The Crown on Netflix has cast the final actor who will play Prince Philip for season 5 and 6. Jonathan Pryce will take over as the Duke of Edinburgh after Tobias Menzies had the role in season 3 and 4, as well as Matt Smith from the first two seasons.
According to The Sun, Pryce was the only actor in consideration for Prince Philip in his senior years. The casting process, apparently, took place via Zoom calls amid the coronavirus lockdown.
Pryce will join Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth and Lesley Manville as Princess Margaret, who were picked early this year. These actresses will replace Olivia Colman and Helena Bonham Carter.
The Crown season 5 and 6 will tackle royal and world events during the 1990s. Work on the set, however, has no definitive date amid the COVID-19 pandemic. There are speculations that season 5 will be ready on the streaming platform in late 2022.
The royal drama was, originally, set to end with the fifth season, as announced in January. Creator Peter Morgan said that season 5 was the "perfect time" to pull the plug on the award-winning show.
But, as the writers started discussing the storylines, Morgan realized that they needed one more season to tell the royal drama "in greater detail." The final season will not end with the present day. Instead, it will take place in the same time period in the late 1990s. Potentially, it could end with the Golden Wedding Anniversary of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, which happened in November 1997.
Meanwhile, Netflix is set to launch The Crown season 4 in late 2020. A specific date has not been announced but the upcoming season will finally introduce Princess Diana.
But, the show mostly chronicles the marriage of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, as well as her duties to the throne. Queen Elizabeth has never publicly spoken about what she thinks of the Netflix drama but biographer Robert Lacey believes the royal family prefers not to watch the series.
The Crown may be a work of fiction but its team of writers and researchers take intense steps to tell the story of the Windsor family as close to reality as possible.
Prince William, apparently, told Colman that he personally hasn't seen the show. On the other hand, a source said that Prince Philip and the Queen's youngest son, Prince Edward and his wife Sophie are fans.
