Why is The Crown ending with season 6? The answer is a bit complicated
The road to the final season has been an unexpected one.
One of the Netflix's longest-running series is ending this year, and many viewers have been wondering about how the decision came to be and what to expect from the final season. The Crown is almost over, and we've figured explain why the hit series is finally ending its wildly successful run.
As a refresher: The Crown season 6 has been split into two parts, with the first four episodes arriving on November 16 and the six final chapters coming on December 14. The fact longtime followers of the series are getting a sixth season came as a surprise back in 2020, as series creator Peter Morgan wanted to end it on season 5 a few years back, but later changed his mind and returned to the original plans teased by Ted Sarandos (current CEO of Netflix) in 2016.
One potentially good thing about successful shows based on real-world characters, families, and dynasties is that the creatives can keep going for several seasons if they choose to and the audience is there, but the team behind The Crown is confident in wrapping things up with season 6. It picks up where season 5 ends, covering Princess Diana's final days before the car crash that claimed her life and the lives of Dodi Al-Fayed and Henri Paul. In case you were wondering about this whole matter, Netflix has confirmed "the exact moment of the crash impact will not be shown." Elizabeth Debicki, the actress who portrays Diana, told Entertainment Weekly: "I'll say that Peter and the entire crew of this job do their utmost to really handle everything with such sensitivity and truth and complexity, as do actors."
During an interview for Variety, Peter Morgan commented that he always "dreaded writing Princess Diana into the series," and even considered avoiding her altogether. We'll never know how viewers and followers of the British Royal Family would've reacted to this, as he eventually decided to explore the icon in depth. In fact, season 6 was born to cover the same period in greater detail. And while Prince William, Princess Kate, and Prince Harry's storylines are a big part of season 6, it "will not bring us any closer to present day," according to Morgan.
Finally, it appears that season 6 was slightly reworked to deal with Queen Elizabeth's death "even though she hadn’t died yet." We don't know how this sentiment will be represented in the show before the final credits roll, but Morgan said the following: "We'd all been through the experience of the funeral... So because of how deeply everybody will have felt that, I had to try and find a way in which the final episode dealt with the character's death."
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