The final six episodes of the Emmy-winning series premiere Dec. 14 on Netflix.
The Crown debuted the first four episodes of their final season on Thursday, focusing on Princess Diana, her relationship with Dodi Fayed, and the tumultuous weeks leading up to their death in August 1997.
With six more episodes set to premiere in December, rounding out creator Peter Morgan's vision for the Emmy-winning, decades-spanning series, the focus will shift to the future of the royal family and the legacy of Queen Elizabeth II, played in the show's final two seasons by Imelda Staunton.
According to Netflix's official synopsis of the upcoming episodes, "Prince William tries to integrate back into life at Eton in the wake of his mother’s death as the monarchy has to ride the wave of public opinion. As she reaches her Golden Jubilee, the Queen reflects on the future of the monarchy with the marriage of Charles and Camilla and the beginnings of a new royal fairytale in William and Kate."
As Netflix previously teased, The Crown's final episodes will chronicle the Prince and Princess of Wales' relationship, beginning with their first meeting at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland in 2001. According to the streamer, Prince William starts at St. Andrews, determined to lead as normal a life as possible while he still can. At the same time, Kate Middleton enrolls in the university. When they meet for the first time on campus, a new romance and a new future for The Crown begins.
Ed McVey will take over for Rufus Kampa as the future Prince of Wales in the series, while Fflyn Edwards will be replaced by Luther Ford as his younger brother, Prince Harry. Meg Bellamy also joins the series' final episodes to play William's future wife.
Part two of the final season will also include Prince Charles' (Dominic West) second marriage to Camilla Parker Bowles (Olivia Williams). The pair tied the knot in a smaller service in April 2005, though Queen Elizabeth II was not in attendance due to her official position as the head of the Church of England -- which takes an official stance discouraging divorce -- and the fact that both Charles and Camilla had previously been married.
The Crown's final episodes will not take the series timeline to the present day, though Morgan did reveal in an interview with Variety last month that the show's creative team did make some changes following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022.
"We'd all been through the experience of the funeral," he recounted. "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, even though she hadn't died yet."
Netflix boss Ted Sarandos told Variety that the production team had contemplated ending the series with the queen's death during development, but then she "effectively outlived" the show.
"It was the cutoff to keep it historical, not journalistic," Morgan said of ending the show in 2005. "I think by stopping almost 20 years before the present day, it's dignified."
As for the real-life royal family's thoughts on their on-screen portrayal, Morgan told ET at The Crown's season 6 premiere that he didn't have any particular message he'd like to send them.
"If they watch it, I hope they think it's fair and responsible," he noted. "That's what we've tried to be."
The series also stars Jonathan Pryce as Prince Philip, Lesley Manville as Princess Margaret, Salim Daw as Mohamed Al-Fayed, Bertie Carvel as Tony Blair, Lydia Leonard as Cherie Blair, Marcia Warren as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, Claudia Harrison as Anne, Princess Royal, Theo Fraser Steele as Timothy Laurence, James Murray as Prince Andrew, Sam Woolf as Prince Edward, Matilda Broadbridge as Pippa Middleton and Andrew Havill as Robert Fellowes.
The Crown is streaming now on Netflix. Part 2 of the sixth and final season premieres Dec. 14.
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