Morgan is taking audiences through the 1990s from the lens of the royal family. The completely new cast is led by Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth II and Jonathan Pryce as Prince Philip, who are taking over from Olivia Colman and Tobias Menzies, respectively. Dominic West stars as King Charles III, who is still the Prince of Wales during the time this season covers. Elizabeth Debicki is also the new Princess Diana. Leslie Manville plays Princess Margaret. Johnny Lee Miller also stars as Prime Minister John Major and Claudia Harrison plays Princess Anne.
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This is also the first new season since November 2020. The show’s fourth season covered the 1980s, and it swept the 2021 Emmys’ drama categories. It won Outstanding Drama Series, while Josh O’Connor, Colman, Gillian Anderson, and Menzies all won awards for their performances. Claire Foy even won an Emmy for her first role in an episode featuring a flashback sequence. While we wait for the new season, scroll on for a look at the first photos Netflix has released and some of the controversy this season has stirred up.
Imelda Stauton as Queen Elizabeth II
Imelda Staunton has some big shoes to fill after Foy and Colman both won Emmys for playing Queen Elizabeth in the first four seasons. She is best known for playing Dolores Umbridge in the Harry Potter films and has an Oscar nomination for playing the title role in Mike Leigh’s 2004 film Vera Drake. Staunton also has an Emmy for playing Alfred Hitchcock’s wife Alma Hitchcock in the 2012 HBO movie The Girl.
Jonathan Pryce as Prince Philip
Although it wasn’t until The Two Popes (2020) that Sir Jonathan Pryce earned his first Oscar nomination, Pryce is a beloved figure in movies and television. He also has Emmy nominations for Barbarians at the Gate (1993) and Cranford (2007). Pryce was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2021.
Dominic West as Prince Charles
Dominic West is taking over the role of Prince Charles from Josh O’Connor. West starred in The Wire, The Affair, and Downton Abbey: A New Era. “I think people understand because the cast has changed every two seasons, that this is not an imitation,” West told Netfluix’s Tudum. “This is an evoking of a character. That’s really where the show lives: in the imagined conversations of their private life, which is something that no one knows. I think that’s what it gets a lot of criticism for. How can you know what they talk about in their private lives? The obvious answer is we don’t, but we have an incredible writer, a dramatist, who imagines based on exhaustive research, and that’s really part of the fascination of the show.”
Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana
Ever since Elizabeth Debicki scored her breakthrough role in The Great Gatsby, she has proven time and again that she can’t give a bad performance. She takes over Princess Diana from Emma Corrin. Debicki’s recent credits include Widows, Tenet, Vita & Virginia, and The Cloverfield Paradox. The new season will reportedly include a reenactment of Diana’s infamous 1995 interview with Martin Bashir, a decision that has sparked plenty of criticism.
Olivia Williams as Camilla Parker Bowles
Camilla Parker Bowles, who became Queen Consort when Charles became King Charles III in 2022, has continued to appear in the series. In Season 5, she will be played by Olivia Williams, who is taking over from Emerald Fennell. Williams recently starred in HBO Max’s The Nevers.
Lesley Manville as Princess Margaret
Lesley Manville was cast as Princess Margaret, a role that drew incredible performances from Vanessa Kirby and Helena Bonham Carter. In 2018, Manville earned her first Oscar nod for Phantom Thread. She also plays Genevieve de Merteuil in Starz’s Dangerous Liaisons adaptation, which premieres on Nov. 6.
Claudia Harrison as Princess Anne
Claudia Harrison is taking over the part of Princess Anne, Queen Elizabeth’s only daughter. Harrison’s other credits include Humans, Delicious, Midsomer Murders, and Murphy’s Law. “Anne’s an extraordinary character,” Harrison told Tudum. “She’s not there to make people feel better about themselves, but she is superb at her job and is a proper feminist. She’s someone we can really look up to, and I think she has no sense of entitlement.”
Jonny Lee Miller as Prime Minister John Major
Since John Major served as U.K. Prime Minister from 1990 to 1997, it would be impossible for him not to play a major role in Season 5, just as Margaret Thatcher was a big part of Season 4. Elementary star Jonny Lee Miller plays Major.
Major’s office has already denounced The Crown. The premiere reportedly includes a scene with Charles calling for a private meeting with Major to discuss trying to get Queen Elizabeth to abdicate, something no U.K. monarch would ever do. Major’s office sent a statement to The Mail on Sunday, calling this idea “a barrel load of nonsense peddled for no other reason than to provide maximum – and entirely false – dramatic impact.”
“The Crown has always been presented as a drama based on historical events,” a Netflix spokesperson told CNN. “Series 5 is a fictional dramatization, imagining what could have happened behind closed doors during a significant decade for the royal family – one that has already been scrutinized and well-documented by journalists, biographers, and historians.”
