'The Crown' Season 5 Trailer Released by Netflix
The 1990s were chaotic for everyone, especially the British royal family, as seen in the first trailer for The Crown Season 5. The two-minute teaser promises an epic retelling of Queen Elizabeth II's attempts to keep the family together, even as Princess Diana and Prince Charles drift apart. Since this is the first season released since the deaths of Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth, it has already sparked controversy in the U.K. ahead of the Nov. 9 release.
The new season centers on the dissolution of Charles and Diana's marriage in 1992 and its aftermath. While Charles sought to show he could lead the U.K., Diana took steps to reveal what life was like in Buckingham Palace. Many of the important events after their divorce are hinted at in the trailer, including the 1995 TV interview with the now-disgraced journalist Martin Bashir.
An entirely new cast takes over the series for the last time. Imelda Staunton and Jonathan Pryce play Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, respectively. Dominic West plays Prince Charles while Elizabeth Debicki stars as Princess Diana. Lesley Manville plays Princess Margaret and Olivia Williams stars as Camilla Parker Bowles.
Since the new season will be released so soon after Queen Elizabeth's death, the criticism targeted at the fictionalization of the family's dramas has been louder than ever before. While some outlets have claimed the show might be "exploitative" and damage the public's view of the family by resurfacing the 1990s scandals, creator Peter Morgan disagrees.
"I think we must all accept that the 1990s was a difficult time for the royal family, and King Charles will almost certainly have some painful memories of that period," Morgan told Entertainment Weekly. "But that doesn't mean that, with the benefit of hindsight, history will be unkind to him, or the monarchy. The show certainly isn't. I have enormous sympathy for a man in his position – indeed, a family in their position. People are more understanding and compassionate than we expect sometimes."
The office of former U.K. Prime Minister Sir John Major has already spoken out against the show after it was reported that the season premiere includes a storyline with Charles trying to convince Major to ask the queen to abdicate. Major's office called the idea a "damaging and malicious fiction." After this, Dame Judy Dench, who won an Oscar for playing Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love, wants Netflix to add a disclaimer stressing that the show is fictional.
"Despite this week stating publicly that The Crown has always been a 'fictionalized drama,' the program makers have resisted all calls for them to carry a disclaimer at the start of each episode," Dench wrote in a letter to The Times. "The time has come for Netflix to reconsider – for the sake of a family and a nation so recently bereaved, as a mark of respect to a sovereign who served her people so dutifully for 70 years, and to preserve their own reputation in the eyes of their British subscribers."