The Crown creator Peter Morgan has stated that the Netflix drama series about the reign of Queen Elizabeth II will likely pause production "out of respect" for the recently deceased monarch.

"The Crown is a love letter to her and I’ve nothing to add for now, just silence and respect," Morgan said in an email exchange with Deadline. "I expect we will stop filming out of respect too." The creator's comments line up with ones previously made by The Crown director Stephen Daldry, who vowed back in 2016 that if Queen Elizabeth II died during production, the series would stop filming "to show respect to the Queen. It would be a simple tribute and a mark of respect. She’s a global figure and it’s what we should do."

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Netflix has reportedly had plans in place for a while now should Queen Elizabeth die during The Crown's run. The critically-acclaimed drama series premiered on Netflix in November 2016 with Claire Foy portraying the monarch. The first season depicted events during Queen Elizabeth II's reign from 1947 to 1955, beginning with her wedding to Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and concluding with Winston Churchill resigning as prime minister. Foy returned for the second season, which covered several notable events such as the Suez Crisis in 1956, the retirements of Prime Ministers Anthony Eden and Harold Macmillan in 1957 and 1963, respectively, and the birth of Prince Edward in 1964.

The Crown's Cast Ages as the Royal Monarchy Does

The Crown is notable for being one of the few series to repeatedly recast its main characters. The Netflix series has brought in older actors every two seasons to replace the outgoing cast as a means to more accurately represent both the human aging process and the passage of time depicted in the series. For the third and fourth seasons, which took place between 1964 and 1990, Olivia Colman replaced Foy as the Queen while Tobias Menzies and Helena Bonham Carter took over as Prince Philip and Princess Margaret from Matt Smith and Vanessa Kirby, respectively. The upcoming fifth and sixth seasons, meanwhile, will see the Queen, Prince Philip and Princess Margaret portrayed by Imelda Staunton, Jonathan Pryce, and Lesley Manville, respectively.

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Filming for the fifth and sixth seasons of The Crown began in July 2021 and August 2022, respectively. Season 5 will focus on the Queen's reign in the early-to-mid 1990s while Season 6 will take the series into the 21st century. The Crown's fifth season is expected to premiere on Netflix in November 2022. A release date for the sixth and final season has not been announced at this time.

Source: Deadline