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Along with the announcement that Imelda Staunton will play Queen Elizabeth II after Olivia Colman finishes playing her in the upcoming season 4, we also received the news that The Crown will finish after five seasons. One of the immediate questions in the wake of that announcement is: What time period will the last season cover? And probably just as important: Would it cover this drama with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stepping back as senior royals? Would Harry and Meghan...gasp...actually make an appearance on the show? Here's what we know at the moment.
There will be no sixth season of The Crown.
This is, in fact, a change from previous reports on the subject. Initially, there were going to be six seasons of the award-winning and highly popular show. But, according to creator Peter Morgan, "Now that we have begun work on the stories for S5 it has become clear to me that this is the perfect time and place to stop." Who knows if that has anything to do with...current goings-on in the Royal Family of late, or if it's a purely creative choice.
If you're curious, here's the tweet with the details:
There was a ton of speculation when there were six potential seasons and even now that there's only five—now that Harry and Meghan will actively work to make a living, would they potentially be interested in making an appearance on the preeminent royal TV show right now?
The Crown producers weren't opposed to featuring Meghan and Harry.
Netflix's chief content officer said he was open to the idea of the royals playing a part on the show. "Who wouldn't be interested?" he said at the Producer's Guild Awards. "Yes, sure." And Harry and Meghan pitched themselves (in what sounded semi-joking) for voiceover work at The Lion King premiere in 2019. And Meghan is reportedly looking for an agent. So at least a guest turn on the show wasn't outside the realm of possibility.
Harry once said he'd "stop" the show if it ever covered him.
This, according to royal biographer Angela Levin. "When I went to interview him in the palace, the first thing he said to me when he shook my hand was, 'Are you watching The Crown?'"
"And I hadn't been at the time," Levin said. "I felt very embarrassed and I got it and he said, 'I'm going to make sure I stop it before they get to me.'"
Soooo maybe the couple wouldn't have participated in the show after all! Either way, the cutting off of the series at the fifth season probably means that the show won't get to present-day events anyways. (Only having five seasons certainly would allow the creators to avoid it, but of course they're not discussing it—so who knows!)
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![](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/images/gettyimages-1182097519.jpg?crop=0.814xw:0.271xh;0.0961xw,0.0955xh&resize=480:* ""Downton Abbey" Red Carpet - 14th Rome Film Fest 2019")
