Season 5 of the Netflix historical drama stars Elizabeth Dibecki and Dominic West.
Ahead of season 5’s debut on Nov. 9, Netflix finally debuted a fiery trailer for the new episodes of The Crown, giving audiences an extended look at “a house divided” as Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s divorce takes center stage on creator Peter Morgan’s historical drama about the royal family. Picking up in the early 1990s, the series will focus on the “most visual” era of the royals as they navigated newfound attention surrounding the Palace, which included many headline-grabbing events and scandals of the time.
“That's the amazing thing about playing these people at this time, because in the journey of The Crown so far out of all the seasons, this is the most visual content we have of the royal family,” said Elizabeth Debicki, who makes a stunning transformation into Diana as the trailer shows her struggling in her marriage to Charles, which many have said always included a third person, Camilla Parker-Bowles.
As per tradition of the Emmy-winning series, a new cast has taken over the key roles, with Debicki now portraying the late princess after Emma Corrin originated the role in season 4 and Dominic West following in Julian Baring and Josh O’Connor’s footsteps as Charles, who was recently named king following his mother’s death in September.
Joining them is Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth II, Jonathan Pryce as Prince Philip, Lesley Manville as Princess Margaret, Claudia Harrison as Princess Anne, Olivia Williams as Charles’ longtime friend and eventual second wife as well as Jonny Lee Miller as John Major, Salim Daw as Mohamed Al Fayed and Khalid Abdalla as Dodi Fayed.
The trailer, set to a haunting version The Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony,” also teases other notable moments from the early ‘90s, including Diana’s “revenge dress” to her controversial, sit-down interview with reporter Martin Bashir to the fire that broke out in Windsor Castle, which offers a fitting allegory to what is happening with the family at that time.
While Charles and Camilla’s “tampongate” was not seen here, it is another wild moment that West confirmed would be depicted in season 5. “I remember thinking it was something so sordid and deeply, deeply embarrassing [at the time],” he shared in a recent interview.
“Looking back on it, and having to play it, what you're conscious of is that the blame was not with these two people, two lovers, who were having a private conversation,” he continued. “What's really [clear now] is how invasive and disgusting was the press's attention to it, that they printed it out verbatim and you could call a number and listen to the actual tape. I think it made me extremely sympathetic towards the two of them and what they'd gone through.”
Echoing that sentiment about the press, Debicki has said that “in the ‘90s everything had started to be filmed and also it was the birth of the 24-hour news cycle, so there's just this incredible amount of content that we have access to.” And as a result, “Diana was the most photographed person in the world at that time.”
Of course, no matter how much Diana and Charles’ marriage is depicted this season, there’s no forgetting that this series is always about the queen, and how she managed to maintain her reign and family’s place in the ever-evolving British consciousness.
Following Emmy-winning turns by Claire Foy and Olivia Colman, Staunton is tasked with portraying Her Majesty in her later years until the series closes out with season 6. “I’m greatly honored,” Staunton previously told ET about being approached by creator Peter Morgan and his team to complete “the last lap” and finish out what the other two actresses started before her. “I don’t want to let the air go out of the balloon and I really have to bring it home. I would love to do that for all the people who have gone before me.”
In a later interview, she acknowledged the fans who were excited to see her join the franchise, saying, “Let’s just hope that works out for them because I've done it. Nothing I can do about it now!”
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