Netflix’s The Crown will return for sixth season after all, but will end before the Harry-Meghan drama

Netflix on Thursday announced that The Crown will end after its sixth season, which will take the story of Queen Elizabeth II to the early 2000s.

Netflix on Thursday announced that there will be a sixth and final season of The Crown after all. The streaming service had previously said that the show would end after season five, going back on the original plan of ending after six seasons.

Olivia Colman in a still from Netflix’s The Crown.

“News from the palace: we can confirm there will be a sixth (and final) season of @TheCrownNetflix, in addition to the previously announced five!” the official Netflix UK Twitter account announced. The show is based on the monarchy of Queen Elizabeth II, and each season is designed to cover one decade of her reign.

Imelda Staunton will play the Queen in the final two seasons, taking over from Claire Foy and Olivia Colman, who played the part in two seasons each. The Colman-fronted fourth season will air later this year.

Creator Peter Morgan said in a statement, according to Deadline, “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. 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.”

Cindy Holland, vice president of original content at Netflix said: “The Crown keeps raising the bar with each new season. We can’t wait for audiences to see the upcoming fourth season, and we’re proud to support Peter’s vision and the phenomenal cast and crew for a sixth and final season.”

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