Pryce takes over as Prince Philip in the final two seasons of creator Peter Morgan's Netflix drama about the royal family.
As anticipation builds for The Crown's return to Netflix with season 5, so have calls for a disclaimer to be added to creator Peter Morgan's historical drama clarifying that it is a fictional account of events involving the royal family. But one of the series' incoming stars, Jonathan Pryce, finds it all "a bit unnecessary."
When asked by ET's Kevin Frazier about what he thought of these public demands, including one made by Judi Dench, who slammed the series for its "crude sensationalism," Pryce said, "In some ways you can applaud their passion and their interest in The Crown, that they want the story told as honestly as possible. And that's great. But I think, you know, it's a bit unnecessary now we're into the fifth season."
"If people don't know it's a fiction by now, then that's sad," the actor, who takes over as Prince Philip on the series, continued. "I don't think there's anything to be lost by putting a disclaimer in front of it either. But I don't think it's necessary. I mean, you can think of all sorts of examples of other things that you might have to put a disclaimer in front of."
Just one day before Netflix released the official trailer for season 5, Dench made headlines when she published an open letter in The Times, advocating for "a disclaimer at the start of each episode" that makes it clear the series is, in fact, a "fictionalized drama" and not an accurate account of what has gone on behind closed doors when it comes to depicting the family's private life.
"The time has come for Netflix to reconsider — for the sake of a family and a nation so recently bereaved, as a mark of respect to a sovereign who served her people so dutifully for 70 years," Dench wrote.
In the days that followed, Netflix seemingly addressed those concerns in the language included with the release of the season 5 trailer. "Inspired by real events, this fictional dramatization tells the story of Queen Elizabeth II and the political and personal events that shaped her reign," reads the official logline of the video, before summarizing that the new episodes will see the royal family "facing what may be their biggest challenge yet: proving their continued relevance in '90s Britain. As Diana and Charles wage a media war, cracks begin to splinter the royal foundation."
While Imelda Staunton, who takes over as the queen in the final two seasons of The Crown, has been honored by the family, she didn't feel any pressure about taking on the role or what the series is about.
"For me, it didn't have any effect," she said of previously receiving the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2006 and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2016. "My sense of responsibility in this was to do with the four seasons that have gone previously and that the standard of that work, and coming into that was daunting enough. No it didn't affect it, and nor should it."
When it comes to those honors, which were both for "services to drama," Staunton said, "That's a separate thing. That's like getting, you know, a BAFTA. That's a prize you're given and that's over there. And now I'm just going to go to work."
That said, Staunton agrees with Morgan that this season, which covers many of the family's biggest scandals at the time, is a love letter to the late queen, who died in September after seven decades on the throne.
"This is about a tumultuous time for the royal family and Peter hasn't shied away from that. I think his love letter to the queen started a long time ago with Helen Mirren and then The Audience and then Claire Foy and Olivia Colman," the actress said, referring to Morgan's previously projects, including The Queen, which won Mirren an Oscar in 2007, and the play about the queen's weekly meetings with the respective prime ministers who were elected during her reign, which also helped inspire earlier episodes of The Crown previously starring Foy and Colman as Elizabeth II.
"I think it's gone on a long time. So, it's obvious that he is very passionate about this family," she continued. "He wants to tell these stories that hang on real events. And then he's, of course, writing imaginary scenes, maybe emotional scenes to go in between them. And I think what has always worked for The Crown is he gives both sides of the story… I think if he didn't love this family, he wouldn't have kept on what must have been the last 15 years of this."
The Crown season 5 premieres Wednesday, Nov. 9 on Netflix.
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